Why Blade Runner can work in today's cinema - and tomorrow's as well
This review (spoilers ahead) of the film ‘Blade Runner’ is being written because it showed beautifully the same concept and story that I first read about ten years ago by a writer who had never seen the film. A concept that looks at cyborgs as human – exploring their feelings and thoughts of being brought to life, and then being ceasing to be alive.
The film begins in a truly Sci-Fi way. Life on Earth with human-like androids as labour. Only, it ends as a film on humanity. Director Ridley Scott throws in questions of the eternal ‘Meaning of existence’ as well as question on ‘the Maker’. It further ponders the use of technology, how things can go wrong and what the consequences of our actions lead to.
The effects used manage to display the era of destruction caused by humans yet doesn’t overshadow the storyline and character interpretation. For while we see cars that float and biomechanical toys, they never once steal the spotlight from Deckard, the Blade Runner assigned to kill off the escaped cyborgs nor does the strength and agility of the cyborgs themselves steal the show of the feelings they experienced.
Cyborg Roy Batty summed it up when he talks about the things he’s seen that humans on earth hadn’t. The experience that will disappear with him when he retires, as though they had never happened.
Though it was not received well when it was first released in 1982, it eventually –and most deservedly - gained cult status as a film that transcends time. By mixing up the eras, a dash of futurism and a sprinkling of a bygone era – most notably the 40s – Ridley Scott succeeded in creating a piece that will be enjoyed for years.
Roy Batty in his best cyborg moment
