The Blade Runner (1982) by: Kevin Sirgi, Mitchell Khury, and Juliano Malizia

The Blade Runner (1982)

Link to film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eogpIG53Cis

General Information:

Release date: June 25th, 1982

Director: Ridley Scott

Screenwriter: Hampton Fancher, and David Webb Peoples

Lead Actors: Harrison Ford (as Rick Deckard), Rutger Hauer (as Roy Batty), Sean Young (as Rachael), and Daryl Hannah (as Pris)

Running time: 1h 57min

(Source: IMDb)

Film Review:

It’s the year 2019. Although the future has brought great technology, there is a darker side to the story as the advances in technology designed to help humans are also threatening them. A group of four replicants, highly advanced robots designed by humans in order to colonize other planets have turned rogue and are coming back to hearth with a vengeance. Replicants are designed to mimic humans in every physiological aspect while being physically superior. In response, Rick Deckard, a retired cop turned Blade Runner comes out of retirement to locate and “retire” the rogue replicants. In the process Deckard falls in love with a replicant who is capable of complex human emotions and behaviors that she didn’t even know she was a replicant. Deckard successfully retires three out of the four replicants. In the final scenes the last replicant is on the verge of killing Deckard. However, as the replicant reaches the end of his four year life span he decides to save Deckard.

This films cinematic techniques enhanced the viewers viewing experience. The director made great use of camera angles and techniques such as long shots and close-ups.

Close ups are used throughout the movie to emphasize character emotion and intensity. An example of this in the film would be when Deckard is performing the Voight Kampff and the camera shows a close up of Deckards face in order to make the viewer feel the intensity of the interrogation and to bring up the question “what is he thinking” when interrogating people and perhaps also whether or not he is a replicant himself.

Camera angles are used in an immense way during the last few scenes where Roy is chasing Deckard through the abandoned apartment buildings. Specifically, when Deckard climbs outside the building to try to escape Roy, the camera angle points downwards to show just how high up Deckard is on the ledge and to bring attention to if he makes one mistake he's dead. This is used to add a sense of stress of suspense to the scene and it also shows that Roy has the power to end Deckard’s life.

Long shots are used primarily to bring attention to the setting of the scene. Specifically, the director chooses to use long shots when showing the new futuristic city of Los Angeles. This is because by using a long shot, the idea that this futuristic LA is vast and overly developed. During the long shots the viewer can see the gigantic digital billboards as well as the flying cars. This simply gives the viewer an impression on what the city is like for the characters living in it and adds emotion or a better understanding of the story.

The film is set in the future in a high-tech city. Props like gigantic billboard and flying cars are used to depict this. The city seemed to also have an Asian décor, for example hanging lanterns. Other recurrent props throughout the film were smoking and drinking.

In addition, the scenes are very dark and it is always raining throughout the movie. This is done to symbolize a dark time in society and to demonstrate the negative environmental effects that our actions will produce.

Lastly, the director made great use of sound (diegetic and non-diegetic) in order to make scenes more intense. Non diegetic sound is used often. However, this technique is used the best during the scene where Roy chases Deckard. Here the director chooses to add suspenseful music, to add the stress that Deckard is experiencing when he is running away from Roy. As the scene progressed to its climax the music would intensify. Diegetic sounds are also used very well during fighting scenes in the movie. Specifically the scene where Leon and Deckard are fighting in the streets. Here, the sound of Leon’s fists hitting and smashing things (such as when he breaks open the steel pipe) is projected in order to allow for the viewer to understand how hard the replicants can hit.

This movie raises several questions. For one, with all the technological advances should human strive to achieve the creation of a sentient being? This movie depicts a dystopian looking futuristic society which raises the highly debated topic that in fact our technological advances will lead to our downfall as a society. Finally we believe that this movie raises the question of what makes us human. The replicants appear to be human in every way however, they're not human because they are man-made.

Review:

Although it was released over three decades ago, Blade Runner presents concerns we may currently have in regard to our future. By extrapolating these, it causes us to question some of our current practices and currents of thought. The first is that of where our society could possibly be headed. Emphasized in the film through the use of long shots, Blade Runner presents a world that is essentially completely consumed by a city. There is not a glimpse of nature during the film’s entirety. The world has depleted itself of natural resources to that extent that the film’s characters are attempting to colonize other planets. To further reinforce this idea, is the use of non-diegetic sound of advertisement which recurs throughout the film. At the beginning of multiple scenes we are presented with a view of the city while a short advertisement plays in the background. It is effective in strengthening the idea of consumerism and the affects it has and continues to have in this world of the future. The film is great in its way of presenting us with this idea subtlety, and it is one of it’s strengths. 

The film also causes the viewer to question the advancement of technology and our development as humans alongside it. It does so through the duality of the film’s main character Deckard. Considered to be the best blade runner ever, Deckard has had a successful career killing Replicants. He is so good, he is asked to come out of retirement and tasked with killing the most advanced form of Replicant to date. He hunts them down and “retires” them while simultaneously, and perhaps unintentionally, he falls in love with Rachael; a Replicant advanced to the point where she does not even know she is one. This duality, and seemingly contradictory and hypocritical, main character reflects the uncertainty, boundaries, and potential precariousness of humans’ relationship with technology. Moreover, adding another element to this is the film’s conclusion in which Deckard is saved by another Replicant, who nearing the end of his four-year life span, experiences a spur of empathy and catches Deckard from falling to his death. This creates an interesting juxtaposition as to the human qualities of these two characters. For the film’s entirety Deckard has been determined to kill robots but when he himself is facing of death, it is one that saves him. Roy (the Replicant) displays a very human quality in saving someone’s life which is ironic as Deckard was attempting to end his.  Deckard’s experiences expose the different sides to humans and their relationship with technology as it progresses itself to become increasingly human.

Criticisms for the film arise from that it can be confusing at parts. At first the concept of the Replicant can be complex and the film does not necessarily do a great job at clarifying this. It more or less throws the idea out without a real explanation as to what exactly a Replicant is. Also, for a film which is set in the future, its conclusion does not give a glimpse as to the results of the film’s events. It leaves the viewer with an uncertainty about its characters, the Replicants, and the fate of the world it depicts.

Course Connections:

1.                   One of the themes related to the The Blade Runner is the concept of the internal lives of non humans and more specifically of robots. The idea of the internal self of robots is centered around the question “what is it like to be like a robot?” which in turn is about the idea of what “me” means to a robot or if this is even too far fetched. In the film, it becomes obvious that these replicant robots care about themselves and wish to live longer as well as appear to have certain emotions. However, are these emotions simply a very intelligent response based on the robots programing or are these true conscious actions that have been processed by the robots “self” is the big question that truly cannot be answered. Instead, to be able to get closer to the answer of “what is it like to be like a robot?” we are able to make observations based on the external components of the internal self such as thoughts that have been shared, feelings that are conveyed, and actions that these robots have taken. In the film, we can analyse these things such as, for example, the replicants want to prolong their life and ensure their survival, so they go on a mission to find a way to possibly live forever - this suggests a certain level of self consciousness.

2.                   The Blade Runner explores robots in the light of the uncanny valley, a concept covered in class in the article about robots. The uncanny valley is the concept that the more “human-like” an object or robot has become, the more scary and intimidating it becomes to humans up until it passes a certain threshold where it starts to evoke certain emotions in humans to the point where it becomes almost human. The idea of the uncanny valley is prevalent through Deckard’s experiences as well as the plot-line of the film. In this world, the robots are like humans in almost every way except for that they cannot experience true emotions such as humans can. As the uncanny valley would suggest, the more like humans the robots are the stronger the human’s response to them will be. the uncanny valley is subliminally used in scenarios such as the intimate scenes when Rachel pays Deckard a visit at his apartment where Rachel is seen as so human like that the viewer is able to feel the "passion" of the scene as well as the scene where Roy is chasing Deckard through the abandoned building and has extreme strength, this removes the viewers sense that replicants are very human like forcing the replicants to return to the actually valley of the uncanny valley and hence adding suspense to the scene. Deckard develops a real attraction to the Replicant robot named Rachel which suggest that these replicates have passed all prior steps of the uncanny valley and become essentially “human”.

3.                   The film connects to class discussions about sentience and more specifically what it is to be a sentient being and what is considered sentient. Sentience is defined by Merriam Webster’s dictionary as the “feeling or sensation as distinguished from perception and thought”(Merriam-Webster’s) which essentially means that a sentient being is aware of its surrounding and is able to think about the matter and feel in a subjective way. The film shows many scenarios where these replicants appear to have sentience. They appear to be conscious and are aware of the fact that they’re going to die soon and want to live longer – this may hint that they are understanding of the concept of death. Additionally, Rachael cries when Deckard tells her that her memories are from Tyrell’s niece showing that she has some sort of emotions. Regardless of being man-made, these robots have many of the criteria of a sentient being.

Questions:

1- Although placed in a very fictional setting, do you think that human technology will advance far enough to reach what it is in the futuristic Los Angeles as presented in the film?

2- Seeing how complex and realistic replicants can be, could you fall in love with a sentient and conscious replicant? Why or why not?

3- Seeing as these replicants fight so hard to live longer and appear to be highly intelligent, what ethical problems could arise when these highly advanced and possibly self aware robots are “retired” or is there no problem at all?

Web Links:

This article explores the motifs of the film. It analyzes it chronologically and sheds light on different motifs as it does so. It also draws comparison from the film to real world examples.

Dyer, J. (2012, May 15). Blade Runner: Indepth Esotoric Analysis. Retrieved April 5, 2017.

https://jaysanalysis.com/2012/05/15/blade-runner-indepth-esoteric-analysis/

The author begins by exploring the motif of eyes in Blade Runner. The article then discusses the differences between Replicant and man. Finally, it begs the interesting question as to whether Deckard is a replicant or not.

Themes, Symbols and Motifs in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. (2012, December 3). Retrieved April 5, 2017.

https://joakimtimon.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/themes-symbols-and-motifs-in-ridley-scotts-blade-runner/

Work Cited:

1- Dyer, J. (2012, May 15). Blade Runner: Indepth Esotoric Analysis. Retrieved April 5, 2017.

2- Themes, Symbols and Motifs in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. (2012, December 3). Retrieved April 5, 2017.

3- "Sentience." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.

4-  Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Prod. Ridley Scott and Hampton Francher. By Hampton Francher and David Webb Peoples. Perf. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. Warner Bros., 1982. Online.

5-  IMDb. "Blade Runner (1982)." IMDb. IMDb.com, 5 Mar. 2002. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

6- Dazed. "Everything We Know so Far about the Blade Runner Sequel." Dazed. Dazed, 30 Aug. 2016. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

7- Wenz, John. "Meet the Man Who Might Direct the 'Blade Runner' Sequel." Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics, 27 Feb. 2015. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.