The Blade Runner Director’s Cut

Among bizarre pop culture accidents, the Blade Runner Director's Cut is one of them. Blade Runner (1982), re-released under the banner "the director's cut," is described in the updated press pack as presenting a "new view of tomorrow" and proving to be "chillingly accurate" by director Ridley Scott. Both statements demonstrate that the star of Blade Runner was never Harrison Ford, but rather the city he depicted. The film's reputation has always been built on its elaborate cinematic depiction of a near-future Los Angeles (though it could be any city). Claims of 'prophecy' on the part of its creators a decade later are unavoidable; in the movie business, being ahead of your time is the perfect antidote to wider audience neglect; the film was a box office failure when it was first released.

The resulting cut is both more satisfying and more vexing. This Blade Runner succeeds in emphasizing Scott's best work's consistent frustration (with the possible exception of Thelma and Louise). Within each relentlessly surfaced Ridley Scott film, a more conceptually interesting film tries in vain to break through a gleaming carapace. The interior of the crew ship "Nostromo" was the real star of Alien; the victim's apartment was the eye-catcher in Someone To Watch Over Me. The city remains the star of Blade Runner, a more unsatisfactory state of affairs now that the full arrested development of Deckard's complex relationship with the female android is possible; it is increasingly irritating now that a purer, more logical, and darker vision is available.

Year: 1992

Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour and 57 minutes