Blade Runner

So I tried watching Blade Runner a long time ago before any news of Blade Runner 2049 came out. I failed miserably as I fell asleep almost instantly. I love me my Harrison Ford, as well as influential movies from the 80s, as well as my noir films. In many ways, this film should have been hand crafted for me. However, when I tried to watch it again more recently due to the news of the sequel, I fell asleep again. The first time I fell asleep I could maybe attribute it to being tired, or watching it at a time of night that wasn't conducive to watching that film. But I was starting to worry when I tried again and fell asleep in the first 20 minutes. It took a third time that included me watching it the moment I got out of bed for me to get all the way through it and understand my impressions towards this movie as a whole.

Blade Runner takes place in the distant future of 2019. The Tyrell Corporation has created human-

like robots called replicants. They are very strong robots used as slaves but only have a very short life span. After an uprising, they have been outlawed and a special kind of police officer called Blade Runners are tasked with "retiring" them (AKA killing them). Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) is one such Blade Runner, or at least a retired one.

He is hired to hunt down and kill a group of these replicants led by one named Roy (played by Rutger Hauer). The entire movie is Deckard conducting that investigation in probably the best modern noir I've seen in a while.

If you're not familiar with the noir style, it was a darker, grittier style of film that became popular in the 1940s. It usually includes a morally ambiguous hero, a femme fatal, a conflict that is not clear black and white in regards to the consequences, and shifting motivations and twists and turns in the story.

I actually took a film noir class in college. I don't claim to be any kind of expert but the style does peak my interest and they actually turn out to be really intriguing films in my opinion.

However, the other element of film noir is the cinematography. Again, I am no expert so me trying to explain the cinematography would be fruitless to really understand, the simplest way to describe it is the shots are darker and create a more dower setting. Nothing really happy happens in a film noir and usually the endings are more bittersweet than happy.

And on a cinematography level, Blade Runner has to be one of the best modern noir films I 've seen in a long time. A lot of focus is on the investigation, the dialogue is heavy, and the environment is dark and moody. All of that combined with a cerebral 80's sound track by Vangelis, and Harrison Ford's incredibly gruff but bass voice, I understand why I fell asleep to this movie.

I've talked a lot about the noir element of this movie but hey, it's taking place in the distant future of 2019, how are the science fiction elements. Well that's the part of this movie that actually surprised me. I went in for more of a science fiction flavor. While that science fiction element is there, the noir elements drown out the science fiction elements immensely. If you are looking for Star Trek-like science fiction, you might be a little bit disappointed with Blade Runner. It is there and it asks some philosophical and futuristic questions, but the movie above all is a noir film and if you're not a fan of that style, you're going to have a rough time with this film.

Style and atmosphere aside, the performances in this movie are pretty damn good.

I have yet to find a Harrison Ford movie I don't enjoy his performance in. Blade Runner doesn't waiver from that streak. While Rick Deckard is similar to the roguish characters that Ford has played in the past, he's actually really not a good guy. In fact at a certain point he actually gets kind of rape-y. This is one of the elements of the movie that they probably went a little too far with. The main characters of noir films are not usually supposed to be good people but Deckard harkens back to an earlier time where consent wasn't really a thing. While I can appreciate a lot about how much this movie feels like it was ripped out of the 1940s, that's an element I'm not wild about.

Sean Young plays Rachael, a woman Deckard runs across and falls in love with. She is questioning her identity and is quickly revealed to be a replicant, the very kind of person Deckard is hunting down. She's not an incredibly interesting female character but I did like her contribution to the story. While she's not exactly a femme fatal in the traditional sense, she does come in and change Deckard's way of life immensely.

The villains of Blade Runner are actually really entertaining. They're off kilter and they're not what you would expect from a science fiction or noir film like this but I think that's what I like about them. They're kookoo bananas and a great foil to Deckard. The great way they use the noir style is that while these guys are crazy and come off as the villains, in the grand scheme of things, they're not actually evil. It creates a moral dilemma that affects the entire story. I really enjoyed how sympathetic and yet insane these guys were.

My overall feelings on Blade Runner is there are definitely great things in this film. As a fan of noir, I can really appreciate the cinematography, the style, and the influence this movie had on movies, books, games, and pop culture in general. However, after my first viewing I couldn't help but think that people maybe over hype this movie a little bit more than they should. At the end I saw it as a good film but not ground breaking. However, after thinking about it a little bit more, I could see myself watching this movie again and enjoying it every time I re-watch it.

The main problem I see with this movie is the pacing. On one hand I will say the pacing is perfect as it truly does capture the noir style. However, as a noir fan, I can say the pacing of a lot of noir films is mind numbingly slow and doesn't always work to the film's advantage. Blade Runner is an example of a film hitting the noir standard and running the risk of losing the audience's attention. There's a reason why noir is a little bit of an art form more than a mainstream accepted movie format. While technically the movie is executed in a particular way, doesn't mean it's necessarily a good film. I think many people feel this way about a movie like Citizen Kane. I've heard a lot of people claim that while Citizen Kane is technically masterful, they don't like the film because it's just about a newspaper tycoon.

Film is subjective. It's all about what is appealing to your likes and dislikes. Blade Runner, while a masterfully executed film, may end up putting you to sleep. There is a very good chance you will find this movie boring. A part of me does. But if you're into film making and want to see a really well made film with a pretty good story, you will find something unique in Blade Runner.

I foresee myself watching this movie again and probably doing a re-wind review later down the road. You can probably tell that I'm conflicted on this movie at the moment and my opinions may change but where it stands now, Blade Runner is an okay movie. Masterful technically speaking, but pacing and story drags a bit.

But those are my thoughts. What do you think? I know this is a divisive film already but what are your thoughts on it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for what I should review next on the blog. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Harrison Ford is usually a pretty stoic person but in this interview he laughs out loud and it is something I don't know if I've heard before, it's actually kind of beautiful. It gives me hope for the world. Enjoy!