Blade Runner: Final Cut reviews are popping up
October 3rd, 2007
Hey guys the new page is up. Hope u dig.
Blade Runner: Final Cut
Reviews are popping up everywhere for Blade Runner: Final Cut and the reviews are unanimous. The restoration job is a masterpiece. Of course with Ridley Scott overseeing the project, I wouldn’t expect any less. Makes me wish I had a High Def TV to enjoy the experience.
Devin Faraci on CHUD.com gives a 10 out of 10 for the restoration, but gives a 6 out of 10 for the movie. It’s a rather scathing review in certain parts. (Way too scathing IMO) He takes some issue with the set design and states, “too much of the movie’s design feels like it’s there to be cool.” He cites Deckard’s apartment as an example and it doesn’t look realistic that a person would live there. I understand his point, however when set design is that jaw dropping I can’t possibly complain.
SPOILER…He also takes issue with Deckard being a replicant and says that the rest of the film doesn’t support it. There have been many arguments both for and against Ridley’s decision to make Deckard a replicant (It was not the screenwriters’ original intention). Myself? I ultimately agree with Devin that the twist seemed shoehorned in and needlessly complicates the film.
Bryant being in on Deckard being a replicant, letting a replicant loose on the streets with a gun, and Deckard not being as strong as the other replicants are issues that contradict the fact that he is a replicant. I was hoping that the reported re-shoots were new scenes that make the twist more organic with the rest of the film. However, I read that they were mainly shot for added background flavors as well as removing an obvious body double for Joanna Cassidy. If you know anymore info please let me know.
Also, I’m not sure how Deckard being a replicant makes the film necessarily better… thematically speaking (as opposed to if he was simply human). Please feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment or two 
SPOLIERS END
Nevertheless, Blade Runner is still regarded as a sci-fi masterpiece. It’s on nearly every critics’ top lists for science fiction movies. It was in AFI’s list of the greatest American movies of all time. Why? It presented an uncompromising vision of the future that audiences have never seen before. In spawned (along with the novel Neuromancer) an entire new genre science fiction (cyberpunk). It’s a vision that continues to capture the imagination of audiences around the world. Including mine.
Heck….without it, this webcomic wouldn’t exist. That’s for sure
Rock on, Blade Runner!
I’ll even be here in 10 years for the Final, Final Cut!
-Dan
November 1st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
hey, first, i’d like to say it’s great to see R.E.D. back in action, because there just isn’t enough cyberpunk webcomicry out there. At all, really.
second, Blade Runner falls into the number three slot for fav. movies of all time for me, topped only by The Crow at number two and Dark City at number one. Pi and A Scanner Darkly occupy fourth and fifth, respectively, fyi
and i personally never really felt like the added twist really did much for the movie as a whole. i saw it without the twist and with, and i didn’t even notice until it was pointed out to me, it was that subtle. i don’t want to say irrelevent, because i can see how it fits with the noir theme of the story, and i’m sort of partial to the idea of a replicant hunting other replicants; poetic justice? it doesn’t really harm the overall film, so i see it a harmless bit that, while pretty counter-intuitive, adds another little subtle aftershade of darkness to a relatively happy ending.
i don’t know. geez.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I agree, the final cut is a masterpiece. Regarding the replicant thing ..
[SPOILER]
I find it supports the movie very well, if you see the androids as an analogy on humanity. While the replicants around Roy Batty represent archetypes, Deckard and Rachel create an idealized image of humans who are alien to their own society. Didn’t really think this over, but that was my first impression when I saw the movie.