Tears in rain

Just watched Blade Runner, first time on the big screen, one of my local cinema's 'throwback' screenings of classic cinema history. I'd streamed it only a few weeks ago and was underwhelmed. Having seen the movie on the little screen so many times, I had pretty much lost interest in it.

Thinking it would be so good to watch it in the picture house I decided to go along anyway and am glad I did. The cinema's sound system gave the Vangelis score enough oomph to make it a worthwhile experience in itself. Good to see the special effects play out in anamorphic widescreen. Most of the movie was shot using standard 35mm film stock, which can appear grainy on the modern big screen. Not a problem for this film, in which it is either raining or the sun shows harsh through thick clouds of futuristic, 21st century pollution. The sci-fi special effects, on the other hand, were shot with a single 65mm camera. I didn't know this, btw, until I asked my AI friend, Gemini.

In case you don’t know, care, or remember, SFX used to be done with elaborate models, animated puppets and suchlike. This was when CGI hadn't been invented and computers were just for the banks and Batcaves, complete with flashing lights and paper roll output. In Blade Runner those big cars you see flying around the pyramid-like buildings and flame-offs, are just matchboxes zipping by on fishing line. Thinking about this as I watched the establishing shots, did not take anything away from the magic. If anything, it made me marvel at the cinematographic art to be so convinced I was looking at airborne vehicles flying about the city, despite knowing what I was really seeing.

Perhaps, in that art-house environment, sipping at my alcohol-free IPA (having over-indulged in the hop and juniper berry the night before) I was giving the movie a more critical appraisal. It mostly came out well and has certainly stood the test of time... in some ways, that is.

The story line was nothing original, despite the film's sci-fi cult-icon status. That's just for the nerds in any case. When I see a film, I am more interested in the story than anything else. In this case, the story follows a narrative that takes in standard sci-fi robot rebellion (Westworld, 1973), a rehashed cowboy and Indian shootout (like hundreds of westerns before), and a half-arsed love mismatch (pick your own). Its Hollywood success, I suspect, was down to the recycling or reinvigorating of some fading favourites from the movie business shopping basket.

Though loosely based on the 1968 Philip K Dick Novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Blade Runner is a very different story and the two don't really compare. The Rachel character, dopey, trusting, childlike in the movie, is vicious, nasty, and vengeful in the book. The Police Blade Runner, Deckard, tough guy hero with a blaster in the movie, is a hesitant, damaged, drug-addict and career executioner in the book. In the book, his sole ambition is to earn enough money from executing replicants to be able to afford to buy a real sheep to show off to his competitive neighbour. Most animals being all but extinct.

The plot of the movie is quite simplistic. Deckard is an archetype retired cop brought reluctantly back to work in order to deal with an emergency. Four replicants, which are very-human androids with added strength, have returned to Earth, killing the crew of the spacecraft that transported them, and hiding out in a Futuristic Los Angeles of 2019. The film was made in 1982. Seeing the date (November 2019) flash up on screen gave me the shivers, this being the start of the 2020 global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Deckard's job is to retire (execute) the four dangerous near-humans before they do any more harm. He starts by examining an even more advanced replicant living with the replicant creator (Tyrell), under the false impression she is his niece. When she finds out she is not human and her memories are all programmed and false, she has a meltdown and is rescued by Deckard who, strictly speaking, ought to execute her on sight. Deckard manages to execute three of the off-world trespassers before becoming himself hunted by the sole survivor.

It's all pretty much a chase and a deadly cowboys and Indians gunfight, although the replicants use their superior strength and kickboxing skills rather than firearms. Added to this is the slave rebellion narrative, the pathos of discovering you are a fake human with limited lifespan (as programmed for health and safety reasons) and the rival-tribes (Romeo & Juliette) love story, and you have enough complexity to lift it out of the mundane. Again, the breathtaking special effects and Vangelis techno-score add to the entertainment factor. I have seen various different versions, or cuts, as they are known. Some had a voiceover narration which is irritating to say the least. This version, The Final Cut, had a few extra bits that were edited out of other versions, I presume for reasons of censorship and/or taste. Interesting to see them but didn't make a huge difference.

All in all, I found the evening entertaining. I have seen so much movie content only on TV that it is always good to get a chance to see some in a proper cinema environment. Makes all the difference.

Blade Runner remains one of my best movies ever list. Great atmosphere, setting, empathetic performances and stunning backdrop. Much made of a limited storyline and suitably thought-provoking ambiguous ending. If you ever get the chance to see a big screening, take it. Something for everyone.