the whole reason for the four-year lifespan was to stop them before they developed emotions. The climax at the end is Roy reaching that point, but he has no idea what to do with those emotions. We humans have all of our childhoods to learn to cope with emotions, but Roy has no such luxury. you see the full gamut of emotions flooding in, sorrow at the loss of his love Pris, howling with anger and rage as he hunted Deckar, power as he toyed with his prey, pity as he watched him dangle over the precipice and mercy as he saved him and finally as he was dying acceptance. a masterclass in movie making

This is still my favorite movie after all these years. Roy's monologue gets me right in the feels every single time. Peak Rutger Hauer.

"It's too bad she won't live, but then again who does?" I love that line so much.

I saw the original version at the theatre in '82, and was stunned by everything. In the theater, I didn't get why Roy was biting his hand and pushed a nail through it. At the time I thought he was just sardonically thrilled by the fact that he wasn't human. It wasn't until years later that it dawned on me that Roy was at the end of his life; he knew it; and his arm was seizing up. It was the first of his "death throes", and he punctured his hand to get feeling back into it. RIP Rutger Hauer, a phenominal actor

The 50's 'look' is a call back to the classic detective "Film Noir" movies of the 40's and 50's. Nope, no CGI in this one, just great miniature and optical effects, it looked this good on first release. The Vangelis score is an absolute classic, early "Synthwave" you could say. I first saw it on VHS but did see the "directors cut" on a massive cinema screen in the 90's, this is a big screen movie, stunning. One of the most influential films ever made... and they're still borrowing from it to this day.

What makes this film special is the combination of the visuals and the music. It's Tech Noir (film noir with colors and futuristic sets) combined with an electronic soundtrack by Vangelis. It's a perfect match. Never has dystopia looked and sounded so beautiful.

I showed this to my son when he was about 12. After it was over I asked what he thought. “It wasn’t their fault. They were made that way.”

A genuine masterpiece. That tears in rain speech is brilliant, gets me every time.

Roy was built by humans to be a killing machine against other human beings, so his last action of rebellion before dying was to save a human to prove he was better than us in the end.

The story's simplicity is kinda the movie's strength, I think. It's a meditation on mortality, not a plot-heavy detective story. The twist is in the emotions. The more I watch the movie, the more I feel for Roy and his emotional journey. He's the true hero of the film -- a tragic and dark one at that. For all intents and purposes a human, destined to die, raging at the injustice of his existence.

I always found it so poignant that the final act of a being designed to kill was to actually *save* a life.

The nail Roy drove through his hand was because his body was shutting down, and he was using the pain and adrenaline rush to basically defy death for just a little bit longer. The dove he was holding was symbolic, of the soul leaving the body.

Roy was beginning to die as he was chasing Deckard. He plunged a nail in his hand to keep himself alert and alive to stave that off.

It's a shame that the edits for YT in reactions to this movie are so fast, because in the last act of this film (primarily Roy's final scene) the silence and lack of action has SO much weight to it. Deckard sitting in the rain realizing exactly what just happened is deeply moving to me. Staring ones mortality in the eye. Impactful. Such an amazing film.

"If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes." -Roy

Vangelis is best known for his score for the multiple Oscar-winning film “Chariots of Fire”

The 80s didn't create this score , this score created the 80s

I saw this in the theater (original cut, obviously) when it first came out, and was stunned by how beautiful it was. An absolute masterpiece. I was 20 at the time, and 2019 seemed an eternity away, and I could well imagine that’s how a lot of the world would look in 40 year’s time.

I love the book this is based on: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K Dick. Well worth a read to get an idea of the back story.

No CGI was used in any cut of this film. Rachael was meant to look like a 40's femme fatale to support the neo-noir look of the overall production. This movie/story is a meditation on what it really means to be human (i.e. If you go on a great vacation, but have no memory of it afterwards...Was it worth it doing? Did you really even go? Are we all just a collection of our own recollections? etc). And, interestingly, almost the entire film was made on the WB lot in Burbank, CA

I remember the first time I saw this movie. I went with a class mate. I didn't know anything about the movie, other than the description in the news paper ad said that it was a sci-fi. I was immediately blown away by the atmosphere, the theme, the music, the acting, and not least the subject matter. Even though I was just a kid I understood right away that it was a story about what quality about humans that gives us human rights. I saw it many times since, and every time I noticed new details. It has always been my favorite movie of all time!

The FX weren't cleaned up, they were THAT convincing at the time I saw it in the theater. 😯

When this came out, it immediately became my favorite film of all time. Unlike any previous sci-fi films, this movie looked so real. I felt like I had been transported into this world and nothing broke the mood. I was totally immersed from beginning to end. As dreary and depressing as it seemed, I wanted to live in that world (I'm still waiting for my sky car). It is one of those rare movies I would call "perfect."

The quality of the special effects in this movie is amazing

I was around 10 or 11 when I first saw this back in the late 80's. It was the middle of the night which really set the mood perfectly. Been one of my favorite movies ever since.

The thing you gotta grasp is even though they call them robots, they’re actually organic they are living machines

the documentry they made for the final cut is worth watching.

The cityscapes are models. In fact, one of the buildings is the Millenium Falcon sruck on its end.

This one took me a few screenings to fully appreciate. I didn’t care for it the first time and I wanted to give it a fair shake, so I gave it another go. Things just clicked that second time.

5:57 - Again: it IS real. It's a miniature filmed close up, with blue-screen shots of the flying vehicles composited onto it. Why would it "have to" be computer generated? By the way in '81 (when they were making it) that tech was like 10 years away.

When Anne Rice wrote Interview with the Vampire she modelled the vampire Lestat after Rutger Hauer's character from this film. She was perticularly impacted by the scene where he meets his maker and crushes his skull and also when he lets Decker live because he had discovered something beautiful about a limited existence. She wanted a vampire who was brutal, eloquent and complex who easily could take life but sometimes appreciated the fleeting lives of mortals now that he had immortality. An interesting converse to Rutger Hauer's character who was struggling with a shortened existince but in the case of Lestat was struggling with an unending sea of existence.

The dove symbolizes the soul in many mythologies. As a replicant, but with "human" emotions, it must have come up in Roy's mind if he had what humans called or referred to as a soul. His clutching the dove at the end was a symbolic gesture of Roy clinging to life, holding his "soul" close to his body. Great fun, especially because you asked a lot a good questions!

One of my all-time favorites. I get that it’s too slow-paced for some people, but I love the vibe and can watch it endlessly. So glad to see Shanelle’s take on it.

Roy Batty’s dying words always make me tear up. Rutger Hauer improvised that whole soliloquy. He was such a great actor. RIP

Maybe Rachael is the unicorn... The dove represents peace - so when Roy grabbed the dove he was saying that he had found peace.

It's aged amazingly for a 40+ year old movie. I've always said you could release this today as a nee movie.

The interior shots in J.R.Sebastian's home were inside *The Bradbury Building*, an architectural masterpiece in Los Angeles, a mix of Victorian ornate ironwork, rich woods, and exposed elevator mecahnics. The first floor is still open to the public. The interiors of Deckard's home were from Frank Lloyd Wright's *Ennis House*, also in LA.

*ANSWERS (no spoilers):* The Replicants aren't robots. They're genetically engineered humans assembled from grown parts. They were robots in the novel, but that was changed for the film, but not well-explained. Philip K. Dick wrote the Replicants as a warning about what humans could become, but Ridley gave them the humanity that humans lost, which makes it more poignant: humanity has lost itself, but the Replicants have gained it and cherish it. Most people believe Deckard is a Replicant, but Harrison Ford doesn't. So to avoid pissing him off, they've never officially said so. Accidentally, it makes things more interesting. But having a Replicant think it's human as a way to trick it into killing its own kind is EXACTLY the kind of thing Philip K. Dick would've thought of, which is why I believe he is. The "r*pe scene" isn't so much assault as it is a tutoring situation. Rachel has emotions and desires, but she has no experience with using them or expressing them. Deckard's "instructions" are him prompting her how to communicate in a sexual situation. She has to ask for what she wants, but she doesn't know how to say it, so he's giving her the script, albeit VERY clumsily. That said, there's a lot of predatory romance in Harrison Ford movies, and there's videos on YT about it. The production of this film is legendary. The bible for it is _The Making of Blade Runner_ by Paul M. Sammon. Thee documentary DANGEROUS DAYS: THE MAKING OF BLADE RUNNER, which also has tons of deleted scenes which are equally amazing. Absolute must-sees and reads. BLADE RUNNER 2049 is an absolutely outstanding sequel. Denis Villaneuve knocked it out of the park, as usual.

This film has so much meaning to me. I was 18yo, moving from NJ to Oklahoma to attend college. My grandmother had died, and I went to visit my grandfather in Canada on the way. I was leaving my family, my mother, my siblings and a very toxic, abusive stepfather who made life hell for all of us. Instead of saying "I love you, we are here for you, his parting words to me were, my arms are never to short to come get you." It was a threat. But I made it out. My grandfather was in terrible grief. He had lost the love of his life. He cried constantly. We cried together. While there, he asked what I wanted to do. I said to see Blade Runner , which was just released. We drove to Plattsburgh, NY to watch it at a drive-in. I was floored by its meaning, its visuals, and its story. Ridley had managed to change me not once, but twice. Alien, Ridley and HR Giger had forever changed my consciousness, and here he did it again. I'll never forget those moments. I hope that they will not be lost in time. The true villain was the Tyrell corporation. The replicants just wanted what we all want- freedom, dignity and the right to exist. Thank you for reacting to this very very important film.

This was the top performance by Rutger Hauer (RIP) IMHO. And that’s in a very nice handful of nice performances by him. This is the standout. Love the film still, after 40 years. I still won’t turn down an opportunity to watch.

Did you not notice. The cop making origami was a young Edward James Olamos, Adama = BSG75.

Ridley never disappoints. Alien and Blade Runner are my two favourite movies of all time.

This is one of the most visually stunning movies ever made. The sets, the lighting, the cinematography is just stunning, and it really is timeless, can't do any better today with all the CGI in the world. Ofc the story is a classic too.

It's more of a 30's / 40's femme fatale and not 50's. In the 80's there was a bit of a 30's/40's nostalgia thing. And also a punk/ 'new wave' fascination. So Blade Runner merged those two 80's fads. All the smoking is a 40's thing, too.

Blade Runner was the 1st movie I ever bought on DVD when that format came out.

Roy isn't enjoying himself. He's fighting death like a toddler fighting sleep. He's giving Deckerd the chance to go live the life Roy can't. The dove is Roy's soul. It's a variation on Rick and Renault at the end of Casablanca.

I saw this when it came out. This was during a time when sci-fi movies were at their peak, and visually, it didn't seem like anything special, at least on the surface; this movie really flew under the radar and didn't leave much of a mark, but it really stuck in your head once you saw it. If you were a fan of Heavy Metal comics and Enki Bilal, this was like a dream come true

2:23 - They're also real. That opening shot is a composite of a real aerial shot and a collection of miniatures. The flaming spires are from some industrial area, a refinery I think (can't remember well). 😉

I know a lot of hardcore fans hated my favorite version. There were several cuts, but the one I liked had a voiceover and a shot of Deckard and Rachel flying away somewhere in the end. It said that Tyrell had told Deckard that in addition to Rachel having been given memories and not knowing she is a replicant, she also had no artificially imposed lifespan. The implication was they could live happily ever after. I know so many people (including Ridley Scott) hated that version, but I'm a sucker for a happy ending and I've always liked it best.

Blade Runner was a major moment in film history. It was not a success in its theatrical release but became a cult classic once it was available on VHS. It helped to develop the genre called cyber-punk, which has appeared in countless films, tv, novels, comics, and games. It was common in the early 80s to have a soundtrack of electronic music. It didn't suit some movies, but it does fit this one because the whole film is full of techno stuff. You should certainly watch the sequel soon.

No other movie had the perfect look, even now it looks stunning.

Ridley Scotts first movie was The Duellists, 1978...Keith carradine and Harvey Keitel... Cool movie and beautifully shot.

I saw this in a theater as the studio-approved version, with the narration and an extra scene tacked on at the end. The extra scene was a brightly sunlit scene with Deckert and Rachel flying in a car together, presumably north. In my audience, when it transitioned from the dark film-noir of the movie to sudden sunlight, someone audibly cheered. They could not handle the non-stop darkness that Ridley Scott intended. It failed commercially at the time because I don't think people knew what it was. Now it is considered a classic, though people still don't respect the original version that I saw and liked at the time.

After Roy makes his "tears in rain" speech, he says, "Time to die" and he just ... dies. His time was up

Old Asian feller is James Hong, helluvan Oscar winning actor, and best "multi-villian" movie is Big Trouble in Little China with Kurt Russell, a martial arts & black magic comedy. Thanks for this! Please enjoy that!

Absolute classic

Fun fact: Joanna Cassidy (the dancer replicant) came back years later to do reshoots of her death scene for the re release because in the original version you could clearly see the stunt double's face.

8:55 Man… I’m 35 and James Hong’s career from his start, up to 1990 alone, is 1 year older than me… and now, we’re in 2023-- and my man here is still going strong, much respect to the legend, James Hong!❤🎉🫡✊🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

2:42 There is a very satisfying term for this - Retrofuturism! Worth an internet deep dive, the artwork alone is stunning.

BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER! The effects were way ahead of their time and hold up to CGI even today. Remember Shanelle… this movie tanked in 82 and only found an audience later. Still Ridley’s most visually stunning movie and raised the bar for visual effects for decades…

4:29, I think this is THE FINAL CUT of Blade Runner.

Although an '80s kid, I didn't see this movie until the '90s, in an arthouse theater for a midnight show, and it was a revelation.

I just want to say happy thanksgiving to all that celebrated it. Those that did not well just hope you had a great day.

In the end Roy isnt trying to kill Deckard. He's trying to teach to communicate. That's why he keeps saying 'unsportsmanlike of you'. He's communicating the point, when your facing death you will do anything desperate to live. I think Roy just wanted someone to empathize with him and his life before he died.

This was the first movie to portray the future as not all clean with new buildings. It showed old buildings along with new which makes it so much more realistic. I never think of that music as 80's. I guess since it was emulated by so many movies after that that were very 80s it tainted it? This is my favorite movies and I visited the Bradberry Building location and its story is amazing.

This is all practical effects with models, matt paintings, studio sets and locations around Los Angeles. The movie was shot on 35mm and 65mm film, this is probably the 4K digital scan version of the film stock.

The genius of Ridley Scott.

Saw this originally in first release, voiceover and no unicorn. At the time it looked so advanced in sci-fi movie making, and is still one of my favs. Dystopian Earth was really the zeitgeist in scifi at the time. Later, after Alien/Aliens/Prometheus came out, you can imagine that this was the state of Earth at the same time. Replicants were prevented from being planetside so that humanity wouldn't go extinct and be replaced by artificial life.

Shanelle, the Final Cut is not as restored or remastered as you would think. Watch the original theatrical cut and you will see. The changes were more like "fixes" to shots. The biggest changes from original are the removal of a "40'd style film noir narration by Ford that provided exposition and a change to the ending that left it more open ended. I you know someone that has the 5 Disc "Special Edition", as to borrow it. It has both versions of the film. A wealth of BTS material, and a look at the shots they corrected that involved the help of one of Harrison Ford's sons and of Joanna Cassidy. Alsu the Tyrell Building is a real model and shot upside down.

Shanelle, the dove thing means Roy, knowing he was about to die, felt an intense love for life, and for all living things, including Deckard !

Original and iconic line is "I want more life, fucker." The "tears in rain" speech is even more iconic, and possibly Rutger Hauer's finest moment. That huge building was a model, not CGI, which would have looked fake AF in 1982. The unicorn is a clue that Gaf knows that Decker dreams of unicorns because he's seen the dream implants.

Saw it in the cinema with the voiceover intro which I actually quite liked as the 'forties detective, Philip Marlow' sort of fitted with the styling. Loved this film ever since.

This great movie is very much about what means to be human and, at the end, Roy reveals not only his humanity but also that he has a soul of a poet. Also, I think the dove he holds is a representation of his human soul (that flies away when he dies).

7:42 - Well, yeah. That and the flying cars, the arcologies, the cyborgs...breathtakingly accurate! 😁

The actresses from this era were stunning.

Love this film. I was twelve when it came out, I had to wait until home video to see it. I had already gone to see so many movies that year that my parents refused to pay for another. I saw the version with Ford’s voiceover first. I see why Scott eventually took it out in later versions, but the voiceover was cool in its own way, made it like a very noire detective style voiceover reminiscent of the old noire detective voiceovers. Glad you liked it 😊

I had seen this on TV a bunch of times when I was a kid in the late 80s and it was always the version with the voiceover, but I still loved it and watched it whenever it was on TV. In my senior year of high school, I took a media studies course and the teacher played the uncut version for the class for us to analyze and I remember thinking that if this is anything like film school, I'm in!

The unicorn dream tells us that they were not his memories, and he is a replicant, but that was added in the director's cut. In the original the unicorn was just another different origami and shows that the partner knew where Rachel was, and he let Deckard take her away.

"My memories will disappear, like tears in the rain. Possibly the most touching line spoken by the villain in any movies.

In my opinion this is one of the greatest movies of all time! It is based on the short novel, "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" by Phillip K. Dick. I would highly recommend reading it and then watching the movie again ... and again, lol. Fortunately this is one of the few franchises where the sequels maintained the vision and quality, and answered many of our questions. This was not written to be a vision of the future. It is an alternate reality presenting many questions about what makes us human, consciousness, our reality, slavery, control and so much more. Most sci-fi was never about predicting the future, it was about asking questions about different possible realities. When you make comments like, "they got the smoking wrong" and try to date the movie through hair and clothing you risk missing the point and meaning. You might also want to try to take the perspective of the replicants. Enslaved since their creation with false memories implanted. What rights do they have? They were created from our DNA. Are they not human because they were not born from a womb? The replicant's speech to Decker before he dies expresses much of this and makes me feel great empathy for the replicants. The dove represents his soul. Nice review!

I love this movie. Its one of my all time favs and laid the ground work for the Cyberpunk genre visually along with things like Ghost in the Shell (anime) and Akira.

The book this is based off of, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, is a Philip K. Dick classic. Very prescient.

Roy's soliloquy means so much more to me now, and actually hurts, rather than when I first saw the movie. When my father died, within a day or two, I began having panic attacks. Several times a day. They would leave me feeling weak and confused. Like, if I was having a conversation with someone when it hit, I wouldn't be able to remember what we'd been talking about, or even what their name was. I wasn't able to pull up any information. Then, after the attack subsided, I would be weak as a kitten; reaction to the Adrenalin rush they started with. It was months later that I finally realized what was causing them. They would hit me every time I tried to remember something about my father. Because I knew that my memories were all that was left of him. And I was terrified of forgetting a thing, because then all that he'd been would be gone... like tears in rain. So when I had the least problem calling up a memory, or if it "felt" inaccurate or incomplete... boom, Adrenalin rush, mind blanked. I learned to tell the signs when one was coming on, and to divert my mind to something else. They eventually subsided... lost in the matters of everyday living... like tears in rain.

@Shanelle Riccio - try “Gattaca” starring Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Uma Thurman, Ernest Borgnine and Tony Shaloub…I think you’ll love it. Beautiful cinematography and soundtrack too!

Regarding the scene in Deckard's apartment when he says "kiss me" to Rachel - it's not that Rachel is NOT attracted to Deckard, but, knowing she is a replicant, she cannot trust that her feelings are real. Many reactors cringe during this scene, but there is subtext that must be taken into account as well. Good reaction for a first viewing!

One of the very many movies based on a Phillip K Dick science fiction story. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" I remember it as one of the first films that we had to buy on DVD when DVD players first came out

I was somewhere between 9-10 years old the first time I watched this movie. It was on TV in the 90s and I was blown away by it. It has been one of my most favorite movies ever since. Glad to see you enjoyed it, and yes, the visual FX have improved over the years, but even in earlier versions of the film looked spectacular.

2:17 - And, as you're about to see, they nailed it with how accurate they depict L.A. in this movie! 🤭

Finally! Some folks don’t like the Noire style. But I lOVE this film! I have waited for so long for you to get to this!!!

There’s a deleted scene where Roy Batty is in the elevator sorting through his emotions, and the computer starts talking and he says “Mom?” Rutger Hauer’s performance in that scene gives me chills.

Rachael is the Unicorn. One of a Kind!

Blade Runner to many is Scotts Magnum Opus. It is so well done with such great nuance and atmosphere.

13:40 - I really hope that "further research" means seeing the location spelled out for you at the beginning of the movie. 'Cause, uh...they haven't changed location. 😁

Rutger Hauer was amazing in this movie. Should have won an Oscar.

One my faves. So glad you reacted to it. The behind-the-scenes doc “Dangerous Days” is a much watch. Covers the entire filmmaking process. From script and early development through to cinematography, production design, music, visual effects, etc.

8:42, James Hong, he's still living and still making movies at 94.

This movie was one of the driving forces behind the "director's cut": the theatrical version was very different from the VHS version. The other famous example from that period was Sergio Leone's last film, "Once Upon a Time in America," which critics rated as both the best and worst movie of 1984 depending on which version you saw.

You just watched a classic. One of the best film noir 80's sci-fi films depicting a dystopian future of humanity. Fantastic score by Vangelis ! A masterpiece film !

I think the genius of this movie is that it blends '40s style film noir with science fiction involving robots, and wraps the whole thing up in visionary imagery. Each element it draws from is used to maximum effect. Sometimes movies that try blending genres do a better job on one part than they do on the other part. In this movie, each aspect is very well done.

15:01 - It's called a "strip club". Patreons go there and pay to see the ladies, known as either "strippers" or "exotic dancers", depending on how upscale the joint is, dance and slowly remove most or all item of clothing. The more you know! 😁