Blade Runner

I’m not sure if I have ever seen anything like it. Scott’s Blade Runner is so different that it’s even hard to compare it with Dick’s novel. There are so many differences between the original book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and the film interpretation that it’s not at all worth trying to compare it. Nevertheless, most of the characters and part of the plot are the same. I must say that the dreamy, ambient atmosphere that pervades the whole movie made my eyes heavy with drowsiness and I almost fell asleep. Vangelis’ magical music augmented that sleepy feeling even more but I lasted out :-). The nearer it gets to the end, the more absorbing and thrilling the picture becomes. Furthermore a lot of existential questions and debates concerning the relation of an android with his “death" (my favorite topic). The special effects are completely revolutionary considering when the movie was made. In short, Blade Runner is an unusual movie which won’t appeal to the audience as easily as it seemed at first glance. (11/10/2006)

The genre of film science-fiction in its most mature form. Scott was able to combine excellent tricks, quality actors and, most importantly, the characteristically intellectual Dick story into a fascinating "noir" detective story of the future. The atmosphere is greatly helped by Vangelis's music and also by the fact that, rather than an action-developing plot, the film professes dialogue and slow movement forward. The fictional world around you thus acquires plasticity and, with a good constellation, engulfs you and imprints itself forever on the soul. And the story of humanity/inhumanity/artificiality is becoming more topical, not the other way around. Interestingly, the film does not win over viewers "seasonally", but gains them over time. Which, of course, is a great compliment to its qualities. (27/01/2004)

I said to myself: "Don't turn it on. You're up early tomorrow. Can’t you hear school calling? You need to get some sleep. It's nine o'clock. If you press play, you won't turn off the computer until eleven. Hardly a full night's sleep! So be a good girl and turn it off." I replied to my schizophrenic self: "Okay," and pressed play. Often when I go to bed with a head full of questions, I wake up refreshed in the morning. What is it, I wonder? Tomorrow – and I know this for a fact – I will be rested. For I've had a few bugs planted in my head. I'll lie in bed with my eyes closed and reflect on what a wondrous world I've visited. I ask myself: "Their world was so artificial that it seemed the only living creature on the planet was human. What was left there for such a person?" And my other self answers pointedly: "Feelings. Emotions." Then I run my fingers over my temples. "Maybe that's why they wanted to kill the replicants. That even the last real thing they had was appropriated by organometallic compounds, if I put it that way." I fall asleep thinking about that dark and rainy world. Weird. I still don't understand what’s making me give the movie 4 stars. I'm confused – I feel nothing. Just neurons transmitting impulses. Maybe it's because Blade Runner gave me inspiration. It gives me something to dream about, think about, and write about (and damn do I love doing that!). Still; it was so morose... (10/11/2008)

Wonderful atmosphere, great execution that makes it look a quarter of its age, excellent actors, several very intense scenes, but terribly boring at the same time. This is what the old cliché of form over substance looks like. Blade Runner failed to win me over, even after a recent second chance (2011). (16/01/2009)

I think I already know why I didn’t think the Blade Runner was my cup of tea when I first saw it. It is a visual orgy without a hint of emotions. Harrison Ford, who usually plays a hundred percent lovable characters, is in this movie almost invisible. In his case, it is a completely different role, which the audience may not like, but it fits perfectly into the visually precisely sketched future, which really enchanted me. (09/10/2017)