Blade Runner

I probably shouldn't have waited this long to see it, although at least it's basically the definitive version. Blade Runner's been regarded as a classic of the science fiction genre for a long time, and it's nice to see the roots of a lot of work that borrowed from it. It's also fun to watch Han Solo, Admiral Adama, Cardinal Rourk, and Elle Driver run around a dark, dystopian city when they were younger (or in Solo's case, basically the same age). Having now seen four different adaptations of Phillip K. Dick's work, it's really interesting how different they can turn out in style, although I guess it can be expected when your leading men include Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Blade Runner has a couple action scenes, although that's not really the film's focus. It's about the story, as the movie raises questions about the true nature of life and the morality of killing off "Replicants", which are basically exactly the same as Cylons and even also nicknamed "skin jobs". The movie's very darkly lit and a bit of a slow burn, which doesn't make it very conducive to watching at night, but I wouldn't call it boring, as it's pretty well put together as a film and never lost my attention. Harrison Ford gives an interesting performance as Deckard, a man who isn't sure about what he has to do anymore. When it gets near the end and Deckard goes after the last couple Replicants, the movie gets genuinely disturbing, as Rutger Hauer plays the psychopath villain quite well, as he is known to do. The resolution is a bit weird, but everything about the movie is a little different, which I kind of like. Ridley Scott used to really know what was up with the genre. Apparently previous version of the movie had some terrible narration by Ford, and I'm curious about that, because it definitely didn't need it.