Blade Runner
1982, The Ladd Company et al
Enumerating all of the things that make Ridley Scott's Blade Runner so magnificent—and significant—would be redundant, since there's already been copious analyses of it. So, I'll keep it simple. This film not only envisioned the future in unsettlingly accurate ways, it also influenced countless films and filmmakers to follow (how many films have you seen that felt "Blade Runner-esque"?). And it spawned its own new film sub-genre: sci-fi noire.
Consequently, even those who don't like it are forced to acknowledge its greatness. How many other films have seen so many re-issues on home video, in a myriad of variations? How many other films have been subjected to so much analysis (outside of, say, Citizen Kane)? I bought an original Betamax release of Blade Runner and literally wore it out from watching it so many times. Granted, I'm a student of film, so I've spent quite a bit of time scrutinizing it with nearly obsessive focus. Blade Runner has a permanent slot in my all time five fave films.
DKS 12/17/17
GRUMPY OLD FART-O-METER® Rating:
Blade Runner 2049
2017, Bud Yorkin Productions et al
I had such high hopes for a sequel to my all-time favorite sci-fi film. It seemed like a good mix of talent was involved; in particular, I was most encouraged by the fact that Ridley Scott wasn't directing—his work on the Alien prequels was almost as bad as Lucas' Star Wars prequels. The box office reception didn't spook me much—the original bombed, too—yet the reviews were glowing.
So I was most excited when the disc finally arrived. By the end, I was quite stunned—not because the film was so overwhelming, but because it was so underwhelming. Visually sublime, without doubt. Flawless, memorable effects and jaw-dropping sets. Really solid performances. A decent story that totally works in the Blade Runner universe, without recycling too much. Great sound design, and one of the most original scores I've heard in a long time. Plus, those spinners... just, wow.
But like Interstellar, it nearly collapses on itself from the weight of overtly self-conscious style. We spend entirely too much time contemplating characters who spend entirely too much time contemplating... whatever. And we must endure entirely too many ostensibly philosophical utterances by Jared Leto. It could have been a half-hour shorter and not lost an ounce of impact.
Also, I had to deduct quite a few points for the Valentine to Vangelis fans at the end—the musical equivalent of saying, "Oh, in case you hadn't caught on, this is a Blade Runner sequel." Worse, the predictable Deckard-meets-his-daughter scene was an unfortunate throwback to the "Rachael and Deckard ride off into the sunset" happy ending of the original; it would have been far better to just cut to black after K dies. Not to mention that, opening with a close-up of an eyeball is like admitting, "Sorry, I just don't have anything original to say." Denis Villeneuve simply didn't have the kahunas to allow the film to be its own entity.
So, while 2049 is undoubtedly quite good, it's not as great as I'd hoped.
DKS 1/24/18
GRUMPY OLD FART-O-METER® Rating:
Blade Runner 2049: the DKS Cut
2020, Talented Amateur
It bothered me long enough that I finally went and did it: I re-cut the film. I'd watched it enough times that I felt confident I could make an improvement—at least in my opinion. The biggest change I made was totally eliminating Joi (notice the altered poster art). All that's left of her is one brief shot of a giant hologram standing beside a building. I've felt all along that she didn't really add anything to the story, and instead was simply a vehicle for unnecessary exposition to help keep clueless audience members filled in, as well as provide eye candy for the young male demographic. Another casualty was Gaff: he seemed to exist merely for the sake of fan service, predictably making the obligatory origami animal.
I made loads of other changes as well, some of them quite subtle. Video edits ranged from half-second cuts to reordering entire scenes. Audio edits include dialog changes from single words to whole sentences; I even replaced some sound effects that bothered me. The result is a few seconds shy of 120 minutes long (less the closing credits), not that I was after any particular length; it just happened that way. All told, I made over 250 video and 300 audio edits. A significant amount of the film remains intact due to the fact that, obviously, all I had to work with was the original; it sure would have been nice to have had access to all of the raw footage. At least I had the soundtrack to play with...
I'm not about to review it myself, as that would be silly—naturally I think it's better than the original version, else I wouldn't have spent weeks working it over. Perhaps someday I'll work up the kahunas to post it online.
DKS 7/3/20