EN World Movie Battle Royal! We have our winner!

[replicant2]

One of the most thematically challenging films you've ever seen because of that? Good gravy, how many films have you seen, four? That basic theme has been explored countless times, long before anyone ever thought of using androids as the proxy. And for that matter, by the time the film was made, that theme was a tired cliche in literary science fiction.

I guess I would beg to differ. I'm admittedly not well-read in the SF genre so I'll concede that books have largely addressed the notion of the machine-as-human and all its implications. However I have seen more than four films and I'm searching my data banks for other SF films exploring those themes pre-1982. None come immediately to mind.

Morever, I would submit these are timeless themes that get returned to again and again for a reason: We don't know the answers. There really isn't an explanation to these questions, or certainly no simple answers. But as humans, we keep looking.

An author (or director) can keep the ideas fresh and unique by addressing them in a unique way. And I believe Blade Runner took a completely fresh, contemporary angle on those age-old themes.

That's mostly a fabrication of the fans, though, as very little in the movie itself suggests it. Besides, I don't see how that contributes to it being a classic.

The Deckard-as-replicant angle is hardly a fabrication of the fans. In fact, the idea was carefully planted by Ridley Scott in the Director's Cut. Remember Deckard's dream of the unicorn? Take a look at what Gaff (Edward James Olmos) leaves outside of Deckard's apartment at the end of the film -- its a tinfoil origami unicorn. Deckard picks it up with a knowing look, and hears Gaff's previous words: "It's too bad she won't live. But then again, who does?"

Gaff's words, and the revelation that Deckard's dreams might not be so personal, are both strong indications that Deckard is not really human after all.

The film is loaded with little things like the unicorn sequence that (IMO) make it worthy of repeated viewings, like a good book. I'm not saying that Blade Runner is perfect; I agree that some of the acting is flat. It's got flaws, it drags in spots. But to me it's on a higher plane than 99 percent of SF films made before or since.

 

[Desdichado]

An author (or director) can keep the ideas fresh and unique by addressing them in a unique way. And I believe Blade Runner took a completely fresh, contemporary angle on those age-old themes.

True enough. And, I daresay, Blade Runner's place in cinematic history is largely unassailable by my own disappointment with it anyway.

Gaff's words, and the revelation that Deckard's dreams might not be so personal, are both strong indications that Deckard is not really human after all.

I guess we have a very different views on what "strong indications" are. I've always used those same cues to point to the message that being human is more than simply biology, i.e., the replicant girlfriend (forget her name) is just as human as Deckard despite her synthetic heritage.

 

[replicant2]

I guess we have a very different views on what "strong indications" are. I've always used those same cues to point to the message that being human is more than simply biology, i.e., the replicant girlfriend (forget her name) is just as human as Deckard despite her synthetic heritage.

That's a very valid point: While we know Rachael (played by the whacky Sean Young) is a machine, that she can feel love and react with empathy makes her something more. Or, conversely, are humans mere biology -- robots of the flesh whose "thoughts" are simply visceral reaction to past experiences?

Anyways (as you can tell by my handle) I love talking about Blade Runner. I respect that you don't like the film, and to me there's something endearing about a movie that some consider sh**t, while others find endlessly fascinating. Don't get me wrong, I love Aliens and Star Wars as much as the next guy, but I'm glad movies like Blade Runner get made, too.

 

[Pielorinho]

Mostly it comes down to "you can't argue about taste." After all, I'm a huge fan of China Mieville, too, so strange for the sake of strangeness isn't really a problem for me.

But I think you're wrong about the whole "Is Deckard a replicant" question being one that fans invented. I watched the movie without ever having heard of that conversation (I'd barely heard of the movie when I saw it), and that came across as a central theme, from the questions he gets asked, to the way he looks at his family photographs, to the things the replicants say to him, to the final shot of the origami unicorn. The question of Deckard's biological humanity, and of the reality of his identity, pervades the movie.

There's no question in my mind but that the director intended that. I concede that the movie would be much less rich without that thread.

Daniel

 

[Qlippoth]

1 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
#7 Planet of the Apes (1968)

"All that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"To Hell with the scarecrows!"

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Even though it is surely cast in a losing effort, I will go with #2 Aliens. While Fellowship of the Ring was an absolutely brilliant adaptation of the book, it needs the other films in the trilogy to complete it. Aliens is outstanding on its own.

#1 Bladerunner

 

[Arnwyn]

It's a wretched movie, though.

Well, no, but that's certainly an interesting opinion.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, no, but that's certainly an interesting opinion.

arnwyn, you have an odd habit of following me around in threads, pointing out whenever I post an opinion that yes, it is just an opinion. You do realize, do you not, that I already know that and don't need you to continually point it out? Or are you under the mistaken assumption that I don't know the difference between my opinion on taste and an objective fact?

 

[Gomez]

Voting is closed and here are the results.



#1 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) defeats #2 Aliens (1986) - 21-8



#1 Bladerunner (1982) defeats #7 Planet of the Apes (1968) - 23-6

 

[Gomez]

THE FINAL MATCH UP!


#1 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) vs #1 Bladerunner (1982)