Blade Runner I

[Supr49er]

Blade Runner is pretty timeless. It holds up very well.

[Nostromo]

The first blu-ray I got was the complete collector's edition. The final cut looks amazing!

[Hueij]

Not going to respond to Speer, life is too short...

What's all this about a remake of Blade Runner I keep hearing? If it has Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves in it and if it is dumbed down so that even Speer can understand it then it will be awesome :b

[Solomwi]

If you get the special edition version of the blue ray then you learn that Tyrell really was a replicant, that the real Tyrell died three years ago but his body was crygenically frozen in hopes a cure would be found, and he made the replicant Tyrell to carry on the work. To me the unicorn dream along with the unicorn motif which keep popping up in the movie (including in the nerdy genetic designers ruined building) pretty much seals the deal that Deckard is a replicant. Especially when you remember the picture scene where the girl compares her family pictures to his family pictures. That said, I suppose it could just be an attempt by the director to make us think about how the replicants aren't all that different from humans... Still, did you notice how Deckard wouldn't answer the question about if he ever took the response test?

That, in a nutshell, is the difference between the ambiguity in Blade Runner and that in Total Recall. Was Arnie on vacation or a freedom fighter? Who gives a ****, ultimately. It was a fun movie, but the ambiguous question is one layer deep. Maybe you can get a kick out of puzzling out clues or putting together theories, but the goal is the answer. It doesn't lead to deeper questions. Blade Runner, on the other hand, does, regardless whether you ultimately think Deckard was a replicant. What's the functional difference between a "real" human, and a robot built so well that you can't tell the difference? At what point do they become, for all intents, human? If the robots are that human, do we owe them the same ethical duties we owe each other? Can we place the same ethical responsibilities on them? Did Roy Batty (or do the next generation of Roy Battys) really need to be engineered to die after just a few years? Etc., etc. Not to mention Batty is one of the best antagonists ever. Note to George Lucas: that's how you make a villain worthy of redemption, not with a sudden about-face at the end.

[Lorizael]

This thread's discussion reminds me of a blog post I wrote almost two years ago... when I still wrote a blog.

[Dinner]

I like the Tannhauser Gate reference, Lori.

[Al B. Sure!]

That, in a nutshell, is the difference between the ambiguity in Blade Runner and that in Total Recall. Was Arnie on vacation or a freedom fighter? Who gives a ****, ultimately. It was a fun movie, but the ambiguous question is one layer deep. Maybe you can get a kick out of puzzling out clues or putting together theories, but the goal is the answer. It doesn't lead to deeper questions. Blade Runner, on the other hand, does, regardless whether you ultimately think Deckard was a replicant. What's the functional difference between a "real" human, and a robot built so well that you can't tell the difference? At what point do they become, for all intents, human? If the robots are that human, do we owe them the same ethical duties we owe each other? Can we place the same ethical responsibilities on them? Did Roy Batty (or do the next generation of Roy Battys) really need to be engineered to die after just a few years? Etc., etc. Not to mention Batty is one of the best antagonists ever. Note to George Lucas: that's how you make a villain worthy of redemption, not with a sudden about-face at the end.

Yawn... wake me when there are actual androids running around and this discussion will mean something.

Tell me, do you get similar deep wonderings from a movie like Short Circuit?

[dannubis]

Replace robots with racism. Has the discussion now enough practical meaning for you ?

[Al B. Sure!]

Replace robots with racism. Has the discussion now enough practical meaning for you ?

I wasn't aware treating all races like human beings was an ethical question.

[dannubis]

Then why doesn't it happen ?

Not expecting an answer on this one but it is a valid general question and in this way the movie provokes thinking about observed behavour (preferably your own actions).

[Al B. Sure!]

Then why doesn't it happen ?

Not expecting an answer on this one but it is a valid general question and in this way the movie provokes thinking about observed behavour (preferably your own actions).

Yawn... this has been done to death in a million movies. What makes Blade Runner special in this regard?

[dannubis]

Because it was done... VERY NICELY.

[Al B. Sure!]

Because it was done... VERY NICELY.

[giblets]

Yawn... this has been done to death in a million movies. What makes Blade Runner special in this regard?

Yawn... there have been lots of movies about a journey to some faraway land. What make the Wizard of Oz special in this regard?

[Al B. Sure!]

Yawn... there have been lots of movies about a journey to some faraway land. What make the Wizard of Oz special in this regard?

Judy Garland