Movie Review – Blade Runner (1982)

Imagine a futuristic world where androids are so lifelike and dangerous that they are banned from planet Earth.

What if some of those androids out in space rebelled and murdered some humans and made their way back to Earth to find a way to prolong their short lifespan?

That’s the premise for the 1982 science-fiction film Blade Runner, a movie loosely based on Philip K. Dick‘s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Directed by Ridley Scott, Blade Runner stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a blade runner (a police officer bounty hunter) assigned to hunt and kill the renegade androids.  Supporting him are Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, the leader of the renegade androids, Brion James as Leon Kowalski, Daryl Hannah as Pris, and Sean Young as Rachael.  Also in the film are M. Emmet Walsh and Edward James Olmos.

Blade Runner is set in Los Angeles in November of 2019.  It’s a dystopian society where overcrowding has caused skyscrapers to reach tremendous heights.  It’s a place where Asian influences dominate the American city, and the people speak a language called Cityspeak, a blending of English, Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Hungarian and Japanese.  It’s also a world where replicants (genetically engineered humanoid robots) are banned on Earth and used exclusively as slave labor in the off-world colonies.  The police officer bounty hunters who track and “retire” (a.k.a. kill) renegade replicants are known as “blade runners.”

The film begins as experienced blade runner Dave Holden (Morgan Paull) interrogates Leon Kowalski (Brion James), a man suspected of being a replicant.  Holden administers the “Voight-Kampff” test to measure Leon’s empathy and determine whether or not he is a replicant or a human being.  One of the questions sends Leon into a rage, and he pulls out a pistol and shoots Holden, seriously injuring him.

On the dark and rainy streets of Los Angeles, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is eating at a Japanese bar when he’s approached by officer Gaff (Edward James Olmos).  Deckard is taken to the police station where he meets with his former supervisor, Harry Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh).  Bryant informs Deckard that six replicants escaped from the off-world colonies by murdering 23 people and stealing a shuttle.  The deserted shuttle was later found off the coast of Los Angeles, and the replicants were reported to have tried to break in to the Tyrell Corporation, the mega corporation responsible for developing and constructing the androids.

Bryant believes that the replicants may have tried to infiltrate the company as new employees.  He sent Holden there to run empathy tests on the new employees, and that’s when he was attacked and almost killed by Leon.  The questions are why would the replicants risk coming to Earth, and what do they want with the Tyrell Corporation?

It’s feared that the Nexus-6, the latest version of the replicants, is so smart that it may develop empathy and fool the Voight-Kampff test.  It would take about four years for this to develop in the replicants.  To prevent the replicants from gaining empathy and being virtually unstoppable, the developers created a fail-safe device —- a four-year life span for the replicants.

Deckard then visits the Tyrell Corporation to test the Voight-Kampff empathy test against the Nexus-6 replicants to make sure that the test works.  Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel) insists that Deckard administer the test on a human instead of one of his replicants, just to make sure that the test works.  He has Deckard administer the empathy test on Rachael (Sean Young), Tyrell’s niece.  The empathy test indicates that Rachael is really a replicant, which happens to be true.  Dr. Tyrell reveals that Rachael is a Nexus-6 model who had memories implanted to give her the impression that she is Tyrell’s niece.

After his visit with the Tyrell Corporation, Deckard returns to downtown Los Angeles.  He and Gaff then examine the hotel room where Leon Kowalski listed as his place of residence.  Leon is not in the room, but they find and take Leon’s collection of photographs.

Meanwhile, replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) and Leon Kowalski visit Tyrell scientist Hannibal Chew (James Hong).  They interrogate him until he gives the name of J.F. Sebastian, a Tyrell genetic designer who can take them to Dr. Tyrell himself.

At Deckard’s apartment, he’s startled to discover Rachael waiting for him.  She still believes that she is human, and she shows Deckard an old photograph of her with her mother as proof of being human.  Deckard easily discards the photo and claims that she had a false memory implanted inside of her head.  Disheartened, Rachael leaves Deckard’s apartment.

Following the lead from Hannibal Chew, replicant Pris (Daryl Hannah) arranges a chance meeting between herself and J.F. Sebastian (William Sanderson).  She quickly befriends Sebastian and tells him that she’s homeless.  Sebastian is desperate for companionship, so he gladly invites her into his home in an abandoned apartment building.  The only occupants of Sebastian’s apartment are a series of toy creatures that he had designed and built himself.

Deckard then examines the photographs collected at Leon’s hotel room.  One of the photos shows the replicant Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) and synthetic snake scale.  This clue leads him to a strip club where Zhora is working.  He confronts Zhora inside of her dressing room.  When Zhora determines that Deckard is a threat, she attacks and tries to kill him.  She’s distracted when people suddenly appear inside of her dressing room, and she takes off running.  Deckard runs outside and shoots her in the back, destroying the replicant.

After retiring Zhora, Harry Bryant meets Deckard at the scene of the shooting and informs him that Rachael is now missing from the Tyrell Corporation.  In addition to retiring the other three renegade replicants, he also has to destroy Rachael as well.

Once Bryant leaves, Deckard quickly spots Rachael in a crowd of people.  He follows her into an alley, but in the alley he is ambushed by Leon.  The replicant beats Deckard and tries to kill him until Rachael appears and shoots Leon in the head with Deckard’s gun.

Back at Deckard’s apartment, Rachael contemplates fleeing the city, but Deckard promises that he will not hunt her as she saved his life.  He proceeds to drink and fall unconscious.  Deckard later awakens to the sounds of Rachael playing the piano.  The two of them then have a moment of intimacy.

Over at Sebastian’s apartment, Roy Batty has arrived and he informs Pris that the other replicants are dead.  Sebastian is sympathetic to the replicants as his genetic disorder causes him to age rapidly.  He agrees to take Roy to Tyrell Corporation and to meet with Dr. Eldron Tyrell.  They arrive at Tyrell and meet with the company’s president, but when Roy asks Dr. Tyrell for more life, he refuses and says doing so is impossible.  Roy then gives Dr. Tyrell a kiss and then kills him.  The replicant then kills Sebastian and flees Tyrell Corporation.

Deckard is back on the hunt for the remaining replicants when he receives notification of the deaths of Dr. Tyrell and Sebastian.  He poses as an old friend and tries to call Sebastian’s apartment, but the woman who answers the phone (really Pris), quickly disconnects the call.  Deckard realizes that she’s hiding something, so he decides to visit his apartment and investigate it.

Inside of the Bradbury Building, Deckard carefully goes upstairs and into Sebastian’s apartment.  Pris is disguised as a mannequin.  She ambushes and attacks Deckard, nearly killing him until he’s able to shoot and kill her.

Roy is also there, and what follows is a lengthy segment where Roy pursues and attacks Deckard.  The replicant toys with the blade runner, forcing him to keeping moving.  At one point Deckard retreats to the building’s roof and he makes a daring jump to a nearby building.  He barely makes it across the gap but hangs on to the ledge.  Roy makes the same jump and easily reaches the next building.  Roy reaches down and grabs Deckard before he falls to his death.

The replicant is at the end of his four-year lifespan.  Instead of killing Deckard, Roy allows for him to live.  He tells Deckard about how his (Roy’s) memories are about to be erased “. . . like tears in rain.”  The blade runner watches in silence as the replicant dies.

Shortly after the death of Roy, Gaff arrives on the building’s roof and checks on Deckard.  Referring to Rachael, Gaff tells Deckard, “It’s too bad she won’t live.”  Deckard rushes back to his apartment and finds Rachael sleeping in his bed.  She wakes and the two of them confess their love towards one another.  The two of them then decide to leave the apartment and flee from the police department.

Blade Runner ends with Rick Deckard discovering one of Gaff’s signature origami sculptures on the hallway floor in his apartment.  After discovering the origami, Deckard seems to know what to do next.

So is Blade Runner any good?

Yes.

As a whole, this is a great science-fiction film that takes a look into a bleak future involving androids and the meaning of life.  Although the action scenes are rather limited, the film’s atmosphere and its deeper messages create an outstanding experience.

Part of what makes Blade Runner such a great experience is that the special effects and theming were created with richly detailed miniatures and models, and not the endless CGI in today’s film.  Most of the special effects were and still are convincing in this film.

But the bottom line here is the story and the fantastic acting, especially by Sean Young and Rutger Hauer.  Harrison Ford also gives a great performance as the blade runner Rick Deckard.

The big question in Blade Runner is whether or not Rick Deckard is really a replicant.  If that’s true, then is police officer Gaff his handler / controller?  Depending on how you look at Deckard’s behavior and the way that Gaff appears in a few scenes, you can argue whether or not Deckard is really a replicant.

That’s part of what makes Blade Runner an interesting film.  There are few absolute pieces of knowledge.  Deckard’s character is very mysterious along with that of Gaff.  The film’s ending is also open, making us wonder what really happens to Deckard and Rachael.

Personally, I enjoyed Blade Runner better after reading Phillip K. Dick’s story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  While the film is loosely based on the story, the story’s details and messages gave me a much better understanding of the film.

But that’s just me.

Your experience may vary.

Blade Runner (1982) – movie trailer

What’s important is that Blade Runner is a great film with some fantastic elements of science-fiction.  Fans of sci-fi will feel as much at home as those who are philosophical and deep thinkers.

Deckard – “You’re reading a magazine. You come across a full-page nude photo of a girl.”
Rachael – “Is this testing whether I’m a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?”

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Tyrell – “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long – and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy. Look at you: you’re the Prodigal Son; you’re quite a prize!”
Batty – “I’ve done… questionable things.”
Tyrell – “Also extraordinary things; revel in your time.”
Batty – “Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn’t let you into heaven for.”

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Batty – “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in rain… Time to die.”