Nineflick

1982 – 2007, United States
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Hampton Fancher, David Webb Peoples
Story: Philip K. Dick

In the world of Blade Runner, the Voight-Kampff Test determines whether a person is real or artificial through a sequence of up to a hundred questions. I love this concept for a couple reasons. First of all, it has one of the best pseudo-scientific names I’ve ever heard. If I went into my doctor’s office and he said he had to run some Voight-Kampff tests on me, I’d just smile and nod my head. I also like the very notion that humanity designs these potentially dangerous artificial creatures with no easy way to recognize them. Roger Ebert, with his typical insightfulness, anticipates my criticism and raises the possibility that the powerful Tyrell Corporation has ulterior motives for their legions of mechanical look-alikes.

Blade Runner opens with a Voight-Kampff Test on an artificial human, or replicant, that probably shouldn’t need to be tested. Isn’t it fairly obvious that this wide-eyed, emotionless fellow is not “one of us?” The trained professional administering the test apparently doesn’t think so, and thus sets off a sequence of events that follows Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) in his quest to eliminate four, or possibly five, rogue replicants. The story is fairly straightforward, but the movie does a good job of raising questions about ethics and self-identity without becoming too heavy-handed. In this regard The Final Cut is a noticeable improvement over the original theatrical release, which featured a voice-over by Ford. The voice-over may have made the film more consistent with its noir origins, but the story works better when the viewer is left to draw his or her own conclusions.

It could easily be argued that the story doesn’t even matter, because Blade Runner is best known for its influential and enduring art direction. Blade Runner’s special effects are more of a mood than a sequence of specific ideas – contrast it with other great sci-fi movies like Star Wars or Terminator, where individual effects and visual concepts tend to dominate particular scenes. In Blade Runner the effects all kind of bleed together, with the consequence that nothing is particularly amazing, but the overall vision is extremely tight and well-realized.

Style: 9
A layup. Blade Runner splendidly brings the concept of the sprawl to life. As usual, the futurists were most incorrect about the advancement of computers, and Deckard’s primitive photo enhancer is the one concept in the film that has aged poorly. The buildings, streets and cars all remain convincingly dystopian.

Substance: 7
Blade Runner is a fairly simple story that raises some classic science-fiction questions about artificial intelligence. The deepest aspect to the film involves Deckard’s identity, which in The Final Cut is open to a variety of interpretations. I find it interesting that Ford and director Ridley Scott each have their own answers to this debate, suggesting that either interpretation can be readily supported.

Overall: 8
I’ll admit I think Blade Runner’s special effects are just a touch overrated, because there’s no truly great individual visuals. But taken altogether, Blade Runner is an excellent mood piece, whose dark backgrounds work in harmony with a patient and thoughtful story. Its lack of original ideas – intellectual or visual – holds it back from a higher score, but the texture of the film hangs with the best of them.