Blade Runner: Where to begin?

[Mola Rob]

"Tootsie", "An Officer and a Gentleman", "Rocky III", and "Porky's" were the top five along with "E.T." at number one.

"The Thing" definitely suffered, however I would disagree with ST:II as it was the sixth highest grossing movie of 1982.

1982 had several big movies that we have come to know and love- "First Blood", "Poltergeist", "Conan the Barbarian", "Firefox", "Tron", and "Megaforce"!

It's no wonder a dark film like "Blade Runner" was crushed at the box office; and that it was released with the "happy ending".

Kevin

My favorite year ever for movies. I saw and enjoyed most of those movies in the theater that year. I didn't enjoy Megaforce.

 

[SSgt Burton]

"I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human."


Okay mixing films a bit but I figure Moocricket will get it.


Kevin

 

[MooCriket]

^Hells yeah!thumbsup

 

[Risu]

To clarify, I wasn't let down by the lack of action and Baysplosions in the movie, I AM a film student and I can appreciate a movie for other things. The only disappointment I had was that the gun is pretty much not in the movie. It's kind of a shame.

 

[Nexus6]

Ladies and gentlemen of the RPF Blade Runner is Deckard a replicant supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider: Why would a replicant -- an android-- want to live on Earth and eat a bowl of yummy, tasty noodles? That does not make sense!

But more importantly, you have to ask yourself: what does enjoying a bowl of yummy tasty noodles have to do with this movie? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this movie! It does not make sense!

Look at me, I'm a man talking about a another man enjoying a bowl of yummy, tasty noodles. Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense. None of this makes sense.

And so you have to remember, while your in front of your computer monitor deliberating and conjugating the Emancipation Proclamation... does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed Blade Runner RPF jury, it does not make sense.

If Deckard lives on Earth and is enjoying a bowl of yummy, tasty noodles you must know that he cannot be a replicant!

Oh no you didn't just try to discombobulate the jury by using the 'Chewbacca Defense'?!?!? You're a crafty one, but you'll have to do better than that. You have to wake up PRET-ty early in the morning to divert my laser-focused logi - - - OOH, macaroni & cheese! *runs to eat some*

 

[Carson Dyle]

Hey! Stoopid peoples got a right to enjoy dem moovies as well.

Fear not, stoopid peoples. In recent years the studios have learned their lesson.

With a few notable exceptions, the annual release schedule is stoopid peoples' paradise.

 

[Larry Young]

Look at me, I'm a man talking about a another man enjoying a bowl of yummy, tasty noodles. Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense. None of this makes sense.

 

[robstyle]

Ive always seen it as:

Replicant Deckard was activated the same day we see him reading the paper, standing in the rain. His memories and life are not his own. This is why he connects with Rachel. They are total opposites but the same. She even comes out of her comfort zone to kill another replicant, how sweet. Gaff is human and there to follow Deckard to make sure he does his job and doesnt comprehend what he is. Lets not forget the original Tyrell, and this was filmed, was in suspended animation with the Tyrell we see being a replicant. This is the reason Batty crushes the guy. Before Ford was up for Deckard and Dustin Hoffman still on the part making changes, Batty was then to go kill Tyrell's wife and children and I believe destroy the contraption the real Tyrell was in.
Plus, why would anyone capable of leaving the Earth for the Off World paradise not do so? It doesnt add up. He has no choice as he is programmed to be a Blade Runner but with the job complete, his programing is now in limbo so he is searching for the meaning of life as did the others.
Deckard thinks like a replicant. Like any good detective will tell you to catch a criminal you have to think like that criminal. He obviously is **** poor with a gun (in movie rules) so he hasnt spent too much time at the academy.

The "happy ending" isnt really a happy ending. Its still a total downer. They have no idea how long they will live or if they will be hunted. Its a life on the run with the plus side they will not be confined as slaves doing jobs or living a life not their own. By following my own assumptions I believe the Tyrell corporation allowed them to escape as part of research. In this day and age of movie making its safe to say a pull back of the camera would go into space and into a satellite with a feed to a Tyrell computer monitor as the car is driving down the Shining road.

As far as the South Park noodle theory, it doesnt hold up. There is nothing to state a replicant doesnt need to eat or drink. They are an organic life form after all. They bleed, sweat and cry in a self contained unit. That stuff has to come from somewhere as does a biologically induced power source or fuel = food.

 

[Carson Dyle]

why would anyone capable of leaving the Earth for the Off World paradise not do so?

There's a reason Bryant's "little people" vs. "cop" remarks are in the film. The point is to establish that Deckard is like some sort of futuristic CIA operative; he's in a job from which one simply does not quit of one's own accord.

In grand noir tradition the details are kept intentionally vague, but the inference is that Bryant needs Deckard to do a job, and he ain't goin' anywhere until he does it.

In short, the "human" version of Deckard doesn't leave Earth because his boss has him by the balls.

 

[micdavis]

Why does it mean that?

It could as easily mean he's just "little people" because he quit. And he's being reminded of that.

 

[Carson Dyle]

BRYANT: "Stop right where you are. You know the score, pal. If you're not cop, you're little people."

DECKARD: "No choice, huh?"

BRYANT: "No choice, pal."

Bryant is telling Deckard he has no choice but to do the job Bryant wants him to do.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Ridley Scott is a replicant.


This moment gave me chills, it was beautiful.

It loses ALL meaning if this was a replicant giving mercy to another.
Hell Batty would have recognized his own. Gimme a break.
Batty would have leveraged that to his advantage.

Plus Deckard was awful at fighting replicants! LOL
He had to be bailed out and rescued.
Zhora nearly had him, Leon nearly did, Batty obviously did. Priss beat the snot out of him. He had no advantage at all other then a simple handgun. Dumb luck mostly was his greatest ally. Why would they send such a sorry replicant after clearly superior ones? Makes no sense.

Maybe I imprinted too much in 82. A sentence from a director years later doesn't change it for me.
I had lost my dear father as a teen that year, and sorting out life and death and meaning of it all was something very heavy on my heart, the big questions for a young person. This film gave me a little something to ponder and not feel quite as confused, "how long do we have? where are we going?", that part of the narration was valuble to me.

Deckard as replicant, then do so, but know that at the end of the film. He is no longer replicant. He's human.
He's been transformed.

 

[Nexus6]

BRYANT: "Stop right where you are. You know the score, pal. If you're not cop, you're little people."

DECKARD: "No choice, huh?"

BRYANT: "No choice, pal."

Bryant is telling Deckard he has no choice but to do the job Bryant wants him to do.

To me that's Bryant just threatening him with some kind of extreme harassment if he doesn't take the job; because immediately before your dialogue from above, is:

DECKARD: "I was quit when I came in here, I'm twice as quit now."

 

[Nexus6]

Plus Deckard was awful at fighting replicants! LOL
He had to be bailed out and rescued.
Zhora nearly had him, Leon nearly did, Batty obviously did. Priss beat the snot out of him. He had no advantage at all other then a simple handgun. Dumb luck mostly was his greatest ally. Why would they send such a sorry replicant after clearly superior ones? Makes no sense.

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Replicants are illegal on Earth, so the replicants used by the police, for the Blade Runner units, would have to more closely resemble humans; so Deckard would have been a 'Physical Level: C', perhaps.

However, Deckard was still able to cling to & climb the outside of a skyscraper in the pouring rain, just after having the crap beat out of him (as well as fingers dislocated, etc)... *shrugs*

 

[CessnaDriver]

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Replicants are illegal on Earth, so the replicants used by the police, for the Blade Runner units, would have to more closely resemble humans; so Deckard would have been a 'Physical Level: C', perhaps.

However, Deckard was still able to cling to & climb the outside of a skyscraper in the pouring rain, just after having the crap beat out of him (as well as fingers dislocated, etc)... *shrugs*

So if Deckard was offed by Zhora, what would they have done then?

Deckard as replicant doesn't work. It's not elegant. It's Scott taking a hammer to a square peg and hammering it into the round hole for the sake of just saying he can.

It doesn't fit, it doesn't work, it's like putting in a "I know a girl from Nantucket" line into a Tennyson poem.

 

[CB2001]

Ridley Scott is a replicant.


This moment gave me chills, it was beautiful.

"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 rain... Time to die."

Probably the most poetic line I've ever heard in a science fiction film.

 

[CessnaDriver]

"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 rain... Time to die."

It has lost no impact in all these years. Hauer's performance is one for the ages.


There it is again
Batty says...
"you people"

 

[micdavis]

Nonsense it makes perfect sense.

He keeps photos, Rachel and Leon have photos.

He dreams of a unicorn, Gaff makes one. Gaff knows his dream as Deckard was told of Rachel's

 

[CessnaDriver]

Nonsense it makes perfect sense.

He keeps photos, Rachel and Leon have photos.

He dreams of a unicorn, Gaff makes one. Gaff knows his dream as Deckard was told of Rachel's

last I checked my wife keeps lots of photos.
Maybe she is a replicant.

 

[Nexus6]

So if Deckard was offed by Zhora, what would they have done then?

You "activate" another replicant Blade Runner, upload some memory implants into him, & send him to work.