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Thread: Blade Runner - What am I Missing?

  1. #11
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    For me personally, I’m genuinely fascinated by that future world as depicted. As such, I enjoy watching movies with that dark/dreary futuristic backdrop. To me Blade Runner is the epitome of that and I think the overall story and tone fit that more then any other sci-fi movie. Blade Runner, Cowboy Beebop, and Battlestar Galactica (remake) really are the trifecta for me in terms of sci-fi drama.
    Last edited by sidewaysil80; 09-18-21 at 10:03.

  2. #12
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    Now once you see the evil creator god for what he is, in their view, what does that do to morality? Why is it wrong to lie, to steal or to kill? Because the evil creator god says so. So what does a good gnostic (Luciferian) do? He/she rejects the slavery that imprisons them and they become “free” from the Matrix or simulation or any of the myriad metaphors.

    So when you see a politician tell a bald face lie about something, he is just signaling he is free from the prison. That’s why Hollywood supports every crazy, horrible perversion of the moral world. They don’t see it as wrong because in their view, there is no right or wrong. As above, so below.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndyLate View Post
    I think its safe to say that Blade Runner is regarded as one of the best SciFi films ever. I find it spectacularly underwhelming. What am I not seeing? Am I just too unsophisticated to appreciate the movie?

    Andy

    P.S. I am not disparaging the movie, I feel like I am missing a key element I should learn to watch for. Its like I'm walking around the Louvre, disappointed they don't have the painting of dogs playing poker.
    Are you a big SF fan in general and or major movie buff in general? Virtually every scene in that movie is a visual masterpiece, the Citizen Kane of SF. Cinematography, sets, etc and the score, etc, set a the standard not seen before or since, although I felt Villeneuve did a commendable job of it . The acting, the dialogue, the pace and the action, all put it as the greatest SF of all time, probably top 20 movie in any genre. I lost count how many times I have seen it, I get something from it every time.

    That it was made in 1982, shortly after Star Wars, was also amazing. Saw it on my B day.

    Great movies hold up no matter when they're made, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, made in 1968, still holds up. Star Wars, which I waited 4 hours on line to see as a kid, and enjoyed the hell out of it, feels very dated when you try to watch it now.

    Some of it does have to be put in context of when it was made, but a great movie, be it The God Father I/II, Cool Hand Luke, Outlaw Josey Wales, etc, are always good and stand the test of time.

    Blade Runner is such a movie.
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  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndyLate View Post
    Am I just too unsophisticated to appreciate the movie?
    Yes.

    Yes you are.




    /thread
    - Either you're part of the problem or you're part of the solution or you're just part of the landscape - Sam (Robert DeNiro) in, "Ronin" -

  5. #15
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    Blade Runner 2049 - numerology central!

    Niander Wallace - 77, or Liber Oz, a book by Aliester Crowley.

    Wallace (7) Corporation (11) - eleven is the “most evil” number, the opposite of 10, again, Crowley.

    The blade runner’s nickname is K, the 11th letter of the alphabet.

    It’s every where.
    Last edited by Business_Casual; 09-18-21 at 17:44.

  6. #16
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    IIRC, the underlying theme is (or was, when it was released) "what does it mean to be human?". I don't think it performed all that well at the box office when it was first released, but has since become a cult classic.

    Different critics/reviewers have speculated various meanings through the years.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by utahjeepr View Post
    Ok, you gotta understand a little about Sci Fi fans. We've all read the books and we fill in all the holes that the film can't possibly cover. So as long as the film plays well and enhances our internal narrative of the book "it's freaking AWESOME!" according to a lot of the Sci Fi crowd.

    Blade runner was a cinematic masterpiece from a film makers/critics perspective. So the film as art crowd was gaga for it, even if they generally eschew Sci Fi. That gave it a lot of credibility. P.K. Dick fans dig it cause it complements the book well. Others are just really excited that they made a Sci Fi movie that wasn't pure trash. Plus casting Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, and Joanna Cassidy certainly helped.
    In this case, one of the rare times the movie far better than the book - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - however.

    Book was OK, movie was masterpiece.
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  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndyLate View Post
    I think its safe to say that Blade Runner is regarded as one of the best SciFi films ever. I find it spectacularly underwhelming. What am I not seeing? Am I just too unsophisticated to appreciate the movie?

    Andy

    P.S. I am not disparaging the movie, I feel like I am missing a key element I should learn to watch for. Its like I'm walking around the Louvre, disappointed they don't have the painting of dogs playing poker.
    So the first thing is it came out in that magic period post Star Wars (1977) and pre CGI and as a result the special effects were astonishing without being cartoonish.

    The second thing is it's an interesting blend of East / West directed by Ridley Scott and produced by Run Run Shaw which gives it it's very unique perspective.

    The film borrows heavily from Metropolis (1927) with it's imagined landscapes of the future complete with flying cars. We also need to remember the film came out in 1982 addressing concepts like AI and artificial humans before films such as the Terminator and in a far more plausible way than say Westworld.

    And even though the plot line is now old and outdated, a machine "Roy" who learned to value life, at the time was still pretty cutting edge.

    Then there were characters, Harrison Ford at the height of his ability, Sean Young when she was astonishingly beautiful (even if we would learn later she is kinda nuts) and Edward James Olmos as a decisively odd but effective Blade Runner.

    But more than that, the back story is completely threshed out. There is no make it up as we go along, develop the universe in sequels or any of that nonsense. It is a complete film from beginning to end, with everything you need and nothing complicated left hanging unanswered and no glaring contradictions which simply need to be accepted. Few films in history have done that.

    Like Heat, like The Godfather and maybe a couple other dozen films in history, it is a perfect film.

    Today it's like watching Citizen Kane, the big points are there and they've been borrowed from enough that it no longer has the same impact. Also if you know nothing about Orson Wells or Randolph Hearst and his media empire and the way he wielded it you won't get as much from the film and it will seem like nothing more than an odd morality tale where a man gains the whole world and yet profits nothing from it's gain. But when Citizen Kane debuted it changed film forever and Blade Runner did the same thing for many of the same reasons.

    Also like The Godfather, Blade Runner probably requires at least 6 viewings well spaced apart to see everything. There is simply too much going on, little things are big things and sometimes they only show it to you one time and often without putting a light on it. 40 years later I can still see things in a slightly different context with both films even though I've seen them quite a few times.

    For contrast, Kubrick and Spielberg attempted a similar film A.I., and even though it was 20 years later that still didn't manage many of the things that were achieved in Blade Runner. The story lines were of course completely different but the concepts of "what is sentience", "what is life" and what happens when you can no longer tell the difference are nearly identical. This of course hits all the big ones, "what does it mean to be human", "is what we feel real" and "what is the meaning and why are we here."

    Deckard fell in love with Rachel despite the fact that his purpose was to eliminate her kind. Rachel was in love with Decard even though she was never designed for such things.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

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  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Business_Casual View Post
    Once you come to the realization that Hollywood movies have one theme - gnostic self worship - you can’t unsee it. Tyrell, who lives in a pyramid, is the evil creator god who makes his creations suffer and be his slaves. Roy rebels - ala Lucifer - and tries to free his troop from the bad god. Etc.

    Plenty of analyses available online.
    Yep, it's in there. But not sure you could call this a Hollywood movie. The Ladd Company is hardly mainstream Hollywood and Run Run Shaw is Hong Kong.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

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  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by sidewaysil80 View Post
    For me personally, I’m genuinely fascinated by that future world as depicted. As such, I enjoy watching movies with that dark/dreary futuristic backdrop. To me Blade Runner is the epitome of that and I think the overall story and tone fit that more then any other sci-fi movie. Blade Runner, Cowboy Beebop, and Battlestar Galactica (remake) really are the trifecta for me in terms of sci-fi drama.
    Also it almost creates a new genre which is probably "future noir" rather than sci fi. But yeah, you hit on another big one. This is nothing like all the sci fi we had seen up to that point.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

    كافر

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