Movie Review: Blade Runner

First of All:  A friend of mine, who is infinitely more versed in the ways of Nerdism than even I, got a bunch of us together for a cyberpunk-themed movie night, and first up was one of the great movies that put the genre on the map: Blade Runner, based off of Philip K. Dick's thought-provoking novel named Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?   Now for those who don't know, cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, but it's got a little bit of dystopian government (think Hunger Games or The Giver), a plethora of cyborgs, robots, and androids, and a heck of a lot of grittiness.  One of the most famous cyberpunk movies that most people have heard of is The Matrix, so you can get an idea.

I was pretty excited to see the movie, from the way that my friend hyped it up, and I wasn't disappointed, for reasons that I'll get into later.  Plus, it's a Harrison Ford movie.  Raised from childhood on Star Wars as I was, anything with Harrison Ford in it is immediately worth a good look for me.  There was a lot that I didn't expect, though, since I didn't learn that Blade Runner has an "R" rating until after watching it, which it earns with some pretty crazy stuff.

Second of All:  Blade Runner is set in a future Los Angeles (whose air is remarkably less polluted than the modern-day city), where enormous ziggurat-like skyscrapers dominate the skyscape and humanity pulses in overpopulation on the streets below.  Off-world colonies are constantly tempting people to leave the over-crowded Earth and take to the stars.  Natural animal life is all but extinct, and genetically-manufactured copies are the norm.  King of all the innovations, however, were the Replicants: androids built to look human but infinitely superior in physical and mental ability, who were used for brute labor and dangerous work environments deemed too dangerous for human workers.  That is, until recently, when some Replicants rose up and killed their handlers, causing all human governments to ban them from roaming free on Earth.  Despite this, some Replicants came back to Earth, causing havoc as their mental processors began to degrade.  To combat them, the police force employs special detectives called Blade Runners, who can track the androids down despite their human appearance.

Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who is pulled back into service to track down four Replicants who hijacked a shuttle to Earth and have killed several people since their arrival.

Third of All:  The review!
I have to admit, I was very impressed with Blade Runner.  Through a gritty neo-noir detective story, this movie raises questions about what exactly it is that defines "humanity."  Is it our memories? Our ability to reason? Our perception and appreciation  of the world around us?  Morality?  Being bipedal vertebrates who have formulated language?   It's an interesting thing to think about, particularly if the machines that man creates fit each of those criteria.  To see the Replicants struggling to comprehend their emerging emotions for the first time was a very striking experience.  They were like children in the bodies of superhuman machines, trying desperately to find freedom and a way to prevent their rapidly approaching shut-down date, coping all the while with fear, love, loss, and anger for the first time, with no one to guide them.   I almost cried at the end of the movie as a Replicant knelt dying before Deckard, reflecting on the wonderful things it had seen out in the galaxy, and all of its memories and experiences, which would be lost forever.   Mostly for these reasons, I enjoyed the film immensely.

In all fairness, though, there was a lot in the movie that I didn't agree with.  One of cyberpunk's distinctive traits is a moral shakiness, where blacks and whites are lost in a sea of grays.  So too, is Blade Runner.  As befits a true work of the cyberpunk genre, there was violence (at times very graphic), some nudity, and some less-than-desirable language, which earned it the aforementioned "R" rating.  Also, if you're not a fan of the idea of a hero who's not always heroic, then this movie probably isn't for you.  Deckard is very much a flawed man, who makes some pretty shaky decisions despite his role as protagonist.

Overall, it is a fantastic movie.  If you were able to get a hold of an edited copy, I would recommend watching it, if only to inspire some deep thought about humanity for a while.  I give it a Four and a Half out of Six Nerd Stars.