I just don't get it. Have never been able to get into this film; something called Blade Runner. I was about to say that I don't understand the appeal this flick holds for some people. But of course I do.I first watched Blade Runner with my dad -- he looked at me after it ended and asked what I thought. I blurted out something about it being "okay". He found it tough going. My dad was a big movie fan so he would have understood the noir element (and which is a big part of its appeal to the fans). We never talked about it a second after.
Back in 1991 I received a phone call from a filmschool chum, and he asked me if I wanted to see Blade Runner: The Director's Cut at the Uptown Theatre (here in Toronto). The problem was, he wanted to go to the screening which was to start in twenty minutes. I rushed off, watched it, and stayed lukewarm... voice over or not.
I met someone last week who was visiting from Buffalo. As part of his trip to Toronto, he wanted to swing by the Regent Theatre and catch Blade Runner: The Final Cut. There are people who will travel to watch the latest incarnation of the film.
Good for them.
As of this posting, Blade Runner: The Final Cut is still playing at the Regent Theatre...
Regent Theatre
551 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON, Canada
(416) 480-9884
www.regent.to
4 comments:
Hey! Respect Ridley! Blade Runner is, like, one of the best films of all time, dude! Solid adaptation of a superb writer, incredible sets, some nice carbon-based eye-candy, Harrison Ford and Edward James Olmos. What else could you ask for?
I have said it many times. Even as a 14-year old kid in 1982 I knew Blade Runner was a diamond in the rough with some solid scenes buffered by languid eye candy travelling sequences. It just needed some trimming. I am nuts enough to have tought myself an editing program by tinkering with my own cut of Blade Runner, so I know the film very well flaw for flaw. I was delighted to hear after years of debate about the purity of "the original" that there was never enough time and the movie wasn't Ridley's full vision anyway. Part of its appeal to certain people (many of them critics) might be its lack of initial box office success and the fact that the common folk like me would prefer if the film took its settings for granted and got on with it. Suffice to say I'll buy the DVD of the final cut in December, enjoy the commentary, and skip the full boxed set with every official cut included.
I had the comic as one large adaptation and as individual comics, the Phillip K. Dick novel marketed for the movie, and the making-of magazine, but the movie has its detractors which are justified. Still, I'm eager to see the new version. Some people may travel to a major city to see it on the big screen, but I can't seem to stray from the subway line.
While I agree with your point of Blade Runner being a "diamond in the rough", I don't think that trimming is something this film needs. (And unless one has access to the raw footage, there is not much that can be done.)
Some critics liked it from the get go... lack of box office came later.
I just think Blade Runner is what it is. That is why it has its proponents.
Jeez, the Regent must be, what?, a 10 minute walk from Davisville Station?!
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