When Razorfist produces better content than all of hollywood.

16:10 I love when the interview begins. Rachel asks does decard MIND if she smokes. He replies that it will not affect the test. She pulls a cig and start smoking. But he did not answer her question. She lit the cigarette without knowing if it would bother him. It's like a hidden empathy test.

This should be added to future editions of Blade Runner as a special feature

The Moral of Blade Runner: You are alive, but not for long. To live in cold isolation and without empathy is to not live at all. You must devote your life to something or someone, because its the only one you'll ever have. The Moral of Blade Runner 2049: Slavery bad. Racism bad. Robuts are gonna replace humans and you're not special.

About Vangelis, many may not know that he never learned to read musical notes, and also he plays by improvise. And still he creates all those masterpieces...

The epic score of Vangelis cannot be underestimated. It's close to genius.

"Hey! Do you want to go out and see a movie tonight?" "I don't know. What's playing right now?" "Let's see." reads listing in newspaper "They got showings for E.T., Blade Runner, and The Thing."

Best documentary and analysis of Blade Runner out there.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C- beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time...like tears in the rain..." R.I.P. 🙏~ Rutger Hauer (1944-2019) Good video btw...

I always thought the line, “We need the old Bladerunner.” Was, itself brilliant. It implies an entire pre-story that the viewer can only imagine.

Thank you for mentioning Sanderson's J.F. Sebastian. I've always loved how the replicants, who have a shortened lifespan, meet him and learn that this man, who has helped in their creation, has Methusalah Syndrome - accelerated aging. His line of "There's some of me in you" is just perfect, setting up their aging plight, and his interactions with Roy and Pris are underrated moments in the film for sure!

So the parts of the "tears in rain" monologue were improvised. That makes it even better.

One of my favorite shots is when Deckard looks at Rachael's 'childhood' photo and it starts moving like it's real...gave me chills when I first saw it...filmography was so ahead of its time.

As much as I hated my time in California, one thing they have that I missed was a cute little back-alley theater that only showed classic black & white noir films. God I wish we had something like that here in Arizona. And a good piano bar. Both of those things. :)

I have loved this film since before I even watched it. My dad went out on a date and saw this movie and though he didn't really care so much for it he was so enamored by the soundtrack that he promptly purchased the vinyl LP and brought it home and played it the same weekend. I fell in love with it immediately, listening to every track while looking at the promotional photos on the jacket. We didn't have a VHS player so I went and bought the paperback of the original story, now at the time published with more promotional photos from the movie. When I was 17 in 1989 I had just enough money from my paycheck as a US Army Private to purchase the VHS and I watched it in the dayroom of my barracks. I kept and played that tape for two decades until it finally broke. Both versions of the story, the book and film, helped launch my interest in cyberpunk and other science fiction. It helped me discover so much writing and film that inspired me, helped keep my candle lit when I was going through some of the most difficult times in my life, as a tactical MI soldier there are plenty of those. Even now it helps sustain me as I go through the kind of difficulties that only a disabled veteran can. Thank you for this retrospective. I very much enjoy your work.

YES! The whole "Deckard is a replicant" business screws up his conflict and resolution with Roy. He has personality, emotion, and a long history that shaped his personality (rather than implanted memories). So he is a replicant with nothing in common with other replicants? What exactly would the point be?

'Wake up! Time to die.' Is one of the best lines ever.

Rachel coming to realise she's a replicant, "I'm not in the business: l am the business," is really sad

How you know Blade Runner is sci fi: It's 2019 LA and people can smoke indoors.

Like tears in rain... Time to die.

Also, during Philip K. Dick's screening of the scene, they played Vangelis's score for him.

R.I.P. Vangelis.His music in Blade Runner was unique and amazing.

21:45 when Roy Batty starts reciting his poetic religious existentialism you know someone's about to die.

The shots in the Bradbury building are some of the most beautiful set to film. Cinematography and lighting for those sequences were flat out amazing.

Don’t worry. You are not alone on the “Deckard is human” camp. 1) I have problems with the sole argument being based on “because I [Ridley Scott] said do”. And if people don’t, then they should accept religious authorities (same thing). 2) I’m not convinced with the shots made to make the point. a) The unicorn shot is really just a Kuleshov effect (the 1992 Director’s Cut is a much more poetic way of making the association). b) A big deal is made about the replicant eyes ... you don’t see it in Zora. c) Rachel’s retort to Deckard was more of a way to hurt him because she was hurt rather than “I know you are a replicant”. d) The origami has more to do with Rachel than him. The big giveaway is the recall of Gaff’s line: “It’s too bad she won’t live. But then again, who does?”. This appears in *all* versions. 3) Deckard being a replicant raises too many questions ... and questions concerning plot and general logic. Basically, why would you purposefully design a “Blade Runner” to be a bitter, cynical, ineffective alcoholic? (Remember, his ass was kicked by *every* replicant he “retired”) 4) As mentioned by others, it muddles greatly the strongest element of the film, which is its philosophical springboard. Like Frank Darabont rightly observed, Deckard undergoes an incredibly deep and profound arc. Having him be a replicant gets rid of it.

8:49 Philip K. Dick's idea of SS death camp officers/androids with no empathy, parallels journalists learn to code mentality. Different magnitudes of callous indifference, but both demonstrate a lack of human empathy ... like an NPC

RIP Rutger Hauer. The Hitcher was probably the first film I saw him in, one of his best. I’ll have to play the Observer as well.

Fantastic mini-documentary and brilliant take. Well done. If I may romantically recall my own experience with Blade Runner, I was 15 when it debuted. When I first saw it...wow. I was blown away. Particularly by Batty's dying scene, Vangelis' soundtrack, anguished volumes spoken by silent faces and the visuals.... just astonishing visuals. Simply hypnotizing. How does a film use endlessly colorful, brilliant neon lights that glaringly scatter off of rain soaked streets to convey piercing hopelessness, haunting detachment and emotional surrender so effectively? Using light to speak of the dark? Ethereal synth music to whisper forlorn resignation? How? In the late 80's I would say this was my favorite film of all time, and folks would look at me like I was emotionally ajar. By the 90's it became 'secret' cool film fodder for RTF students to effuse over. By the late 2010's, it fell under the claim of young hipster cinephiles, dragged along with their other predictable tokens of conceited enlightenment (Cinema Paradiso, Bicycle Thieves, The Seven Samurai, Battleship Potemkin, The Third Man, Metropolis, Hero, etc etc etc) to elevate their own status as 'The Cognoscenti'. These days, Internet wannabe-epicureans want to drag it into the current meme-culture mainstream of cyberspace 'dopeness' and reduce it down to nothing more than a lodge pin of their own imagined intellectual prowess. I kind of resent that. When a film shakes you to your core and evokes such a strong reaction in you, it stays with you for decades, it becomes almost an old acquaintance. But when it becomes appropriated by snotty, self-important, bohemian film psuedo-SME's, you feel a bit like you've been burglarized. Sure, everyone loves it *now*, that's easy. It's so unique it screams its brilliance at you with only a stare. But these days, say it's your favorite film and you get 20-something dweebs screeching "Of course you say that! Millions of us say that, you bandwagon jumper" clearly because that's exactly what they're doing. Sure, some really do 'get it', but most of what I see is just intellectual thievery. To so many these days, Blade Runner is just something to be chopped and up and used. BR:2049 is the pinnacle of this dynamic. H'wood saw the rising stock of the original and decided to whore it out in a sad retro cash grab to hawk a pathetic, soulless doppelganger of a sequel. And like Edward Hopper's 'Nighthawks', which came a gnat's eyelash away from being ruined through hyper-over expose by poster companies peddling millions of copies in malls everywhere for 30 years, Blade Runner took a brutal beating for daring to be iconic and, as a result, it got mercilessly wrung out for a few more pennies by the godless merchandizing machine of Tinseltown. I'm get it, I'm selfish. I want Blade Runner to stay what it was, not what pretenders today think it is or what some Socialist crusader thinks it ought to be. Even before Siskel & Ebert each passed away, they moderated their opinions of the film from "a bad, boring story pretty visuals and a lot of dull, unlikeable characters" and "a waste of time" over to the more trendy-acceptable "a significant achievement in science fiction" and "iconic" just to keep their movie street cred in tact. Well Hell, jump on the wagon boys. The tickets are cheap these days, all the cool kids are doing it now. But despite the overselling and the cultural hijacking, as an over-the-hill greybeard who was there when it was a new, fresh, cutting and soul saturating experience, it still is my favorite film of all time. Even now when I watch it, it still resonates with the same energy, power, artistry and gentle mesmerizing touch it had in 1982. Perhaps it captured me so profoundly because it's so deeply seeded, root and branch, in my own coming of age. I see it now as I saw it then. I'm fortunate because I got to be there when it emerged so completely unexpectedly, was so shockingly original and disarmingly beguiling. The fact that it was made in the zeitgeist of the very early 80's ensures its legacy as so much more than just a film. To borrow a phrase, it really is a moment in time; it hit the screens just as the digital age erupted overnight and transfigured our lives everywhere, in music, cars, technology, visuals and our own perception of what the future was supposed to be. Perhaps the online peanut gallery of blathering professional opinionators have actually helped a bit, because now it can never be minimized or forgotten. In 100 years, when every tacky, obnoxious CGI crapfest movie from the late 1990's and on has been rightfully flushed down the sewers of artistic irrelevance and the only people who remember the names of JJ Abrams and Michael Bay are their great-grandkids spending their money, people will still be watching Blade Runner, intoxicated by it's complex fabric of visuals, color, sound, emotion, poignancy and, ironically, it's humanity. I strongly suggest watching it again. But for maximum effect, please watch it on a large 4K screen by yourself, late on a cold, rainy night, with a blanket snugly huddled around your shoulders, a window open to let the atmosphere creep in and with about three fingers of Johnnie Walker Black Label glissading about inside of an Arnolfo di Cambio Cici tumbler..... Thanks for letting me blather myself. G'night all.

35:59 "There's only so much poetry you can get rid of." --Rutger Hauer RIP good sir.

end the text scroll at the beginning with: and it is I, Terran Gell, his chronicler who alone can tell thee of his saga! LET ME TELL YOU OF THE DAYS OF NOIR!!!!

Dude, Why the hell are you just a KZfaqr? This platform doesn't deserve you. Magnificent work.

"I'd rather be a killer then a victim....and that was exactly what Bryant's threat about little people meant." That is one of my favourite lines in the whole film. And without the narration, that is gone.

I prefer the theatrical version with the narration and the happy ending and I never considered Deckard to be a replicant. Blade Runner is a masterpiece from stem to stern and it's simply one of the best films ever made imo.

Also, Syd Mead's work on this film can NEVER be praised enough. He truly shaped a realistic future that has helped shape the world of sci-fi for decades. In the same year he gave us cool designs for TRON as well. Mead is a treasure!

I've just finished watching this for the third time in the past three years. Truly one of Razor's best pieces of work.

Astute observation on Razors part by taking the problem of isolation in 2019 and rightfully showing me another layer of the blade runner film I hadn't even noticed.

51:10 "Deckard dawns on the realization that the nature of his biological existence is less important than what he chooses to do with it." great writing

I finally alloted the time to sit down and give this my full attention. Your past accolades for this film were brilliantly expressed, and you wore your heart on your sleeve. You sir, have outdone yourself. I am only 20 minutes in, and felt compelled to praise you for your efforts. I have a feeling I will be watching this more than once. From one huge fan to another, THANK YOU. 🤘☠🤘

Rest in peace Vangelis, bladerunner would not be the same without you

This, was incredibly well done. Razor may have just crafted his masterpiece. And if Terran did not only the drone footage and shots in the opening, but the music as well, I'd be willing to pay for his cover. Outstanding.

I long for another Film Noirchives installment from you, Razor. I’ve watched all of your Film Noirchives videos before constantly. They’re some of the best film analysis videos I’ve ever seen.

Brilliant video, as always, Great Sir. My only complaint about the voice overs (other than the happy ending in the original) was Deckard's "I don't know why he saved my life..." blather right after Batty's death. Even watching it as a teenager, I remember thinking "He just freakin' told you why he saved your life! He just freakin' told you!" Deckard failed the empathy test right there.

Does anyone else feel that the original countryside ending is getting too much hate? There's this issue of "Why would anyone live in this hellscape city when there's this beautiful countryside" argument. I say - take a look around you. Most cities have devolved into being similar shitholes and yet people still want to live there.

>see notification >see video length Time to get comfy I guess ☕

This movie allows us to perhaps question our own existence to the extent of self awareness and self worth. We are blinded from everyday life and very seldom do we look inward to exploit and understand what is it to be a human being and to be alive. This film is a near perfect example of that.

Eight minutes in and this is a fantastically informative piece already.

36:08 Blue eyes crying in the rain. RIP Rutger Hauer

blade runner looks almost better in black and white

Just what my afternoon needed, a Razorfist video!

This movie is is one of the most important motion pictures ever made. When I was little the opening fire in the eye shot got me. You think Harrison Ford, and this is going to be I don't know Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and instead really takes it's time, and gives you a good story. Straight up I think the first few shots, are the mutiny, Roy Batty was talking about, at the end in The Tears in Rain Speech. Only then does the seeing things through other eyes, which indicates true empathy. This video got me into Moebius, and The Incal, before The Bande Desiness one. Thank you Razorfist. You drove my other friend insane by studying the sacred geometric futurist designs of Syd Mead. No joke he carved a corner of his bedroom, to look like, Deckard's apartment. There is Star Wars, Star Trek, and Og Blade Runner ruunning things before any film reboot revivals.

One thing a lot of people glance over in Blade Runner is why it's almost always raining. Ridley Scott believed in the future, we would have transitioned to hydrogen power, and the process of hydrogen combustion creates a shit ton of water, hence the flaming towers of power plants in the opening shot and why the city is always damp, wet and rained on.

I saw this film in the theater when it was first released and really liked it. My cousin's son and his friends were into science fiction and could not understand why audiences did not embrace it. Good to see that the film has found its audience over the years and decades since 1982.

One of the rare movie soundtracks I listen to outside of the movie itself. This Vangelis jam is just beyond epic. I get goosebumps... Fortunate enough to have seen this in the theatres. Like 3 times.

As someone whose autistic This was very profound and very simplistic in writing narration analysis, and the editing was great and very complimentary to your deep dive analysis of this movie, really shows reverence and respect for being a fan of noir and pulp storytelling. Thank you!!

I feel like the smoking throughout this film actually adds a depth to it. Not only in the lighting and how amazing it looks, but it adds to the characters themselves. It makes them seem more real because they have a vice, a habit.

Been waiting for you to cover this for a long time, some of your observations on noir and Blade Runner were inspirations of a few parts of my dissertation covering Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a novel, not a short story.

Wow. I thought I knew everything about Blade Runner. Great job Razorfisr.

This could well be Razorfists magnum opus/masterpiece. This was a joy to watch and re-watch.

was a massive Harrison Ford fan as a kid in the 70s /80s thanks to Star Wars and Indy , tried to persuade my parents take me to watch Blade Runner in 82 but i was only 9. They did buy me the Marvel annual instead ( still have it) and would constantly read it over and over and draw pictures out of it. Now in my late 40s still one of the best films ever made up there with The Thing and Aliens as best sci fi for sure. Thank you great video love learning more about my favourite films

This is a brilliant piece of content that showcases what information the Internet can bring us through dedicated, well-spoken, and thoughtful advocates. Everything you said about Blade Runner in this video had been in my head since I saw the film on HBO back in the late 80s - but I had never "realized" it until you pointed it out.

Blade runner will echo down the ages. Its peerless, and will never be surpassed.

A movie so good that I watched this review twice.

It took me multiple viewings and me watching the making of Blade Runner aka Dangerous Days to fully appreciate and come to really enjoy the movie and realize just how influential and ahead of it's time it truly was/is. I don't have an issue with Harrison's performance in the movie, I can't quite picture anyone but him in the role and I think there's a subtle Harrison Fordy like charm/personality that shines through in certain scenes. Good video Razor:)

"My bank account was trying to crawl under a duck." That is the most abstract way of saying I was broke, that I've ever heard. Lol 😆

Solid research on PKD’s influences, Ridley Scott’s motivations, etc. You’ve done some excellent scholarship here.

You've done an extremely good man's job, sir. Thank you Razör.

I've watched this documentary 3 times now. Well done, Mr Fist. 👏

Ohhh one of my fav movies of all time. And RazorFist. This is going to be epic. **drops everything to watch**

Blade Runner has the best soundtrack of and it's an incredible fusion of music, sound effects and even in places dialogue. Vangelis is practically half the movie. The music genres are crazily different: blues, jazz, electronic, ambient, gothic, asian, middle-eastern, futuristic, modern classical...

Finally, a Razor video that isn't just him screaming and being condescending, but just talking about something he's passionate about. Enjoying this style so much more.

This is one of the best things I have ever seen on KZfaq. Or anywhere else for that matter. You should be given some sort of award for this piece of art.

Because I needed another reason to rewatch Blade Runner.

15min in: Two things. 1) I agree w/ Harrison Ford. It makes no sense for Deckard to be a replicant and actual betrays the central theme, what does it mean to be human. 2) I recently watched the original theatrical version and I actually prefer the VOs. After listening to hours of Philip Marlow, Johnny Dollar and Richard Diamond radio shows, I've really come to appreciate the VO in Bladerunner. It does a lot to evoke the hard boiled, detective noir.

Bought the final cut for $5 at Big Lots and gave it a spin. Two days later I bought the 5 disc complete edition, picked up Somewhere In Time, found a copy of the book, bought the '97 game and the 2019 and 2029 comics. I used to hold Shawshank Redemption as my absolute favorite film of all time and is the only film I have actually dropped tickets to meet cast and get signings. Shawshank has officially dropped down the list. I've had nothing but family members dropping dead since I was in third grade with the latest being my step-father last year of lung cancer. This film gave me something to grab, something to live for. I look forward to however many years I have left watching it again and again.

Top tier intro. You’ve done a man’s job, sir!

This was utterly fantastic. Thank you for making the time to make this. There were things I never saw before and I have watched behind the scenes of this movie too.

Rageman...best documentary ever!!!! 🙏 i do hope they’d release this in sepia-tone!!!

I had the pleasure to meet Mr D8ck at a sifi convention in 1978, & we talked for a while, & he signed the book 5hat had my first pro story in it. It was one of those times in your life that you will always remamber.

Masterful, just like the movie itself. Your knowledge of both the film's production and general film making practices really make this review stand out from all the others I've seen.

I liked you noted the claustrophobia and life-clutter of Deckard's apartment and I like to contrast that with Tyrell's. Tyrrell's is an island of warm light against the universal gloom, but it imprisons him in his hope just the same. His things are organized, even the candles are burned more or less uniformly (implying the inexorable passage of time/the clock ticking), the pieces on the chessboard, everything has its allotted continuum and no more. His answers for Roy on his sell-by date imprison the replicant in himself. It speaks to how Tyrell sees himself as God, but even if he accidentally metes out the durations of his creation, he is held to nature's standard and is himself a prisoner to a ticking clock.

I remember going to see this with my father when I was nine or ten years old. I was blown right out of my seat! The mood, the music, the production! This put Empire Strikes Back to shame! The really telling thing is, even at that age, the story resonated. I didn't quite get ALL of it, but I got enough. It was my first taste of real science fiction, and I've never looked back. Thank you, Razor, for reminding me I was once a little kid looking up in wonder as a visionary director tried to tell me it's okay to be a human being. Yeah, i said it, the STORY! I got it!

Man, that speech hits way harder knowing the person who wrote them is gone now. All of those moments in his life are now tears in the rain.

Blade Runner in black and white would be an amazing experience.

1. Blade Runner is the best movie ever made. 2. Deckard was NOT a replicant or this movie makes no sense. 3. The theatrical release with Deckard's innner monologue was the best version. I saw this movie in the theater, it was my first R rated movie. When I saw Blade Runner 2049 in the theater, I felt like I'd come full circle. Is there some way to buy this video on DVD from you, Razorfist, or can I only watch it on KZfaq?

Oh yes. I remember being a wee lad when my dad bought the VHS director's cut in '92 and how much this changed my world. Beautiful.

Bravo sir, sorry you couldn't hear my applause. Now I know why my old man dragged me to see this opening night. He was a Connoisseur of the old films. This is one of my all time favorite movies and a good reflection of my old man.

In reality, there truly was a place in 2019 that had large, yet unkept buildings. Oriental writings in neon lights. Large billboards with certain Asian figures. No cell phones. All information is communicated through hard lines. Complete control over the little people. A dual-caste system. Rains semi-frequently. No food. Plenty of housing. Clusters of people in some areas, and almost completely desolate in others. Above it all, an immensely large building looms over everything - in the shape of a pyramid.

In the 21st Century nobody can pass the Voight-Kampf Test😊all shot ingeniously on the backlot in between the rain, choking smoke and 'meltdown' screaming. Magical❤

RazörFist, As much as I love your style choices, I'd legit pay for this particular episode in colour. Seriously. 💖

Blade Runner is a masterspiece. The fact it was castigated by movie snob like Ebert makes me love it all the more. Further proof that critics were as out of touch back then as they are now.

My friend. Your work is as good as gold. I can't remember or even imagine a documentary, on the subject of BLADE RUNNER as being so immensely great. I take my hat off to you.

best review of the best movie of all time

Sorry to nitpick, but PKD’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a proper novel, not one of his (multiple and brilliant) short stories. It’s not even one of his best, but man oh man did they succeed in adapting it into a classic film.

Excellent essay. "Sometimes the design IS the statement" --epigraph, attributed to Ridley Scott, in Paul Sammon's book. The mise en scene and the sound score were the main "characters." Eldon Tyrell and Roy Batty, the Father and the Son, and we are left there looking for the Holy Ghost, without even knowing just what we are looking for..

Best RazörFist video yet. Absolutely stupendous analysis from someone you can truly tell loves this film beyond measure. Great job man!

This film is the most dreamlike film I have ever seen, the score gets you there, but the visuals keep you there. Any shortcomings of the script to me is the same as the ignorable dissonance of dreamtime.

There are three reasons as to why Harrison Ford is my favourite actor of all time - Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Rick Deckard.

I love Blade Runner - and this is the best breakdown I've ever seen. Kudos to you.

Great video. I had to watch this in two sessions, because in the middle I realised I had to watch Blade Runner for the x teenth time.