Blade Runner doesn’t just rank along with Alien as Ridley Scott’s best film, it also finds place amongst the most influential sci-fi films ever made. Yet, quite interestingly, the film, based on Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep, was as much a post-noir detective story with evocative romance and commentary on memory and identity integrally woven into it, as it was a futuristic thriller. Circa 2019… the world has become a post-modern portmanteau of skyscrapers and enormous neon advertisements, and in this dystopian urban jungle, a lonely retired cop (Harrison Ford) is called back to duty to hunt down 'replicants' (human-like next generation androids). Yet ironically, he also finds himself falling for a beautiful replicant who’s only now comprehending her true identity. The ambitious film's arresting, hyper-stylized visuals, and bravura post-production design of expressionistic, cyber-punkish exteriors and dank interiors, have been superbly complemented by a dense storyline, tone and mood that covered the entire arc from the existential to the subliminal, and a melancholic soundtrack. It is dark, disturbing, audacious, grim, intensely captivating, thematically complex, and a unique viewing experience. The film was received poorly when it first released; but with time it has earned its place in the pantheon of acclaimed and groundbreaking cult classics.
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Thriller/Sci-Fi/Post-Noir/Tech-Noir/Existential Thriller/Detective Film/Romance
Language: English
Country: US
