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Movie Description
Another exclusive to laser disc release of the cult film that created a new genre of cinema: "Noir-Science Fiction."
Industry Reviews
Typical of works of genius, "Blade Runner" is one of the most often-emulated and critically overlooked achievements of its time.
A milestone in cinema-as-art, the film is the brainchild of director Ridley Scott who masterfully synthesizes sets, casting, score, acting, atmosphere, pacing, story, theme and script into a single vision. While most critics are frustrated writers who watch movies by listening to the dialogue, Scott conveys deep thematic subtext with the sheer impact of the moving picture, thus leading many film critics to dub his work a triumph of "style over substance." "Blade Runner" is perhaps the best example of Scott's integrated approach. Every knickknack in the frame, every wisp of smoke, every stroke of style adds to the weight and momentum of the film's theme: that human life is precious and beautiful, and that its exploitation is a tragic evil.
The film's many Frankenstein references, down to the windmills at the climax, suggest the director is offering a bold response to Mary Shelley's somewhat Luddite theme that man must never usurp the Creator's power. Instead, the "Replicants" created by the evil genetic engineer Tyrell are beautiful, intelligent, self-possessed and life-loving. They are not monsters, but super-humans who should be admired rather than feared as they fight for their lives in a decaying dystopia that has bred them to be slaves.
The leader of the renegade Replicants, Roy Batty, embarks on a Gilgamesh-like quest to meet his maker and condemn him for dooming his kind to short, brutish and nasty lives. Tyrell has restricted the lifespan of Replicants to four years, to prevent them from rebelling. It is only as these facts are revealed that the audience is challenged to recognize the dilemma of the film: what appeared to be the villains are in fact the heroes, and the titular Blade Runner is the grim agent of the State sent to execute them. At one point, Roy Batty asks the Blade Runner, "Aren't you ...
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