683. Blade Runner (1982)

Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: Hampton Fancher, David Webb Peoples, Roland Kibbee, from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Main Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah
Click here to view the trailer

SUCK-FI

Couple things: I'm about four page views away from hitting 400,000 page views, so thanks for that, even though a quarter of those are probably from myself. Also, I wanted to let everyone know to keep an eye to the blog, as I MAY be popping in sometime soon with a SINS OF OMISSION post, adding one or two or ten movies to my personal 1,000 list, perhaps...

Anyway...Blade Runner...ugh...

Let's tackle the plot and then I'll tell you how much I hated it and then we can both get on with our lives. If you're a fan of Blade Runner, maybe you want to stop reading now, because my review won't be favorable, I promise. So the plot is actually pretty straight forward and actually, on paper, sounds pretty good. So there's these four replicants, right - which is basically the same as saying there's these four robots, because that's pretty much what replicants are - robots passing themselves off as humans. How do you spot a replicant? Well you give it this test and ask it these questions and if it's a replicant it eventually freaks out and goes ape shit. Anyway, we're getting off base here: There's these four replicants who are on the loose and need to be brought to be retired (killed). The police come knocking of former police officer and number one replicant killer, Deckard (Ford). He resists at first, but eventually takes the gig and begins hunting down the robots. The four are: Leon, Zhora, Pris (Hannah) and their leader, Batty (Hauer). And actually, through the course of events, there comes to be a fifth that needs retired, Rachael (Young), whom Deckard has already formed an emotional attachment to, as she saves his life at one point. After that, I couldn't tell you what the hell was going on here, because I mentally checked out at about the one hour mark, as I'd had enough and knew this was something I really wasn't taking to. Beyond that point, I just started looking at the images and thinking how bad ass Daryl Hannah's career has been, as she was easily the most cool looking replicant - the black eyed Pris who nearly squeezed Harrison's Ford head off with her thighs all the while sporting a certified insane look on her face, plus she's played a mermaid and Elle Driver and probably a bunch of other cool stuff that I'm totally forgetting.

Should I start out by telling you about how much I detest Harrison Ford? Why? I don't really know, but man, I just can't stand the guy. Is it because I've seen him in interviews and think he comes off like a dick or is it something else? I honestly do not know, but I don't like Indiana Jones, I don't like Star Wars and honestly, I can't think of a single Harrison Ford movie that I even like, let alone "really like" or "love". Okay, The Fugitive was okay, but it didn't blow me away or anything. Fine, The Conversation was AMAZING, but certainly not because of his bit part. Anyway, I'm getting carried away here....

Anyone who didn't KNOW I wasn't going to like this, hasn't been paying attention. Since the inception of this blog, I've preached my dislike for the genre that is sci-fi and this is the king of all sci-fi movies and damn, I hated it. Okay, so maybe even I didn't KNOW I was going to dislike it. Hell, I dug 2001: A Space Odyssey and more recently, I liked District 9 enough. Actually I had high hopes for this considering it has such a cult following and considering it had fine actors such as Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hannah in it. I'd just seen Hauer in The Hitcher (great little horror movie) and I liked him quite a bit in Turkish Delight as well, last season. And honestly, the plot SOUNDED good. Ex-officer reenlisted to hunt down four/five robots and eliminate them. However, was it just me or did they get way off base? Like I said, I kind of checked out at a certain point, but things seemed to be really muddled and there seemed to be much more to the movie than just Ford hunting down the rogue replicants. Also why does every futuristic world look the same? Video screens in telephone booths, flying cars, all that bullshit. I realize this was like the start of that idea and Scott basically invented all this and it became the blueprint for all future sci-fi movies, but I'm judging it on it's own, against my personal tastes and I can't stand all that futuristic STUFF! Why couldn't Deckard and his replicants existed in a sort of 1950s, Robert Mitchum-ish world, without the flying cars and the giant LCD Coca-Cola ads. I think it would've been better to bring the film more down to Earth and give it a more realistic feel and then introduce these robots. But what do I know, I'm just a Joe sitting in his boxers, writing a review. I'm a geek behind a computer screen, so don't take my word for it, as Levar Burton would say.

If you liked this, good on you - I'm glad! I didn't and have no qualms about saying so. It had a disadvantage from the get go, being a sci-fi movie, a genre I don't like. I'm just glad I've seen it and it's over with and now I can move on. I don't have any really good reasons for not liking it, other than I just didn't like it. I felt like the plot was good, but literally EVERYTHING else about it ruined it from being as good as it could've been. I have a feeling the book is much better, as I feel like my imagination could do this film more justice than Ridley Scott could. Philip K. Dick died in 1982, so he never got to see the finished product. I really wonder what he'd have thought of this. Anyway, that's my two cents...

RATING: 2.5/10  I'll give it a few points, but that's a more than fair representation of my opinion of this movie. Sorry for blathering on and on and maybe not really saying much more than "I didn't like it", but that's how this movie left me feeling: with not much to say other than I DIDN'T LIKE IT!

MOVIES WATCHED: 926
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 75

June 15, 2015  10:50am