I finally got to watch Blade Runner.

freepizza wrote:I feel like I'm going to be able to watch this more times and pull out something new.

Guaranteed

Glad to see you loved Blade Runner, it's truly one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, and has influenced countless of movies after it. Did you watch the Final Cut version?

It is my favourite movie, as you can probably tell my by avatar.

Yeah! This film is the defintion of the word art.
I ´ve seen it endless times throughout the years and I´ll never get bored of the film.
Just pure fascination!

By the way: This may be a rather unusual perspective(or maybe not?) but I really liked Harrison Fords and Rutger Hauers comments from the off in the pre - directors cut version. Anybody else?

You mean the voice-overs from the theatrical version? I really disliked them, but each to his own I guess.

I've watched both the original and the director's cut and liked both. The original with the narration seemed to explain everything too much, without the narration the movie slows down quite a bit. One of these days I'm going to have to check out the final cut.

I like both the original theatrical version with voiceovers and the directors cut ( Still haven´t bought the boxset with the final cut, but i will). I think the reason why I prefer the voiceovers a bit is that that method seemed pretty film noirish . Plus when I first saw Blade Runner on TV like in 1995 it was the original voice over version, so i recorded that version and I had seen it pretty often until i bought the directors cut when it got released on DVD,I probably felt that something was missing since i was so used to the old version, but the version without voiceover probably intentionally enforces the whole Deckard=replicant theory . However , a timeless masterpiece no matter what cut!

Yes, very good movie... Has anyone Played the Game??? I thought it was a pretty good game...

A truly great movie indeed. Harrison Ford was right to complain years later that it could've been much more than a cult movie. It's a wonder Rutger Hauer wasn't cast in much better roles after this performance too. It was great to see him back to back in Sin City and Batman Begins, where he proved beyond doubt he hasn't lost his creepy touch.

It spawned a terrific game as well. Good mood, intriguing story line, if not a bit too close to the movie, and one of the rare games to achieve a near-perfect balance with multiple endings. I remember playing it with my brother, both with our separate games, and while progressing at the same rhythm we had so many varying details throughout the game the experience was truly entertaining.

This may interest Jim, assuming he's lurking around here somewhere:

Blade Runner - The Final Cut (not to be confused with the Director's Cut) will be playing on the Big Screen at the Main Art Theater in Royal Oak on Friday and Saturday, July 18 and 19 at Midnight.

Check it out.

VonGlower wrote:but the version without voiceover probably intentionally enforces the whole Deckard=replicant theory . However , a timeless masterpiece no matter what cut!

It doesn't enforce it. The thing about the voice overs is that they were forcibly added by the publishers (along with the horrible happy ending) after preview screenings where the audience didn't have a clue what the movie was about. The thing about the director's cut and the final cut is that they add scenes vital to explaining wether Deckard is a replicant or not (and if you have seen/read interviews with Ridley, or read the book, you know the answer to this ).

By the way, another plus about Final Cut is that it comes with a 3.5 (yes!) hour long documentary called Dangerous Days (the first title of the movie). If any of you are so much fans you have read "Future Noir" by Paul M. Sammon, it contains a lot of information from that book, but also huge amounts of new information about the making of the movie in forms of interviews with crews and cast, etc.

The other plus about Final Cut (regarding the ultimate collector's edition) is:
- Comes with 5 versions of the film: 1982 U.S. Theatrical Version, 1982 International Version , 1992 Director´s Cut, Final Cut, and the rare Workprint Version
- If you have a bluray system, all 5 versions of the film is in high def
- Even on plain DVD, the Final Cut version (also the non-ultimate) is in much better quality than the original Director's Cut DVD
- Huge amounts of extras, not just Dangerous Days when it comes to the ultimate edition
- Not to mention that Final Cut is a perfected version of the movie (it adds a few scenes not in Director's Cut or any other version, it fixes some visual effect errors, etc)

Frank wrote:It spawned a terrific game as well. Good mood, intriguing story line, if not a bit too close to the movie, and one of the rare games to achieve a near-perfect balance with multiple endings.

Actually the game is much closer to the book than the movie, so all three parts (book, movie, game) expand on each other. If you haven't read it yet, I definitively recommend you do ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick).

Philip K. Dick writes very intelligent sci-fi which often deals with aspects of psychology. He also wrote the story for the movies Total Recall, Impostor, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and others.

And Paycheck. And Next.

Ahh, Blade Runner. A classic from 1982.

Just like me!

-Fred

I didn't like the game for one main reason. I spent half the time playing it trying to figure out what I was supposed to do next. It was nice that they decided to make the game provide a new experience every time you played, but I still ended up wandering to every panel of the game trying to figure out where I was supposed to go and getting no where. After that I would load up a first person shooter and cap some fools.

oldmurphy wrote: It doesn't enforce it. The thing about the voice overs is that they were forcibly added by the publishers (along with the horrible happy ending) after preview screenings where the audience didn't have a clue what the movie was about. The thing about the director's cut and the final cut is that they add scenes vital to explaining wether Deckard is a replicant or not (and if you have seen/read interviews with Ridley, or read the book, you know the answer to this ).

You´re right. My mistake was the use of the word "intentionally ". I know why the voice overs were in the theatrical version, to me the directors cut just builded up a bigger distance between Deckard and the viewer, what made him seem "less human".
I do know some interviews with Ridley and his ideas about the whole replicant thing

I liked the game a lot and especially for a fan of the book and film, the whole world in the game felt very organic. For example that part with the faked cops in the game, correct me If i´m wrong but as far as I remember that was in Phillip K. Dicks book.

For example that part with the faked cops in the game, correct me If i´m wrong but as far as I remember that was in Phillip K. Dicks book.

Yes. That was in the book.

You're right to say they all complete each other rather nicely, and I'd add that put together they give quite an experience. I really only said the game was similar because after saying it was a compelling story I guess one could argue the raw material was already there and all they had to do was add meat to the bone structure. Regardless, compared to the insane amount of horrible games derived from movies, they did quite the job with Blade Runner, and took full advantage of the medium. After all, a game has the possibility to be much more compelling than a movie, with the only problem that its rhythm is affected by the player.

The author was an intriguing, strange and rather ingenious person, and while we'll never really know how he felt about his movie adaptations, I think at least Blade Runner gave justice to his work. Total Recall wasn't too shabby either, it just lacked the depth to make your mind implode the way BR did.