Blade Runner – The Future is 4 Years Ago

Do bloggers dream of REM sleep? Yes.

I’ll pass it over to Tori right away to give her thoughts on Ridley Scott’s science fiction extravaganza.

Pre-viewing:

I vaguely know that this movie is somewhat futuristic. Beyond that, I have no knowledge of this movie except that it is wildly popular and often included on people’s “top movies” lists.

Post-viewing:

I don’t get it. I didn’t hate the film… but I also didn’t like it. It was fine. I don’t get the hype that comes with this movie. It took us approximately five hours to watch this two-hour film because our viewing kept getting interrupted. Perhaps if we had watched it completely uninterrupted, I would have enjoyed it better…? I had a really hard time staying focused and I was confused about what was happening on more than one occasion. 

It was interesting to see what the imagination in 1982 thought that the year 2019 would look like. Alas, no flying cars… yet. But I bet criminal investigations would move along a lot faster with that photograph-viewing technology. 

I also noticed that this film had Jawa-like creatures in it, so I thought fondly of Star Wars for a bit. That was a high point for me. 

All in all, this movie felt a bit like a fever dream for me. There were times when I thought I was watching clips of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era in Moonage Daydream. 

Nick’s thoughts:

I had seen the theatrical version of this a few years back, and I wasn’t really a fan. This time, we watched the Final Cut and while I did like it a lot more, I still didn’t love it.

The visuals and score are incredible. Maybe perfect. The world feels so full and real throughout the film, down to the costumes of the extras.

I’m in awe at how good this looks

However, the story leaves a lot to be desired. It’s very confusing at times, especially as the film goes on. Harrison Ford’s character of Rick Deckard was also very boring, and had very little depth to him despite Ford’s performance. The most interesting characters were everyone else.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie a fair amount. I’ve never seen Blade Runner: 2049 but I certainly would like to now. Like Tori, I am a little confused as to why this film is so culturally significant, but I suspect in 1982 it was even more impressive than I can comprehend in the 21st century.

That’s all for this week! But come back next Wednesday as I introduce Tori to a true film school classic.

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