Back to the ’80s with "Blade Runner"

Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, is a cult blend of science fiction, post-modernism, and film noir. Harrison Ford plays Deckard, an assassin-cop who tracks down and terminates trespassing humanoid robots in the smog-thick city of Los Angeles, circa 2019. Because the robots, known as replicants, have killed humans in the past, their presence on Earth is outlawed. After a band of highly-advanced Nexus-6 replicants escape from an off-world colony and migrate to Earth, Deckard is called out of retirement and put to work, ridding the streets of “skin jobs,” as Deckard’s boss puts it. What follows is a mysterious, violent chase through Scott’s techno-infused cityscape, which leaves the audience questioning whether or not the protagonist himself is a made of machine.

The film intrigued me because of its clever portrayal of Deckard, who is possibly a replicant, and the compelling plight of the Darwinistic robots, whose only concern is lengthening their own life spans, or evolving to the next level of technological well-being. In a philosophical way, the robots are simply humans with shorter life spans. Both entities are made of flesh, breathe the same air, feel the same emotions, and die with the same abruptness. Thus, when the replicants fight so hard to live, even though they aren’t real human beings, I still feel a twinge of sadness because they’re so human-like in their miserable desperation to keep pressing on despite the inevitable.

In Blade Runner, Ridley Scott uses stunning visuals and futuristic set designs. The most obvious examples of stunning visuals are the dreamlike hover-car sequences in which Deckard soars past TV billboards, glowing neon, brooding starships, and glittering super-structures. By combining fluid camerawork and special effects, Scott produces unforgettable images. The scene in which the replicant Roy crushes the eyeballs of Dr. Tyrell, the man who designed the replicant-technology, is powerful. The blood dripping from crushed eye sockets and spectacles is something I won’t forget.

The set designs in Blade Runner are exquisite, from the Oriental billboards to the vehicles to the skyscrapers. Los Angeles, and presumably the rest of the world, is dark, rainy, and dominated by incomprehensible technology. Pollution is rampant, with monstrous fires erupting from the smokestacks of buildings. In all the interior sets, heavy shadows and probing shafts of bluish light give the movie a futuristic film-noir flavor, and many times I found myself drinking in the rich backgrounds and cool hard lines of technology.

After seeing the film for the first time several months ago, I was impressed. I didn’t know movies were this good back in ’82. Ford’s performance was convincing, of course, and Rutger Hauer played the role of Roy with intensity. I loved the set designs and all the futuristic costumes and vehicles that say so much about what America’s viewpoint on technology was back in the ’80s. Also, subtle hints about Deckard’s own identity—whether he is a replicant or not—were intriguing. What I like about this film the most, however, was that it gave me a glimpse of a world that I’d never seen, a time I’d never imagine on my own. Blade Runner gets my stamp of approval, and I recommend it to everyone.