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I have a few movies like that, but blade runner is definitely one of them. Another somewhat similar, yet also completely different film for me is Gattaca.
I think both for similar reasons, that I can’t quite put my finger on
Dystopian movie itch
Damn. Now I’m going to have to watch Gattaca again.
Fun story. The first time I ever saw Gattaca was in my high school ceramics class. There wasn’t time to run the kiln before the school year ended and there were no requirements for the teacher for the last week of school, and it was an alternative (bad kid) school so he knew we were cool, so he just put Gattaca on to watch because it was one of his favorite movies, then it became one of my favorite movies. That dude was rad.
I’ve never seen it. I’m 43 and I’ve wanted to, just… never did. But I found a copy of the final cut on BluRay for like $7 the other day and will probably finally watch it this weekend some time. I’m actually pretty stoked.
I am so fucking excited for you, experiencing Blade Runner for the first time is such an enviable situation to be in.
I get the same itch for Aliens
I find myself watching Blade Runner every few years and each time I end up finding new details about the film I hadn’t noticed before. The last time through I took a bunch of screenshots and sketched them in oil pastel. Also for whatever reason watching it usually kicks off a months long obsession with the cyberpunk genre as a whole.
IDK I feel like I never really enjoyed Blade Runner as much as I should have. Like so much Sci-Fi, it’s pure setting. They did a 10/10 job on the setting. But the actual plot is pretty meh, I don’t really care if he’s a robot or not.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but learn how to watch a movie you stupid fucking piece of shit.
Really, though, yeah, it’s very much a setting and world building kind of story before it even tries to be anything else. I love it all around, but I can definitely see where you’re coming from. A good lot of sci-fi is more focused on setting, theming, and world building more than any kind of independent story within it, unless it’s something that gets a lot of continuity to build a story and characters in the framework of the world that can be more of a focus than the world itself, like Star Wars or Star Trek. 2049, I think, did a better job at making a character story since the original did so much to establish the world it was happening in, but I also just get a hard on for world building.
That first sentence made me laugh out loud, thank you XD
For me the huge problem whith Blade Runner is Vangelis’s music. Other than that I really like this movie.
I guess I can see how it might feel overscored to some, but there’s definitely nothing wrong with music in isolation. Describing it as a huge problem feels like hyperbole.
Yes, although for me it’s 2049 rather than the original.
2049 is fucking amazing. It was a razor’s edge they were walking choosing to even do that movie, if they had gotten even a bit wrong it could have ruined everything, but they did it right and it’s just as good as the original, which is a high as fuck bar to reach.
I do watch Alien for what I think might be similar reasons.
The set design and world building in those movies is unreal. The big chunky buttons, the clack and whirs of the computer drives spinning up, the analog screens, the hard molded plastic feel of everything…
For me BladeRunner (Final Cut) is joined with Sicario, Heat (1995), Léon (Version Intégrale), and No Country for Old Men
Indomitable people facing nightmares with guns.
All are part of my “men with guns” film festival.
Since you seem like a good person to ask, which version of the movie do you watch when you’re craving a watch?
From Wikipedia:
Ridley Scott’s Final Cut (2007, 117 minutes) or the 25th-Anniversary Edition, briefly released by Warner Bros. Pictures theatrically on October 5, 2007 and then released on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray in December 2007 (UK December 3; US December 18) is the only version over which Ridley Scott had artistic control, as the Director’s Cut production did not place Scott in charge.
So I prefer the Final Cut when it’s available, or any other cut without the voice-over.
Not Op but the Final cut is generally the one i watch. I also own the director cut though.
The directors cut gets the job done, but final cut is my go to.
I’m not going to lie, I read your title as ‘Blade’ and not ‘Blade Runner’ and came to the comments to agree.
Also a good choice, also on my list.
You mispelled “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension”.
Some other movies that also help that itch for me are; Dredd(12), Mario Bros(93), Mute(18), Ghost in the Shell(95),
I get what you mean, but I can’t watch it because of the at-best coersive sex scene … that makes me feel nauseous.
at-best coersive sex scene
I can see how someone might feel that way depending on their background, but it’s not necessarily so.
Of course, understanding that likely requires experience with certain kinds of consensual power dynamic, which not everyone has. I suppose that makes the scene’s direction a bit of a risk in how the audience will interpret it.
What, within the text of the film, indicates to you that there is some sort of consensual power-play happening between those two characters (who are on, what, their third ever meeting?) during that scene?
Like sure, slap-slap/kiss-kiss isn’t inherently assault in every context, but, in the film’s context, I find it difficult to read it any other way. Even taking the physical coercion out of it, like blocking her attempts to leave, if we take the movie at face value, Deckard is a 40 something alcoholic who “falls in love” with a woman A) he knows is artificial, B) lacks any real experience with the world, and C) is going to be hunted by men like him. The sum effect of which is to paint Rachel as someone who would be completely and utterly dependent upon him if they ran away together. That, in combination with his physical actions leading up to their sex scene, paints Deckard as an abuser, in my opinion.
I’m sure that wasn’t necessarily the intent. Rather, they were just playing with the same film noir tropes that festoon the rest of the movie, but, still, that dynamic really puts a sour taste in my mouth. Not enough to prevent me from enjoying everything else about the movie, but it bears mentioning.
I wish I had that way of thinking. Sadly i barely rewatch anything. Not that there aren’t movies I love, especially Bladerunner. It’s just that I can’t get out of the mindset that theres so many other movies to watch or see and its probably best to invest that time into discovering something new. Also yes, it doesn’t have to be something new just new to me.
I guess the only movie I remember rewatching over and over was Jurassic Park. I was probably like 12 and i remember watching it like once a day for that entire summer break and it was fantastic.
Well, I’ve never watched it so I’d say no.
Bless your heart.
