Blade Runner (1982)
 Early
in the 21st century, the Tyrell Corporation advanced robot
evolution into the Nexus phase - a being virtually identical to a
human - known as a Replicant.
The Nexus 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility,
and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who
created them.
Replicants were used Off-World as slave labour, in the
hazardous exploration and colonisation of other planets.
After a bloody mutiny by a Nexus 6 combat team in an Off-World
colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth - under penalty
of death. Special police squads - Blade Runner units - had orders
to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicant. This
was not called execution. It was called retirement.
In 21st Century Los Angeles, Rick Deckard (a former lawman)
tracks down superhuman androids, known as "Replicants",
who escaped enslavement. The concept is that the Replicants don't
even know they aren't real humans, and that their memories aren't
their own but programmed. . .
This Ridley Scott film was based on the Philip Dick novel, Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and presented a glittering,
shiny yet grimy version of a future Los Angeles.
It also provided one of the best death scenes in motion picture
history when Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty curls up his robot toes;
"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 the rain [he pauses] Time to die . .
."
A stunningly beautiful, intelligent and action-packed movie,
which has often been imitated but never replicated (pardon the
pun) or bettered, and which has become almost as influential as
the 1940's films it borrows from.
Even if you don't dig the existentialist undercurrents you
can't help but marvel at the intricate production design, and the
rendering of a world so tangible that you live the film as you
watch it.
TRIVIA NOTE
If Deckard is a Replicant as Ridley Scott claims he is, how
come he's working for the police when Replicants are illegal on
Earth? And why does he have bad memories of quitting the force in
disgust? And why isn't he as strong as Batty, Pris and co?
Then again, if he is a human as Harrison Ford claims he is, why
do his eyes glow red? Why does he share the Replicants habits? and
why is there all that unicorn guff in the director's cut? Can
open, worms everywhere!
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