Blade runner has been built on a tried and tested storyline; the book “Do Androids dream of Electric sheep” (1968) By Philip. K. Dick. Perhaps not the most attention grabbing of names for a film, whereas ‘Blade Runner’ brings to mind sharpness, racing and battle all the things suitable for a Hollywood audience and believe me, it delivers. The replicants are near human machines, completely indistinguishable from everything apart from the most specific testing; they have been slimmed down from eight to five for Hollywood purposes. So now in 2019 A.D. where technology has become such an integrated part of society, a place where technology has become common place and seemingly unnoticed - just like the replicants who are hiding in a city of tens of millions, Blade Runner (Harrison Ford) has to find a needle in a hay stack.
The replicants like all advances in science were built for the good of humanity. They were designed to work in off world colonies as slaves to do the jobs that no human would want to. They were created to do good but also with relative short sightedness as with most scientific advances of the like, they have no fail-safe device. The improvised fail-safe device comes in the form of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a Blade Runner, assigned to hunt down and kill any replicants on earth. So the replicants who are so well designed and constructed have now become a problem and in Deckard’s words “Machines are either a benefit or a hazard, if they’re a benefit they’re not a problem.” Perhaps that’s the way we all think and when they become a hazard it’s too late.
With its heavy base on film-noir, Blade Runner is very much reminiscent of 1950’s detective movies, such as: Maltese Falcon (1941) and The Singing Detective (1958). The mise en scène makes subtle references to film-noir but also far more noticeably the lighting and colour as well as the setting and props. The long trench coats and black leather, the cramped city, the constant rain all add to this effect; but the most influential resource is the use of back lighting to create the silhouettes which runs throughout the film. The dark, dank depressing city can be felt through just one shot of this type. The same use of back lighting also appears in Alien, the smoke and backlighting hiding what’s really there, something which is not so obvious in Blade Runner but still runs throughout the film.
The several different themes and morals which can be pulled from Blade runner run strong yet also change point of view during the film. The fact that nothing is ever as it seems is the most resounding point, even up to the point where Deckard has a relationship with a replicant; he knows she’s a replicant but it doesn’t matter to him. Deckard’s new found view of replicants is contrary with his actions at the start of the film, where he hunts down and shoots a replicant in the back as she’s running away, for no more than the crime of being different, or in this case incredibly similar. Another view that could be extracted is that the replicants, toys to their creator, are in fact not just physical replicants of humans but also replicating our relationship with God and our meaning of life. There is a strong sense of symbolism, which runs subtly, yet evidently throughout the film. This is particularly noticeable in the fight scene between Deckard and Roy (Ruther Hauer); the final showdown between Roy the most sophisticated of the replicants, stronger, faster and smarter than anything on the market and his nemesis Deckard. Roy himself is a blond haired, blue eyed, fit and intelligent man; Hitler’s super race had exactly the same criteria, yet another example of the many subtleties in this film. The religious contribution is neither apparent nor strong, until suddenly in the fight scene as Roy shoves a nail in each of his wrists, playing a modern day Christ. Roy has to die because God, Tyrell (Joseph Turkell) inventor and creator only gave the replicants a four year life span. At the end of the fight scene Deckard is left hanging on a building and Roy jumps over to (presumably) throw him off, there’s even the classic low angle point of view shot; but just as Deckard thinks he’s taken his last breath Roy takes his hand and lifts him up. As Deckard is sitting there, Roy picks up a dove, the symbol of Christ and peace, the fight is over.
Just before his death Roy delivers an amazing short speech, so profound, meaningful and such an emotional insight from a machine which was supposed to have no emotion of its own; Roy had developed more of an insight in four years than most philosophers would have in a life time. The irony of Roy fighting and killing, but then at the end loving life more than life itself, any life was precious to him, he realised how important life is when you haven’t got it. A brilliant piece of acting, an incredible piece of directing a totally amazing film: a well deserved cult classic. The original release got no where enough respect and just because a film hasn’t got explosions and car chases doesn’t make it a bad film, in-fact quite the opposite. Hopefully this film will serve as a warning message to us and to future generations. If you want to play God you have to face what you have created.
“Man has made his match… now it’s his problem.”
