Wow, Blade Runner (1982) Got me Thinking! | *First Time Watching* Movie Reaction & Commentary
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
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My first time watching Blade Runner (1982)! This wasn't at all what I expected. I didn't wake up today planning to think so deeply about what it means to truly live, thanks Blade Runner! I hope you enjoyed my Blade Runner movie reaction & commentary!
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Original Movie: Blade Runner (1982)
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When you said, "what if we found out we were made by other humans?" I responded, "but we ARE all made by other humans," and my hubby spit out his drink, laughing. Roy's "tears" speech always gets me. It resonated, like when I read the novel, so I got a little teary when I saw Blade Runner the first time. New stuff to embroider an old story. Good reaction. Looking forward to the next.
🤣 you’re right about that! Haha. We are indeed. That speech was really powerful!
It wasn't in the novel. Rutger Haur wrote it himself. "Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep", Phillip K. DICK. It wasn't in it.
Roy's body is dying, he's already outlived the 4 years, his hand closing was it dying/shutting down (like how a spider curls up when it dies), so he stuck the nail in to try to force the 'nerves' to respond and keep functioning. His speech in the rain still gives me shivers, so impactful.
Truly incredible speech! 👏👏
@@CasualNerdReactions You know Rutger Hauer rewrote some of it himself ? He always played down how much but the original screenwriter always maintained it was "significant".
@@CasualNerdReactions Hi !. It's probably the most famous scene. As far as I'm concerned; I bought the soundtrack three years ago and it's amazing. It had been conducted by Vangelis who also conducted the soundtrack from "Christophe Columbus"; another movie directed by Ridley Scott. It was in a movie theater near my home three years ago but you can also borrow it to the library which is not very far from the movie theater.
@@CasualNerdReactions Harrison Ford said yes; his character is a replicant. The white horse is probably a fake memory.
@@CasualNerdReactions Have you ever heard the soundtrack ?. If not; you should try.
I have always thought that Ridley Scott's strongest point, as a director, is the world design of his movies. For Blade Runner, he made the genius move to hire futurist designer Syd Mead (who also worked on the 1982 Tron) as concept artist, and Greek electronic composer/musician Vangelis for the soundtrack. The combination of all these incredible talents in Blade Runner has created a real milestone in the way artists (directors, illustrators, comic book artists,...) represent the near future.
Sid Mead also worked on aliens so many others
Ridley Scott had access to a great many European bande desinee or graphic novels. The magazine 'Heavy Metal' ('Metal Hurlant') from the early 1980s is worth looking at, too.
Artists like Jean Giraud or Enki Bilal were his instructors.
A remarkable amount of stuff from early albums of 'Valerian' shows great similarity to what appeared in 'Star Wars' as well.
@@stevetheduck1425 Of course, I know the magazine Métal Hurlant. ; )
But I don't think Mézières (Valerian's creator) has ever had any influence on Ridley Scott's work. As for Jean "Moebius" Giraud, even though he worked on Scott's Alien, the two artists who were the most important in the production design process, to achieve the "look and feel" of what we actually see on the screen, were Ron Cobb and Hans Rudi Giger.
@@J4ME5_ Indeed. But with his work for Blade Runner and Tron, you could say that he singlehandedly created what cyberpunk sci-fi looks like.
Sid Meads work is glorious, I wish many years ago when it was still reasonable I’d bought an original piece
I saw this opening weekend in 1982. No one until then had experienced such an aesthetic ( the buildings, atmosphere, music) - Alien was the first. It blew my teenaged mind. A huge thank you to HR Giger and Syd Mead.
The ultimate question of the film is not whether a replicant is more than a machine but whether a human is more than a machine. Both are constructs. One is a construct of bio-chemical evolution, the other of bio-technical evolution. Does either have any true volition or any claim to self-determination?
19:38 -- Priss's scream is now etched into you like the rest of us.. One night, you'll be outside in the dark, and for no reason whatsoever.... you'll hear it in your head. I think it's the sound design of the film. That it has such a perfect ambiance, balance, and spacial quality to it. Like JF's apartment building. The echos and sound design is perfectly matched to it's dimensions. IE: Your brain, "knows" when something doesn't make sense.. Like you wouldn't have a football stadium size echo in a suburban house..... But the engineers and sound designers for Blade Runner nailed every scene just right..
A personal comment: I saw this when it came out in theaters. I've seen it many times since, and I've been touched, even wept, at Batty's death scene. His poet descriptions and heartbreaking conclusions are so beautiful. But today is the first time that speech really hit me, and I realized that it's going to happen to me, too. Everything I've seen, everything I've heard, all my memories, will disappear with me. I don't know why, but somehow that's far more painful than the idea that I'm going to die. It will be as if I'd never been.
Well put. I think that's a big part of coming to terms with one's own mortality - not only that we don't have infinite time on earth, but actually vanishing and taking so incredibly much with us that existed only within us. We could share 0.2 % of it with others here and there over the course of our lifetimes, but the bulk of information, emotion, memories that makes us *us* will be gone.
It really is crazy to think about. It makes me think of my great grandfather and the many stories he could have passed on had I been more interested. Now they’re just gone.
@@CasualNerdReactions -- Maybe that's why things like CZcams and computers with unlimited recording space exist today.. So that one could record all those stories and memories to leave behind..
Like tears in the rain
Your comment resonates 100%. That realisation that everything about me, that makes me me, will be gone. Even shared moments will be the memories in someone else's story, not mine.
What then will be my legacy, what difference will I have made ...
There's an implication at the end of the unicorn origami - given that Deckard had dreams about unicorns - is that the police knew what he dreamt about / what was in his memories. Which in turn implies that Deckard is a replicant if his dreams were implants. But various people - including those who made the film disagree on whether that's the case. It's an open question.
PS. I hope you watch Blade Runner 2049 - it is really good.
I love that it’s an open question, more fun that way!! 2049 is one I will likely watch in a month or two!
@@CasualNerdReactions 2049 is fantastic. I wouldn't delay.
It isn’t implied. And it isn’t an open question. The unicorn and recalling of Gaff’s statement is incredibly blatant in informing the viewer and Deckard himself that he is a replicant. Indeed, the main plot point of the sequel is built on this entirely. There is zero doubt that he is a replicant.
@@ClaytonMacleod The writers disagree with you: czcams.com/video/Y1ibTaoVU4g/video.html (principally beginning around 4:00). For them, “the fact that it’s a question is what’s important” regardless of what any individual believes personally. The movies were intentionally written to be ambiguous and the question to be irresolvable.
@@markhamstra1083 Feel free to explain how Gaff knows Deckard dreams of a unicorn if Deckard is not a replicant and consequently does not have a file mentioning the unicorn. And then also explain why he leaves the origami unicorn for him to find if not as a warning that they should flee because they’re replicants that will be targeted for retirement just like all the others. Just randomly throws a unicorn down there for no reason? And it is just a huge coincidence that Deckard dreams of a unicorn all the time, so much that it even enters his mind while he’s awake? We are shown it while he’s sitting at the piano for no reason, and one showing up later in the movie is just dumb luck? There’s literally no sequel if Deckard and Rachael are not replicants. The main plot point of the sequel is that they are. You not understanding something you are told outright, which cannot possibly have any other meaning, doesn’t change that something into something else. Might as well argue that Rachael isn’t a replicant while you are at it, despite Tyrell discussing that she is one. There’s just as much mystery about Rachael being a replicant as there is about Deckard being one. i.e. zero. We are directly told in no uncertain terms in both cases that they are replicants.
The "love" scene is probably one of THE most misunderstood parts of this movie. It's not at all that she doesn't want to sleep with him, it's that she doesn't feel like she can depend on her memories as a guide.
I would agree, I definitely didn’t understand that! 😅
Yeah, even after knowing that justification, the scene still feels very rapey. A mistake on the filmmaker's part, I think.
@@ThreadBomb I've heard in interviews that much was left out and ended up on the cutting room floor. The director wished he would have left more of the love scene in as it explains much more than what is conveyed on screen. Without the scenes it is rather rapey.
Yeah, in my experience few people seem to understand that scene.
Yes she actually starts to say "I can't rely..." and they cut her there. The whole line as filmed was "I can't rely on my memories, you have to tell me what to do, what to say." Which is when he says "Say, kiss me".
I think I remember an interview from Ridley Scott commenting that replicants had the emotional maturity of children. That’s why maybe Leon was putting the eyeballs on Chew, he was playing like a kid, teasing. On another note, that scene of Roy killing Tyrell is one of the most disturbing, gruesome kills I’ve ever seen on screen, whenever it comes up, I mute the sound and look away, a horrible way to go.
Also David Peoples' screenplay emphasizes Roy Batty 's playful word play as he interrogates Chew. 'If you could only see what I've seen with your eyes'... 'Not an easy man to see...'
There's a point psychologists have about the underdeveloped mind: they behave like sociopaths.
First everything IS them, then everything belongs to them, then they must confront the fact that others are clearly real, just like themselves.
Some people just get stuck along that route.
Politicians, for example, are almost always stuck on the childish stage of 'everything is mine' and 'I didn't do it, and you can't prove it!' ;-)
One of my all time favourite films. Can't tell you how many times I have watched it. There is so much interesting reading to do relating to this film, it's well worth it. The death soliloquy is a brilliant way for Roy Batty to sign off. Some wonderful performances by other actors, really making their characters individual with a level of depth. It's interesting how two of my favourite films are by Ridley Scott. Alien being the other.
Wasn't the production design incredible? All those buildings were models. Hard not to fall in love with Sean Young, mind-blowingly beautiful. I think he put the nail through his hand to perhaps counteract his imminent death, to feel intense pain, to stimulate his body. That's all I can conjure up for that. Nice reaction.
All these years later (and this is an anniversary year), and it STILL blows me away! Not just as a movie, but hair, makeup, COSTUME DESIGN, set design.....it all fits and it all brings it together as one big mind blower. You were right there watching and asking whether Harrison Ford's character was a replicant....I didn't pick up on that when I first saw it and then years later, many people said the same thing. Certainly something to think about. The Tyrell Corporation slogan "More human than human" (so great), later became part of a Rob Zombie song.
Ex Machina, is another film that deals with the same existential questions. Worth a watch.👍
Other good dystopian science fiction of the period includes movies like Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985), and the 1984 adaptation of 1984, shot on the actual calendar days described in the novel.
I don't think he's a replicant, but I love that he could be.
I don't think so either.
He is, at least in this cut. There are different cuts of the movie with different endings. In this one he "dreamed" of a unicorn and when somebody knows about his dreams they are not real dreams.
@@Abbath77 or it's a symbol.
The unicorn wasn't the only little thing Gaff made.
The unicorn being a symbol of love, the rare and unique, hard to find treasure, it's also possible he made it to say "choose love".
Why would anyone make a depressed, alcoholic and give it a gun? That goes against too much of the rest of the world building.
Deckard is not a Replicant. First off, he gets his ass handed to him by other Replicants. Two, Deckard's arc starts with him hating Replicants and then ends with him falling in love with one. That arc would be meaningless if Deckard is himself a Replicant. Three, even the book makes it very clear he's human.
By the way, I love Rachel. She has this WWII secretary aesthetic style that is REALLY doing it for me. 😍
Fun Fact: After Pris (Daryl Hannah) first meets J.F. Sebastian (William Sanderson), she runs away from him, skidding into his car and smashing the window with her elbow. This was a genuine mistake caused by Hannah slipping on the wet ground. The glass wasn't breakaway glass, it was real glass, and Hannah chipped her elbow in eight places. She still has the scar from the accident.
Gotta love it when you get a permanent reminder of your craft!
Ridley Scott has said on multiple occasions that Deckard is a replicant. czcams.com/video/jMG3fOsIBgA/video.html
If you think Deckard's character arc is meaning less just because hes a replicant.
Then you dont understand that it does not matter.
Thats the point of the movie.
@@sentryward8744 I disagree. The point of the film is that replicants are more human than humans. Humans have no empathy at all, replicants do. And Deckard finds his humanity through the replicants. If he's a replicant then I doesn't mean anything.
@@russellward4624 Is it true that Humans no longer has empathy?
Gaff let Deckard and Rachael go free. Or look at Sebastian love for this toys and empathy for Roy and Pris "even though Im pretty sure that he know they are replicants already".
It does not matter if Deckard is a human or not because a replicant that hunt other replicants as a job will have their empathy striped from them just like a human one.
That mean Humans and Replicants in minds and "souls", they are the same
This movie is so cool I saw at the theater but didn’t understand everything at the time but now I love it and it always makes me hungry for noodles, the whole atmosphere is like a video game , I’m sure many games are modeled after it , also Joanna Cassidy such a beauty in her day! Thanks again!
Actually there is a great videogame Bladrunner you can get from GOG. It is a very old game based on DOS system but they made it to run under Windows. The original game came out on 4 CDs so you can imagine how serious program was in its time. But the feeling is still the same - and like the movie - so I suggest to give a try. Note: The game recalculate and change a lot of things at every new start even that which NPC is replicant and which is not. It was incredible at that time but even nowadays as well.
@@peterattilakriszt3150 Pc gaming was so much fun back then , Return to castle wolfenstein was my first multi player game had so many fun hours playing, thanks
Great concluding thoughts. IMO there's not a moment of meandering in this film. Every scene, every shot is perpetuated by a search in a very neo-noir of a private detective finding clues, but in this case to his own humanity and he leatfd from a replicant, actually 2 replicants, that it ain't that easy. I think it's a masterpiece and particularly this Final Cut version, which the director Ridley Scott wanted done because the release film had elements the fearful studio execs found necessary, but truly were not. Great reaction, Chris. 👍.
The first thing I did before I started editing, was look up the famous “monologue”. I definitely agree with the Final Cut being preferred based on what I saw.
@@CasualNerdReactions I'm honestly ok with the theatrical version. The narration is kind of funny knowing that Ford half-assed it because he didn't want it in there, but they kept it anyway. the Unicorn scene that was added from the movie Legend is also questionable but it's what Scott wants, I guess. It's his "Nooooooooooooooooo" that Lucas put into Star Wars.
Let me know: What are YOUR thoughts on Blade Runner? Coming soon: Logan, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The War of the Worlds (1953), & Citizen Kane!
Blade runner is amazing. It's one of my favorite films. The sequel is also great.
You have to watch Blade Runner 2049 now because you are asking the right questions.
There is also a trilogy of short films covering the thirty-year span between the two films' settings.
Love it. Easily gets a spot in my top 10 favorite films of all time. By the way, if you think Rutger Hauer is terrifying in this you should watch the Hitcher.
Looking forward to Logan.
Just for future reference, maybe you should "pin" your comment so that it's at the top. That way people won't miss it.
You should watch Logan's Run. It's a sci-fi from the 70's.
I cry for Roy as he dies every time I watch this film, and I think that’s a testament to what a powerful and amazingly well written and performed movie that is Blade Runner.
Roy and his fellow replicants did terrible things. Sebastian didn’t deserve to die. But at the same time I can’t help but see us, humans, as the true villains. We made them to be slaves and worse we deliberately cut their lifespans short to keep them under control while still giving them human emotions and the ability to reason. I feel so sorry for them.
And no one will ever convince me that Pris didn’t help inspire the design of Harley Quinn.
Another great reaction. 👍🏻
So many great thoughts- and I definitely can’t unsee Harley Quinn now!
It's worth reading the book; 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' to see just how different Scott's replicants are from Philip K Dick's 'andys'.
The 'andys' want to live normal lives so they can hide in normal life. So they fake a family unit, rent a house, dress like your neighbours, but pull the legs off spiders for fun.
Scott wanted us to feel sympathy for 'Supermen who can't fly', when Dick was writing about people who wrote in their diaries about how 'the concentration camp inmates kept us awake at night', but then went back to their normal lives after the end of WWII.
I wish I could watch this with Data, from Trek. He'd have 1 of 2 responses...
1. He'd need a hug.
2. He'd say it was curious and then (because of the film's numerous "flaws") tear the film apart. In rain.
Either way, I'd be there for Data.
😅
Incredible movie! Very thought provoking subjects. Based on a book, “ do androids dream of electric sheep “. Is fighting for more life only a human desire? Who has the right to decide what life is important and which isn’t? Similar in a way to the classic Frankenstein. What is a soul?
Yep - the reason I am vegan. I understand that sentient beings can suffer/feel and are living in this world having a subjective experience along with us and I don't believe it is moral to exploit, torture, and kill them unnecessarily. Culture, tradition, sensory pleasure and cognitive dissonance are all powerful forces in not refraining from hurting other animals.
@@danbarbieri2007 - Except that the more we learn about plants, the more it becomes apparent that they, too, are sentient beings.
So where does that leave veganism?
I showed this movie (ran the Projectors) at the "Walk-in" Theater a thousand years ago. Good Movie! The female replicant (Hanna) is now Mrs. Neil Young. Sebastion was the "Larry" brother of the "Hi, my name is Larry, this is my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl " from the old Bob Newhart show. Sean Young (Decker's love interest) was one of the MP's in the movie "Stripes"
I was in Seattle a few weeks ago , and got to see the original black suit that Rachel had. Tyrell was also in The Shining
In his final moments, Roy is a genuinely human character. Grappling with his own mortality, the way we all do. My own perspective is that their having been designed doesn't really have any bearing on their value as individuals. They can think, feel, and engage in self-reflection, and to treat them as they were treated is deeply immoral. I mean I wouldn't treat a cat like that, let alone a person.
If you'd asked me when I was in my 20s what my favorite movie was, Blade Runner probably would have been it. Not true anymore, but it's a darned fine movie.
I like that the Replicants behave in such odd ways and make such odd choices because they're not emotionally mature, yet have had to do and see things that fully mature adults would be scarred by.
Yep.. and now the sequel is the best movie ever
The book this is based on, while following a different plot line, I highly recommend. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is the title. Explains the animal extinction and has different takes on many of the characters. In either case, Beatty is the best character in spite of his crimes.
With his last act being one of empathy and compassion (saving Deckard), I like to believe that Roy would have passed the Voight Kampff test in his final moments.
Was it empathy and compassion, though? He wanted his death to be witnessed by a human so that human would remember him. If he could not have actual life, at least he would be remembered after his death. As in 'you're not really dead until the last person who remembers you has died'. That's not empathy or compassion. It's simply, or not so simply, his wish for life, his wish to be human.
the animals... in this future almost all animal species are extinct, so having an animal of any kind is a status symbol. some people own genetically made animals, expensive but affordable. the very rich own real animals, hence Deckard asks if the owl is "real". this is why there're so many animals in the picture.
And in the book some animals are completely mechanical, hence the name "Do androids dream of electric sheep".
In the book, animals were still alive but they were very rare and very expensive. It was a status symbol if you owned a real animal. Everyone else had to settle with robotic animals.
@11:10 Your answer: "The Measure of a Man", Season 2, episode 9 - Star trek: the next generation. Even for non-Trekkies its worth a watch. "When Data resigns his commission rather than be dismantled for examination by an inadequately skilled scientist, a formal hearing is convened to determine whether Data is considered property without rights or is a sentient being."
I appreciate your authentic emotional reactions to movies. Showing emotions so freely and unfiltered, was not allowed in the home that I grew up in. I am still frightened to allow myself to respond to movies the way that you do. It is so scary for me to allow my emotions to show, like yours do. I think that is why watching you display your emotional reactions, unapologetically is good for me. I hope that I can experience that freedom.
well put
I guess hiding your emotions is not so bad, as long as you can still feel them.
@@ThreadBomb I think that it is healthier to feel safe to express what I am feeling. Constantly masking my emotions comes at a price. Part of it is wasting energy that could be put towards coping with distress
YEEeeeesss! This movie, and the novel it was based on "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" Have been SO INFLUENTIAL in the sci-fi genre. Damn near every sci-fi movie you see today, you can still spot similarities to Blade Runner.
I love the Roy Batty character. I don't think he was trying to kill Deckard at all in the end. Roy was just trying to show Deckard the fear of death, that he had been facing. Think about how most humans have a "mid-life crisis", they start to feel death, but it comes after decades of living, and still decades away from death. Replicants only had 4 years to come to terms with this. He has the experience of a child, but the knowledge and ability of a super-human. There's a big difference between knowing the path, and walking the path, Roy only wanted to walk the path.
I think Batty originally wanted to kill Deckard, but the approach of death gave him a new perspective.
I take time each day to enjoy and appreciate the natural world around me such as the clouds, stars, trees, flowers, etc. It's very relaxing to step away from your day and just enjoy it.
Another film based on the work of Philip K Dick, notably Total Recall and The Running Man. Dick struggled with mental illness (delusions & paranoia) his whole life and wrote compelling works about identity and the nature of reality from the perspective of someone who struggled A LOT with those concepts. Tragically sad and compellingly beautiful.
Apologies for the correction, but wasn't the Running man based on a Stephen King short story?
The Running Man was based on a book by Stephen King.
The most influential Sci Fi movies ever made.
Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, Martin Sheen, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Charles Bronson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tommy Lee Jones, Nick Nolte, and Gene Hackman were almost cast as Rick Deckard
"Most influential"? in past decades there're many more influential films. but it is a masterpiece.
@@phillipsuttles1926 I think maybe older viewers are more aware of how this film seeped into the culture. It's part of the imaginative landscape of every science fiction fan.
Rutger Hauer himself wrote the line "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain." Edited to add, Hauer wasn't satisfied with Batty's monologue as written. He modified it without Ridley Scott's knowledge, then used his version when the scene was filmed--at the end of the scene, crewmembers applauded, some of them in tears.
Roy Batty and Rutger Hauer the actor that played him, both died in 2019. Let that sink in.
Visually, this movie is amazing. Been in my top 10 for many years, and probably always will be.
11:10 excellent question. then, when you have the answer, ask the follow up "at what point does something become unworthy of that empathy and compassion?"
For decades this was my favorite film (until "V for Vendetta" came along) because of its depth and intelligence. The entire film is encapsulated in Rachael's line "I am the business." Because she was created differently than humans she has fewer rights, she doesn't even have her own childhood memories. Most of her past is a lie and she can be 'retired' at any moment.
Roy and the others just didn't want to live as slaves and they wanted a normal human lifespan. Is that so much to ask? They're 3 and 4 year old adults without even the false memories Rachael has, it's why they like Sebastian's toys and why Roy likes to play games, why Pris likes to tumble and Zhora to dance.
The life of children is emotional traumatic, they're often laughing or crying, they don't have that balance that comes with life experience. Same for the replicants.
Batty pierces his hand because his body is dying. He's going numb and in his desperation he tries anything to keep himself alive. You're watching him dying onscreen, but because he is a replicant - super strong, super fast, etc. - he doesn't die the way humans do. But he does die. As to the cruelty of the replicants, remember they have no emotions, and thus no capacity for empathy. (Only Rachel, the experimental model, has emotions.) That's why Leon killed the interviewer at the beginning - because the questions were exposing him. He had no emotion in him to express at the questions (which are designed to make you express them), so he knew he was caught. And since he couldn't care at all about the humans, he just gunned the guy down and got out. That's something to keep in mind: it's not that they _don't_ care, it's that they CAN'T.
That's not accurate at all. The opposite is true. As Bryant - in the words of someone who can't wrap his head around the concept, but doesn't care in the first place - explains, "real" people would like them to not have emotions, but they do. Replicants are "born" as adults, but they lack the socialisation you get with childhood, teenage years, yound adulthood. The Voight-Kampff test is not aimed at detecting a lack of emotion, quite the contrary - it's designed to detect inappropriate responses to emotionally stimulating scenarios.
In fact, watch the replicants in this movie more closely. They're the most emotional characters here, but fickle, capricious, quick to anger - just like children who haven't learned to handle their emotions yet. Roy being the most prominent example.
23:21 amazing moment. i hope he wasn't afraid.
I think for a first viewing, the theatrical cut is much better. The voiceover fills the viewer in much better & fits the neo-noir vibe.
Every time I think of Blade Runner, I think of the theatrical cut, that's the first version I watched.
I'm glad that your subscribers recommended this movie. Harrison Ford is great as always, but, to me, it was Rutger Hauer's performance that carried the film. He had a certain way of making the audience stuck on his character like the nail on his palm. 😅
I watched both the theatrical release and director's cut. The theatrical version left the audience to figure out if Deckard was a replicant or not , which I prefer. But they added a voice over that I find to be unnecessary and distracting (I don't know why, but the VO reminded me of a Leslie Nielsen movie). It's best to see all the versions one can get hold of, to compare.
Ah, to answer your question... I don't think that we are designed for mechanical existence. It's up to us to make each day different and special. We don't have to do something really grand to live "life" . To me, it's the active intention of making another person's life easier: doing strangers small favors, speaking tactfully and with compassion, and expressing gratitude to the people who are serving us. I think that each day, no matter how mundane, becomes special if spent with the intention of serving someone other than one's self.
I adore the VO. It was so Sam Spade noir. It was what I saw in the theater.
I don't know your age, but if your reference is not the old original Noir films but Leslie Neilsen spoofing Noir then I can see that being a distraction.
@@theConquerersMama The VO makes more sense to me now, thank you. I must admit that I've seen very few classics as I've only started to explore them recently. I'll definitely keep exposing myself to different film eras and genres. Meanwhile, I frequently check the comment section for classical movie suggestions, which helps me a lot.
That last paragraph though! 👏 I was literally just thinking earlier this morning about purpose- when I was younger I thought you had to do some huge important thing to live a life of purpose, but now I see that everything CAN be filled with purpose if done for others.
Even these videos, I could look down on myself oh these are just silly reaction videos- or when I go to film I can remind myself that these can make people smile, laugh, bring a little joy and maybe even some inspiration and hope from time to time. It’s really about intention.
It’s easy to go through life on auto pilot and become self serving, but there is far more joy when we intentionally live (or at least think of) others.
@@E_l_l_i_e when I saw in the theater when it was released and for the decade after, the question was not about if Deckerd was a replicant. At least, not in any of the sci Fi circles at Cal Tech and JPL that I was in. It was about a very broken human finding his humanity in love. Appreciating the uncertainty of life. That's in line with the source material written in the book . It also goes with the Noir themes of men with unspoken PTSD coming to terms with being human again after WWII, what part of them is human after seeing all the atrocities? That is why it's so important that you only see sunshine and daylight in scenes with Rachel in the theatrical cut. And the ever present theme in Noir about prejudice. Be it racism, antisemitism or denying replicant their humanity. This really gets lost without the voice over.
It makes it a very different movie. Not better or less just different. When seen as a redemption love story, it's a different movie than one focused on if Deckard is a replicant.
When watched with the VO, all the ways prejudice is challenged as a theme is more apparent. From the different replicants to the various real humans.
@@CasualNerdReactions Definitely, and to create a community of people from different places and walks of life- what could be more positive and purposeful! Then again, striving for personal success is great, too. The more we grow, the more resources we can share with others. 😊
I bet you have a line up for the second half of April. Do keep us posted. Geez, 2022 seems to fly by so fast. I cant catch up!
Rutger Hauer is my favourite part of this whole movie.
Believe the unicorn left behind at the end was a message from Gaff to Deckard.
'I was here, could have retired her, I did not.'
& The unicorn part of Rachael's file, her memories which both men not only read, they probably studied, which would easily cause Deckard to dream about a unicorn & cause Gaff to choose that as the animal to leave behind for Deckard. Don't find that mysterious or odd in the slightest.
25:01 - Tinfoil unicorn indicates Gaff (other cop) must have access to Deckard's dreams to know he dreamt of a unicorn.
The origami guy (Edward James Olmos) was also a Blade Runner. Rachel was supposed to be "retired" as well, and when Olmos says "it's too bad she won't live", Deckard thinks Olmos is going to retire her. So he runs home, gun drawn, only to find her alive. He then finds the origami unicorn, and knows that Olmos was there, but opted to give them the opportunity to get out of town.
Which is also hidden in his message "it's too bad she won't live, but then again, who does?" he's kind of hinting that he's not going to kill her, and that she will just eventually die like the rest of us. It's crazy great subtlety.
Great analysis!
I love this film and have seen many reactions to it, you have far and away understood it better than all the others on first viewing. It's really a Film Noir paying homage to the great films of the 40's and 50's in that genre. The chess game is a recreation of a famous real match that was played in 1851 called the Immortal game. The vehicles and much of the look were created by a guy called Syd Mead and much was inspired by a work of the greatest comic book artist, Moebius. So many CG/futurist artists like myself have been highly influenced by this film. Also, remember that video phones, photoshop etc were not a thing during the early 80's. The original writer Philip K Dick came up with all this stuff and much more in his brilliant drug addled novels of the 1970's.
Batty was dying and he used pain (the nail through the hand) to revive himself, to extend his life just a bit. I don't care what anybody says: Dude is a replicant.
My favorite fact so far is that Ridley says he was, while Harrison says he wasn’t.
@@CasualNerdReactions - I once discussed this issue with a hardcore film buff and he could not, to save his life, explain the origami-dream-unicorn. That's where the debate ends. The dream unicorn was cut from the first release!!! Yeesh.
@@CasualNerdReactions - please go and watch Harrison Ford's face when he picks up the paper unicorn and realizes he's a replicant. Look at his baddass acting face and tell me he ain't one dumb bunny (Harrison the ACTOR). Listen to him on the radio with ATC as he lands his airplane in the wrong place - it's hilarious and charming. It's in YT.
Why did Gaff (Edward James Olmos) constantly shadow Decker (Harrison Ford)? Why did he keep leaving figurines? And why was the final figurine a unicorn? How could Gaff possibly know about Decker's daydream? That final unicorn pretty well sums up the quandary of the movie.
Why make a snake? I'm a herpetologist (as well as an awesome guitar player) and to a herpetologist snakes are the most beautiful creatures on earth. Replicants, not replicas.
when you think about this film, remember Roy and the escaped Replicants are less than four years old. Their newly developing emotions and responses are very childlike, as they have not had the "memories" that Rachel had which allowed her to function more as a normal human being. their overexaggerated responses and actions make a lot of sense when viewed in this light.
The movie touched on it but didn't expand much on it. In the book, there was a great war that had almost decimated all animal life. Real animals were very rare and only the rich could afford them. Everyone else had robotic animals. The only reason that Deckard took the job was to earn enough money to buy a real goat for his wife.
The only thing that Ridley kept from the book were the questions that Dekard asked Rachel during her Voit-Kaumph test. Everything else was totally different from the book.
Some of the characters were different as well. Priss and Rachel were actually the same model. J. F. Sebastian was John R. Isidore who was not a genetic engineer like in the movie but was really a assistant to a vet that repaired peoples pets.
"Soldier" (1998) with Kurt Russell is a prequel in the sense of preceding this movie and being set in the same universe. Separate storyline though and interesting in itself.
Now you are ready for "A.I. Artificial Intelligence".
I definitely need to watch that one!
Good choice of movie. Ridley Scott's visuals are amazing. As far as replicants go, it's just this simple - anything that has the brains to ask for freedom deserves it. Regarding Roy Batty being "a mass murderer," rebelling against being enslaved isn't necessarily immoral.
Well said!
Yes, technically Spartacus was a mass murderer from the point of view of all "law-abiding" Italians under the Romans. (Does anyone care, today, about those people? How many "ordinary folks" - whose only crime, if you can call it that, may have been just in being part of "the system" - were plundered and/or slain by the rebels, anyway? We of today seem as callous toward them as they supposedly were to the slaves - but history is not so neat and tidy regarding drawn lines.) Then, too, our own Nat Turner sought to bring down a similar regime in blood, as did John Brown. Would any human - *could* any human - dare go so far for the replicants, or must any would-be "emancipator" be one of their own? 😒 🤖 🙁
Ok, get this, Rutger Hauer ad-Libed his final speech!!!
Masterful!
No, he didn’t. He significantly rewrote it over a couple of days; he didn’t improvise it on the spot.
It is so foretelling how many things they predicted in this 1982 film would actually come to be. Even down to the digital beings
Really appreciated your commentary at the end here... thought provoking
Thanks for watching that far :)
Suggestion :. -- I believe it's the "theatrical" cut that has the narration by Harrison Ford that makes it feel like an old school "detective" / noir film ... It also helps to fill in some more of the story. (That's the version I grew up with.)
I actually looked up the narration right after I finished recording. One of my patrons had mentioned it.
@@CasualNerdReactions --- The narration goes really well with Roy's speech at the end.. :)
Roy's not the villain. He's the hero.
"Why is everything exploding right away?" lol
Because it's based on the Teesside skyline of the 1960s and 70s.
Deckard, if not the villain himself, is certainly working for/with the villains. The replicants just want to be free.
This is so fun to think about- from the replicant perspective they are heroes, self aware and full of emotion fighting for the right to live. From the company’s they are machines turning against their creator. Someone mentioned this could be related to the Alien universe. If that’s true we know how morally bankrupt the company is so perhaps you are correct.
Rutgers Hauer improvised those last few lines before he died. If you want to check out another great Rutger Hauer movie watch Lady Hawke. It also stars the beauty Michelle Pfeiffer and a young Matthew Broderick.
Great one.
Ladyhawke is one of my moms fav films and I def need to watch it.
He didn’t ”improvise”! He did rewrite his lines before the scene was shot, though.
The Blade Runner soundtrack is definitely worth buying - it's great for decompressing after a hard day
Or listening to in headphones as you drift to sleep.
Ridley Scott didn't think of the unicorn dream scene until the very end of production, when he was working on his next film, Legend, a fantasy film that features unicorns. In his research he became rather obsessed by them, which is why he inserted the scene. The problem is that this scene (inserted against the screenwriter's wishes) makes Deckard's journey meaningless. Originally the story was about the human Deckard learning to accept replicants as being human, with feelings and desires as valid as his own. But if Deckard is also a replicant, what moral lesson has he learned by the end of the film? None.
Philip K Dick, author of "Do androids dream of electric sheep", on which Blade Runner was based, was very clear that the quality that defines "human" is empathy. The film was (originally) about Deckard rediscovering his humanity by learning to empathise with the oppressed non-human replicants. It's a shame this message was lost for the sake of a "cool twist".
It should be mentioned, as a matter of interest, that in the novel the replicants _don't_ have empathy, and thus are not human. So the novel and the movie arrived at the same meaning in two opposing ways.
Dick's writing is known for playing with the question of what is real (what is human, in the case of Blade Runner), and some good, or at least interesting, films have been made from his stories. They include Total Recall (a wild film from wild director Paul Verhoeven), Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau, Imposter, and A Scanner Darkly.
Also obviously inspired by Dick's writing are The Matrix, and eXistenZ.
Thanks for another enjoyable video.
Great reaction. The 80's was a great period for Harrison Ford. Mostly known for Star Wars and Indy Jones, several movies are definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen them.
1985 Witness (this crime drama took Ford's career in a totally different direction)
1986 The Mosquito Coast (Ford's personal favorite, Helen Mirren stars)
1988 Frantic (Great film with Hitchcock vibes)
This was based on a novella by Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
He liked to explore what it is that defines us as human. Several of his stories have been turned into films. I find them fascinating.
They are physically mature but intellectually kids. Roy is the oldest of these lost children, he's like a 12 year old. A very scared, very angry but brilliant 12 year old in a superhuman body. Watch his face when he kills Tyrell- rage, disbelief, fear, then panic. Heck, Leon with the eyes, that's a kid playing at being a bully, he's just a big, dumb, scared child who doesn't know his own strength or understand consequences. yet.
13:45 what if you found out you wasn't human
I'd be insulted. This? This is the best you could do? 'gestures to my everything' Good lord.
One theme of the movie is that there is not really a difference between the souls of replicants and the souls of humans. The difference is blurred. The evidence is strong that Deckard is a replicant handled by Graf. Deckard has a bunch of treasured family photos, just like a replicant. Deckard’s wife referred to him as a cold fish. Deckard is a good looking man whom one would suspect has had a good amount of sex, but his romance and love making of Rachel is awkward, what one would expect of a four year old. Deckard holds his own against a combat model replicants. At the end, Graf states that Deckard has done a man’s job. Graf knows of Deckard’s unicorn dreams because Graf makes the unicorn origami.
There's a theory that Deckard is a replicant himself.
The replicants are treated as slaves. They are sentient and have developed emotions. They are rebelling.
Gaff's last matchstick figure holds the clue to the Money question; was Deckard, or wasn't he?! 🙂
If you're interested in further exploring your closing thoughts here, react to "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence". Stanley Kubrick's take on the subject, directed by Steven Spielberg.
Ooh thanks!
The unicorn at the end is the clue.
I so enjoy watching these classics with you
I’m so glad! Thanks for watching. ☺️
The music is by Vangelis, a Greek composer. It's my favorite soundtrack ever.
I don't think it made the cut of this reaction, but in the full length I commented early on that I don't typically like "synth sounding music" but it worked for this film, and as the movie went on there was some wonderful pieces of music.
rutger heaur- roy was fantastic in vis film, so memorable, thought provoking n well writen. daryl hannah sli dinto a real car window n fratured her elbow several times n kept in character, it made v final cut, she sliped on wet concrete. sad visionof our future were weve distroyed nearly everything thats was nature. n made a bleak built environemnt.
In 1982 this film was ground breaking. The density in both sound and image was astounding. I was in film school. This and Flash Dance had a studio look that American cinematographers had been moving away from since the late 1960s. Because of the influence of Sven Nykvist, and the European DOPs Americans had been training themselves in natural lighting techniques. IN the early 1980s, all of a sudden the fashion was to British Cinematographers who were suddenly all the rage in Hollywood, making American DOPs pissed off.
An interesting point of view is that Tyrell created replicants with a 4 year lifespan and used them to build an Empire (on and off World) but they had no free will no agency but Batty and his friends came back to their maker, their God for more life. In effect they were slaves and Deckard was a slave killer. But isn't that the history of the UK, USA and other countries say 200 years ago? We built slaves, built an Empire and their life spans were short and brutal and slave hunters were used to kill them. Just an idea.
1. Joe Turkel/Tyrell played Lloyd (bartender) in the original Shining.
2. Roy/Rutger Hauer plays in "Blind Fury" a great first time/share RIP
3. Leon Brion James in Tango and Cash. Much bigger role first time/share also.
4. Deckard/Harrison Ford two overlooked must first time/share "Witness" and "Force 10 to Naverone".
5. In the original Roy tells Tyrell, "I want more life FUCKER" not father.
6. Roy didn't want to die alone. That's why he saved Deckard.
narration
8 You must watch Blade Runner 2049.
One of the true greats of science fiction.
Blade Runner is the story of four runaway slaves, trying to survive and make a life for themselves in a world that despises and fears them. They are hunted by a slave catcher who hates himself for what he does, and who finally discovers that, despite the system's protestations to the contrary, he does have a choice not to do it anymore. Needless to say, this was not my immediate takeaway, the first time I watched it, many years ago, but it's a movie that highly rewards repeat viewing. Blade Runner is a very layered science fiction masterpiece. And my favorite film of all time.
The crew wore shirts that read , "YES, GUV'NOR, MY ASS!" And "Xenophobia sucks" as well as " I survived BLADE RUNNER."
I was 14 when the original version came out and I was expecting a Star Wars type of movie and was so disappointed and confused. I rewatched it years later and now it’s a classic in my eyes. The sequel is great also.
Oh the expectation definitely impacts the experience.
Wish I could watch this film, for the the first time, as an adult. Saw it the first time as kid, in 1989. Visual masterpiece.
So glad you're reacting to this. Absolutely love this movie. One of my all time favourites.
20:54 look at how we treat pets. so the bar is pretty low already.
Basically, he’s so angry at God he kills him. If that isn’t dramatic catharsis, I don’t know what is.
It's been a while (pre-metoo) since I watched the movie so I really should take a new look at Deckard's character.
But my own interpretation of the movie: Roy Batty is the tragic hero of the movie. "Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it?" he asks Deckard. The dude was created to be an expendable slave without worth. He lived in fear, he was treated without worth; he can't see worth in others.
Before the Final Cut, it was unclear whether Roy addresses Tyrell as "father" or "fucker". In this cut, it's clear as crystal that he calls him "father" -- right before committing brutal patricide. The love he feels for having received life, the rage he feels for being given a finite lifespan. And from that moment on, we witness Batty's emotionality and his passion for life; and we know he's never gonna get what he wants. The more the story moves towards it climax, the more Batty's motives become understandable. You could say that from his perspective, his murders are the work of the avenging angel (or the Fallen Angel) rebelling against his creators: he metes out justice, he wants to give his own people a better, longer life. That is, he has heroic, admirable qualities, but he's also destined to commit horrible acts and to ultimately perish.
The thing I should do, personally, is watch the movie again to see what Deckard's arc is like and pay special attention to that questionable scene.
I think that's a great interpretation! There is really so much here to consider, a truly great film.
Some of the music is still in my sleep playlist. I saw this in the theater with my wife in 1982. 2020 seemed so far into the future back then.
Man, they got this wrong. Even Blade Runner 2049 is just too close. We're not going to have that tech by then. In 2020, we didn't have replicants retiring from fighting interstellar wars off of Orion (a war with whom?). It still gets me that this took place in the past. This is why in my own science fiction, it's all set beyond my lifetime, so I don't embarrass myself. It does get me that when everyone thought that the Japanese would take over everything (everything high tech was made in Japan back then), this movie foresaw Chinese currency in the US by 2020.
BTW, the unofficial sequel to this movie is NOT Bladerunner 2049. It's Soldier, with Kurt Russel, and THAT is a good movie. Highly underrated.
It was better than most. The worst stuff was set at the turn of the century. In the 80s and early 90s, the year 2000 was seen as a hellscape. Predator 2, Escape From New York, and Class of 1999, which you can view the trailer for on CZcams, were the worst of the prognosticators. People also laud the Warriors, which had that Class of 1999 feel
At 19:12, this is one thing I hate about women in action films. While women do fly higher, faster, land harder and look better in action, the tumbling just has to go. You can scramble much faster than you can tumble or cartwheel. And the most important thing is that MORE than 50% of the time while you're tumbling, you can't see your target. And, as a matter of fact, he did shoot her while she was tumbling. But they just keep doing it, decade after decade. When I took kung fu, they taught us to tumble, but only to land. Not to attack.
The rapey scene, the goofy unicorn dream, etc. were stuffed back into the film in this cut, which also omits the actual ending scene. The original US theatrical release was a superior cut. The dreary and drawn-out sequel film made more recently makes no sense without the theatrical release's "happy ending" scene.
The shortest press release Ridley Scott ever did was:
"He is"
Some 20 years after the movie
While I can't find confirmation on that urban legend, Scott is adamant Deckard is a replicant, and he inserted the unicorn scene in the final cut as a solid hint. Ford, however, quite fittingly insists he is human.
And Hampton Fancher, the principal screenwriter, insists that the matter is intentionally, precisely ambiguous and irresolvable.
@@markhamstra1083 if only there was a way to expose replicants...
@@trulybtd5396 Tell me the first thing that comes to mind about your mother...
Why would he be a replicant though?
The exchange with his boss at the police dept, hints clearly that they've known each other for many years.
I think it is far more interesting processing what Rachel and the others are going through than the whole Decker is a replicant (maybe) storyline. Shifting the focus to Decker instead of Rachel deminishes the story for me.
Philip K Dick, wrote the book, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (The basis for Blade Runner)
Some other films and TV series based on his books and short stories are:
The Man in the High Castle (TV Series)
Electric Dreams (TV Series)
The Adjustment Bureau
A Scanner Darkly
Paycheck
Minority Report
Total Recall
oh wow, I can't believe I've seen most of those, crazy!
@@CasualNerdReactions Got to IMDB and type in the name Phillip K. Dick. There are probably close to 30 or more entries showing the influence of his works. He has a tome available called the Exegesis of Phillip K. Dick which is around 1400 pages in kindle. That's getting very close to the size of The Count of Monte Cristo. An amazing writer and the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is crazy good. One of Deckard's joys is the REAL goat he has living on top of the building he lives in. With his wife. Yes he is married in the book.
Thanks for the great reaction and reflections Chris.
“Trees can sense their end approaching,” Odrade said. “Life breeds more intensely when threatened.”
In our daily lives, lived in security and repose. We can taste the intensity when we watch a film of dangers and strange ideas. We respond to the threat, and our minds flourish. But can we hold that taste, or the fruits of that flourishing. Or is it just like waking with eureka from a vivid dream, only for the dullness of real life to wash it away from awareness. Like Roy's or Deckard's tears in the rain of that alternate future-past of Los Angeles.
My favourite movie... Ever. Alien and The Thing in ex-equo.