When the Directors Cut of Blade Runner was finally released to region 2 audiences, it was quick to appear in my DVD rack. I hadn’t previously seen the film, and always felt quite ashamed about it. When I finally got round to watching it I thought ‘It’s good’ and so it went back onto the shelf. 5 months later and I get a peice of film studies coursework titled ‘Explore the use of genre, narrative and iconography in a 10 minute extract from a film of your choice’ After a few days thinking about this and watching scenes from various differant epics such as Once upon a time in the West to name one of the few, it then dawned upon me that Blade Runner had been starring me in the face the whole time. What better film to write this essay on than a sleek mixture of glossy Sci-Fi and dark, dirty noir.
After finishing watching it for the third time a few days ago, it has gone up somewhat in my hierachy of great films. Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer are great as the ‘grissled detective’ and the ‘dominating menace’ with the rest of the supporting cast also chipping in good performances. Scott’s direction is beyond superlatives as he creates a story with incredible depth.
It’s a real shame that the disc Blade Runner comes on isn’t a bit broader. It’s a pretty basic DVD with just the ‘directors cut’ version of the film and the standard options. I was really hoping for some more insight into the making of this masterpiece. If you are one of the few like I was and have not yet seen Blade Runner I urge you to go out and buy it now! now! now!
Rating 5/5
