The world of Blade Runner ia a world of contrasts, it is at once familiar and strange, futuristic and retrospective, sprawling and confined. Set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles of the not too distant future with its dramatic skylines, and urban decadance is a cast of characters who almost seem as updates from a 1950s cop movie. These familiar, grubby, flawed and almost everyday people would seem at home on the wrong side of almost any modern city and as such are very believable.

The backdrop may be the futuristic and dramatic, but most of the action takes place in the back streets and buildings of the decaying underbelly of the city, a place that seems strangely familiar in places. It is basically this familiarity that makes the film so accessable. Whilst the likes of Sigorney Weaver was fighting alien creatures across the space lanes, and Mark Hamill was taking on a whole galaxy of evil villians, our hero, Harrison Ford was running about the darkside of town trying to hunt down a group of criminals lead by Rutger Hauer. This is then, to begin with, a standard detective move set in the future, its just that this time the criminals are genetically engineered human replicants, the cars fly and the trappings are a bit more high tech. The rest of the scene seems known territory, sleazy bars, grim, over-crowded streets, neon garishness against constant dark, rain filled skies.

The plot of Blade Runner begins with a basic physical plot, Deckard (Ford) is a Blade Runner, a hit man for the law who is recalled to hunt down a particularly nasty group of on the run replicants. This group have returned to earth to find out one important piece of information, how long have they been programed to live! At this point the film moves into a whole different realm, one that sets it apart from most other films. It becomes basically a morality play and leaves you asking more questions than it answers.

Is there any real difference between mankind and a replicant programed to shut down after a set period, is that not after all the human condition. It questions the whole genetic engineering question, are we entitled to play god?

The film manages to mix a stylish setting, a gothic dark future of decay and violence with a message that rings home with as much force today as it did when the film was made. The final scene between Ford and Hauer is a classic of
modern cinema, the final speech by the dying replicant isone which will echo through your thoughts for years, and by the end you realise that the bad guys only want to know what we have all questioned, when is it " time to die? "

Other films have managed to touch on similar themes, notably the Matrix saga, but Blade Runner remains uncluttered by the alien setting and the distracting special affects, which allow it to deliver its many messages with more clarity.

The final icing on the cake is the Vangelis sound track with its clinical yet at times, sleazy electronic passages which sound as rich and haunting today as ever.

The film is many things, grand and grubby, futuristic and yet everyday, simple and gloriously thought provocing, its one you will watch time and again, and will launch a hundred questions a thousand debates and a million thoughts. There is none better in the Sci-Fi genre than this.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older