Blade Runner

I’m not sure if I have ever seen anything like it. Scott’s Blade Runner is so different that it’s even hard to compare it with Dick’s novel. There are so many differences between the original book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and the film interpretation that it’s not at all worth trying to compare it. Nevertheless, most of the characters and part of the plot are the same. I must say that the dreamy, ambient atmosphere that pervades the whole movie made my eyes heavy with drowsiness and I almost fell asleep. Vangelis’ magical music augmented that sleepy feeling even more but I lasted out :-). The nearer it gets to the end, the more absorbing and thrilling the picture becomes. Furthermore a lot of existential questions and debates concerning the relation of an android with his “death" (my favorite topic). The special effects are completely revolutionary considering when the movie was made. In short, Blade Runner is an unusual movie which won’t appeal to the audience as easily as it seemed at first glance. (10/10/2006)

I said to myself: "Don't turn it on. You're up early tomorrow. Can’t you hear school calling? You need to get some sleep. It's nine o'clock. If you press play, you won't turn off the computer until eleven. Hardly a full night's sleep! So be a good girl and turn it off." I replied to my schizophrenic self: "Okay," and pressed play. Often when I go to bed with a head full of questions, I wake up refreshed in the morning. What is it, I wonder? Tomorrow – and I know this for a fact – I will be rested. For I've had a few bugs planted in my head. I'll lie in bed with my eyes closed and reflect on what a wondrous world I've visited. I ask myself: "Their world was so artificial that it seemed the only living creature on the planet was human. What was left there for such a person?" And my other self answers pointedly: "Feelings. Emotions." Then I run my fingers over my temples. "Maybe that's why they wanted to kill the replicants. That even the last real thing they had was appropriated by organometallic compounds, if I put it that way." I fall asleep thinking about that dark and rainy world. Weird. I still don't understand what’s making me give the movie 4 stars. I'm confused – I feel nothing. Just neurons transmitting impulses. Maybe it's because Blade Runner gave me inspiration. It gives me something to dream about, think about, and write about (and damn do I love doing that!). Still; it was so morose... (11/09/2008)

A sci-fi cult-classic for true connoisseurs. I remember years ago when I was at the premiere of the Director's Cut, there were three of us sitting in the cinema. Enjoying the visual beauty of Blade Runner on the big screen back then was a completely different experience than a cropped image on TV. It's not easy viewing, it's not popcorn entertainment. The whole film follows an ambient mood that has to be felt. And if you see Blade Runner with perfect sound, you can really enjoy Vangelis' masterful soundtrack and catch the various sonic flourishes in some scenes, like all sorts of whispering or ambient sounds that add to the mood of the film. Ridley Scott created a fascinating, dark, futuristic world, and even if he hadn’t made anything else after that, he would still have been an immortal director. (05/26/2002)

I think I already know why I didn’t think the Blade Runner was my cup of tea when I first saw it. It is a visual orgy without a hint of emotions. Harrison Ford, who usually plays a hundred percent lovable characters, is in this movie almost invisible. In his case, it is a completely different role, which the audience may not like, but it fits perfectly into the visually precisely sketched future, which really enchanted me. (10/09/2017)

Wonderful atmosphere, great execution that makes it look a quarter of its age, excellent actors, several very intense scenes, but terribly boring at the same time. This is what the old cliché of form over substance looks like. Blade Runner failed to win me over, even after a recent second chance (2011). (01/15/2009)