Favorite Science Fiction Film: Blade Runner

So here you can find the list of Films from the Science Fiction genre that I love, and the earlier film I covered Here.

However if you just want a quick summation, I am expanding my earlier post/list about my favorite science fiction films, and going into detail about why I love them.

The problem I always have when it comes to picking my favorite film(s) is because I have huge lists of films from multiple genres that I can barely narrow it down to even fifty, let alone ten or one.

But getting further into detail about Blade Runner, and just to make sure I might actually have spoilers in this review, just to forewarn readers.

Blade Runner deals with what it actually means to be ‘human’ or at least if I had to sum it up, that is what I would describe it as. Replicants are ‘grown’ humans that are forced to make human lives better, at the expense of their lives. A theme that I love so much that it’s made it’s way into one of My Short Stories.

That and it deals with a type of Science Fiction that I love completely, Tech Noir, which to explain that it’s the style of Noir with Technology. Noir is the detective story, but it’s more than that. It’s the dark, gritty, detective story. The technology part I feel is pretty explanative so I don’t think I have to explain that half. But overall it deals with the dark real grittiness while showcasing the best and worse of humanity.

The ending of this movie, which I will not spoil, though sadly because it’s so good that it’s easy to find it all over the internet, is one of the most philosophical tragic ending that I have ever seen. It leaves me breathless every time I have watched it, and occasionally bring tears to my eyes. This film makes you cheer for the villains, and that sort of moral grey, which this film is awashed in, creates a film that is leagues above others.

It’s a world and story that feels real, and lived in. The special effects are also not the gaudy over-done CGI that they’ve become. Note I am not say CGI is bad, but it is when there is no story. Flash can never replace the heart of a film, and it’s something that a lot of filmmakers and studios have forgotten. The special effects are grand, practical, and help the story along. They don’t overwhelm and over compensate. Granted I know that many people would consider them dated, and to be fair, they sort of are. The future they portray is one where the eighties stopped, and the nineties and especially the early millennia never happened.

Which to be fair, this film was made in the eighties, a like many films of it’s time, has the old gritty dirty science fiction look and feel. So it’s not a surprise how the film looks special effects-wise.

This is a film that I think more people should watch. Though now that I think about it, there are parts that it shares with Noir, that is not really PC. It’s the treatment of it’s female characters, they are all Femme Fatale, and they are mistreated by the men in it.

Now I am not agreeing with how the film treats the female characters, but context and time period do matter when it comes to films. They are windows into how the world looked at itself at the time. This isn’t an easy subject, because the behavior is not justifiable it’s very bad. The male characters, more so Harrison Ford’s character, are womanizers.

If that ruins the film experience I cannot blame a person for it. The questions it raises about humanity really are quite strong and make this film one that I would argue out shine it’s more questionable portrayals, which is this film, it swims in grey morality.

If this film was made today, most of this film would be the same (if it was made with the same love and care that it was made in the eighties), but I know parts would be made better. Morality and morals change, and I don’t think sugar coating it helps with the subject about what is truly morally good.

I will digress on that subject however, and just say that if you keep in mind when this film was made, and the genre that it is, it’s such a fantastic film that it’d be worth the watch.