July Monthly Review: Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982) (Patreon)

Blade Runner (1982) is synonymous with the Cyberpunk genre, and for good reason. Beyond a compelling narrative, where the film excels is setting a tone, a mood, a world. Not to mention proving the immortal power of rain as an aesthetic choice.

Set in a bleak future where Blade Runners retire replicants, the synthetic workers who make life off-world possible, Blade Runner follows the reckoning of one such enforcer, Deckard, and his crisis of faith as he falls in love with the unimaginable, Rachel, a replicant, in the process of investigating a rogue group of replicants aspiring for extended life who have made their way on-world. This plot, while compelling and complex, is not what make this film the touchstone for the Cyberpunk genre. Instead that honor goes to the more esoteric artistic elements that make this film a frequent flier of one perfect shot blogs.

Picture if you would, a Cyberpunk city. Were there cluttered, tall, monolithic buildings? A permanent rainy gloom only cut through by vivid neons? Was everyone wearing a trench coat or miniskirt and nothing inbetween? Congratulations, you’ve pictured the world of Blade Runner. While the Cyberpunk genre existed before the film’s release, Blade Runner is one of the first, and most successful, times it was imagined on-screen. Thanks in no small part to the stunning practical effects, and a whole lotta rain, it succeeded in setting the tone many subsequent imitators would try to capitalize on.

Let’s talk about those practical effects. Blade Runner is one of those movies that practically begs you to click over to the DVD “making of” feature. From the wirework used to make a car hover and fly, to the logic behind the oppressive downpour that dominates exterior scenes, Blade Runner is an excellent film to return to for an exploration of practical effects. While modern VFX are impressive feats in their own right, there is something tangible about practical effects that, when done right, hold up impeccably over time. In Blade Runner, there is a constant feeling that you are always one step away from walking out into the rain. When combined with the stellar tone-setting of the score and cinematography, it becomes simple to see why, even beyond the plot, this film is the originator of the modern cinematic conceptualization of Cyberpunk and has captured many imitators imaginations since. 

Tone in Blade Runner owes no small debt to the film’s art department, but I would be remiss if I did not mention the sound and cinematography crews as well. Vangelis’ score sounds like an enormous, weirdly booming cave. Disparate but well-timed echoing synths build on the contemplative and extended shots. Rarely does Blade Runner rush you out of a wide establishing shot, or forget to show the walk of it’s characters through the crowded streets. This stands in contrast to it's noir influences. Unlike the genre it clearly draws from, Blade Runner is in many ways, about the journey, not the destination. On paper, the plot of Blade Runner is the stuff of 80s action dreams, gritty and complex with plenty of foes to deck, but instead Ridley Scott allows the story to breathe, letting the audience stop and consider the more philosophical elements as they watch. We may not always find answers, but at least we’re allowed a moment to ponder.

Of course, while I may feel Blade Runner excels at tone-setting and aesthetics, the performances, directing, and writing combine for a perfectly enjoyable sci-fi story. A detective feature with enough noir elements to make the twists and chases compelling, and a role basically made for destined-grumpy-old-man Harrison Ford, Blade Runner provides enough substance to keep you watching to even take note of the more artful elements. At times, it may step into the abstract so much as to make the story confusing, particularly as the last act of the mystery unfolds. Personally, I love an open ended story, it invites you to step further into this world and find the truth for yourself, but Blade Runner is dancing a perilous jig in what it answers, and what it leaves the audience to contemplate. 

There is one last bit of cinema history you can’t ignore in any conversation about Blade Runner...which version is the real movie?! For this review, I was tasked with watching the Final Cut, which is the most recent, as of this review, cut released of the film. The Final Cut is notable in that it is the version with complete creative control from director Ridley Scott, and is not censored to meet any broadcast specifications. While it is the version I prefer to watch, it is not typically one of the versions brought up in the great narration controversy of earlier editions. In the initial US theatrical release from 1982, studio executives feared the esoteric nature of the film would be confusing to audiences, and so included instances of voice over from Harrison Ford to clarify the plot and give the film a happier ending. For years this was the only version of the film publicly available, until a Director’s Cut was accidentally released thanks to a working cut of the film being screened unintentionally in 1992. This version featured no happy ending additions, no additional voice over, and added the unicorn dream sequence. In the Director's and Final cuts, the film is more ambiguous, more about tone and lingering questions, which in this reviewers opinion, is only to the benefit of Blade Runner’s reputation. Filmmaking is, like many things, an art, and while I can’t agree that every film would be better if it just played as the director envisioned it, I respect the long history of editors saving films in post for that, in the case of Blade Runner, these Director's and Final cuts make the film more impactful. In my opinion, for a director’s cut to be worth releasing, the film has to actually have something to say. Without an intended message, additional released can only hope to provide more spectacle, and never add substance. 

While it’s not going to be a film for everyone, as is often the case with genre pieces, Blade Runner deserves all the reputation it carries in the Cyberpunk game. Aesthetics that have influenced films in sci fi and beyond, performances and lines that live in the cultural zeitgeist, and a world that spawned a very successful sequel (more on that in the Blade Runner 2049 Moviestruck episode), Blade Runner earns every ounce of its reputation.

8/10 Tears in the Rain