Blade Runner?

I recently saw Blade Runner, expecting to love it because
>neo-noir
>sci-fi
>Philip K. Dick
Aaaand it was only OK? I maybe missing the point of the film, and am totally open to discussion, I just want to understand the love for this film. It's got good music and visuals but I feel like it really drags at times, and that the themes that people often like to attach to it are wildly more complex than either the writer or Ridley Scott intended. Again, I'm no film buff or major critic, just trying to understand this movie that I want to like so much.

>mfw this thread will be lost like tears in rain

I never really got why did they make androids with emotions and personalities in the first place. If you can create slaves isn't better to just have them be faceless robots or something

>Aaaand it was only OK?
I don't know, you tell me.

I feel the same way. In particular it feels like Harrison Ford doesn't really know what he's supposed to be conveying. Also the themes of the book take a back seat to the adventuring-detective turned almost action-movie until the monologue at the end.

What version did you watch?

I think (and most fans do) that the theatrical cut is just meh. Its really got some serious issues with it, namely the changed ending and the terrible Ford voice overs they forced him to record last minute.

The directors/final cuts are amazing though, and that improved version is one of my favorite films ever.

The ending was underwhelming. I still don't know why Billy Batts chased Deckard all over that crumbling mansion with the intent of killing him, just to save him at the end. Or rather, I understand why he saved Deckard, but not why he was previously trying to kill him. Didn't help that it was totally cartoonish the way he was howling and crashing through bookshelves and walls like a scooby doo character. That whole climax felt shoehorned, like some execs criticized the movie for not having enough action, so they decided to have Batty running around like a madman through walls.

faggot

The opinions of a retarded 90's born faggot mean less than nothing. Like tears in the rain.

He wasn't trying to kill Deckard. He was just teasing him, sort of messing with him while slowly coming to terms with his own death.

If Roy really wanted to kill him he could have done it much earlier in that climax.

I watched the Final Cut, and it was in theatres no less.

You have to watch each version of the film a minimum of 3 times each.

The first time for a vague, but enjoyable view of the story and aesthetics.
The second time for a deeper look at the story and how it ties into the aesthetics.
And a final time to fully understand both the story and the visuals and how they compliment each other.

So the climax boils down to "it was just a prank, bro"

watch it like 5 more times over a span of 5 years you will learn to like it like the rest of us.

Is this the consensus, or your view? I'm willing to watch it again, I'm just wondering if multiple viewings is the norm to fully appreciate this film

Come on, OP asked for people to describe how the film makes them feel and you attack him instead of just describing what you love about Blade Runner? Really doesn't help or make you look mature.

Ah, well, personally as OP said the music and cinematography and set design and entire aesthetic were really nice. I loved all of that. As far as the actual narrative goes, I think that the story does a good job creating sympathetic characters dealing with something we all deal with: our own mortality. But the irony here is that the characters struggling to come to terms with mortality are artificial life forms who, while are intelligent, lack the emotional maturity to deal with their inevitable death.

It ends up commenting on things such as what it means to be a human, and humanities relationship to death compared to that of a machine's and where the lines blur, and i think thats a neat little idea for a movie to explore.

I'm guessing this is why the film had mixed reception upon initial release, but is now considered a masterpiece. I'm not really into movies that require multiple viewings to fully comprehend, but I'll watch Blade Runner again

Not OP here, I think I watched a truncated version of the theatrical cut. I'll have to watch the final cut sometime. Thanks for the heads up

It had a mixed reception upon release because the theatrical cut sucked. The director's cut is what saved it.

That's... hmm

Watch the final cut. It is pure kino. Better than theatrical and directors cut.

It took me a couple viewings to get into Blade Runner.

The first viewing was late at night and I was too damn tired to watch the entire thing. I felt bored and uninterested by it but dug the music and appreciated its visual flair.

The second viewing years down the line ended up with me completely loving it, and became a rare instant favourite. It's a top 5 film for me.

The one criticism that I do feel is somewhat fair against it is that it's definitely not a film where you can necessarily relate to the characters. I don't myself, but my interest in them comes from observing them and how fascinating they are.

Give it another go to soak in the story and its themes. You already dig the technical side of the film, you may find yourself enjoying it more on a second viewing like it was for most people.

You can pose the same question to reality. Why do us humans keep trying to make more human like robots if in the end we will just want to use them for service/slave job positions.

Think about that. We have the world's top scientist now trying to create AI that can feel and learn and have emotional responses to things. And then we have other scientist trying to make slavebots and sex machines. This is NOT a good idea and yet our species is heading down this path.

>"it was just a prank, bro"
kill yourself

Interesting. One thing that completely escaped me on the first viewing was the christian metaphors (replicants are angels, Zhora's gunshot wounds are like torn wings, nail in Batty's hand). Do you think that also plays into the humanity/death theme?

they arent androids they are just genetically modified humans with a built in life cycle

are you pranking me?

>themes that people often like to attach to it are wildly more complex than either the writer or Ridley Scott intended.

that's exactly what it is, people looking far too deep into the themes, there's nothing that complex going on, just a bunch of idiots reaching, kind of like the morons who over analyze the shining and start seeing minotaurs.

it's a visually nice looking movie with good music, but it doesn't have much else going for it. harrison ford is terrible in it. i've watched it three or four times, each time thinking it will finally click, but it never has.

I think the reason is because perhaps human emotion and personality are what differentiate us, and what makes it so intelligent. Perhaps for robots to do jobs more and more complex they need to become more and more intelligent, and maybe intelligence is limited by emotional capacity. Just a thought, sorry if that sounds really pretentious and dumb

Many didn't have emotions. The ones that did were designed to mimic them as a form of advanced UI, to make them more attractive for their Human masters. It's the same principle behind having Siri or Google return replies in nonformalistic, more human language.

The question Blade Runner asks, is what's the difference between a perfect mimic and the real thing? If an android mimics emotions perfectly (and these did so well enough that it took extremely obscure testing to discover fakes), do they not just have emotions?

i just watched it the other night. was floored by the visuals alone. great movie.

i read the book and didn't like it that much. if you didn't like the movie i suggest you go read ubik and three stigmata by PKD, they are much better stories and way more interesting.

I don't have a popular opinion about it but, I think you have to watch it with Deckard narrating it. Part of what I really love about Blade Runner is the musical score and the atmosphere of the film, Then there's the ultimate scene (which you have a part of in the image) that is sort of this out there idea that the book it's based upon was about. The movie was sort of asking, "how less or more than human are they?"

I actually genuinely dislike blade runner, but I fell in love with the book and read the book first so the movie just didn't live up to expectations.