Flick of The Day: Blade Runner

In my review last week of The Adjustment Bureau, I noted the contribution that the work of Philip K. Dick has made to science fiction and to Hollywood in general. Perhaps the best film to come from his work, and also perhaps one of the best science fiction films of all time is today's flick of the day, Blade Runner, from director Ridley Scott. A critical and commercial failure on is release in 1982, it has since gone on to be highly influential and reappraised as the classic it is.

Blade Runner (Two-Disc Final Cut)

Opening with a beautiful and disturbing vision of the future, Los Angeles 2019. A dystopia in which genetically engineered robots known as replicants have become common place but are now banned from earth, forced to work on the off world colonies. We are soon introduced to Deckard, a brilliantly underplayed Harrison Ford, is a retired cop who used to work as a Blade Runner, licensed to catch and kill any replicants caught on earth. Scott's vision of Los Angeles is a dark cramped Asian city cast in almost permanent darkness with corporate advertising and its neon glow framing each shot with flying cars and at the top of this society is the Tyrell Corporation who design and build the replicants. They are designed to have short lifespans as a control however a rogue group led by Roy Batty, a brilliant Rutger Hauer have made their way to earth in search of an extension. Deckard is forced to come back on the job in search of Roy and his gang by his shady boss, the always creepy M. Emmet Walsh. Part film noir, part sci fi the film follows Deckard and his hunt for the replicants which leads to a bloody finale where he must confront the fearsome Roy.

Set to a perfectly futuristic score by Vangelis, this is a dark and yet beautiful vision of the future. A society with a junk filled culture in which advertising dominated the skyline. There are vast temple like skyscrapers which reach toward the skyline while the ground level is made up of crumbling slums of 20th Century buildings. Roy and Deckard have their final confrontation in an ornate gothic mansion in the depths of the city while neon signs for Coca Cola and TDK look down on them. This combined with a great cast make for an entertaining if dark film. Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer are justly lauded for their performances and Hauer's ad libbed soliloquy is a great final line, evoking images of the far reaches of the universe.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. "

The film is both awfully prescient and tellingly relevant in terms of the questions it asks about artificial intelligence. Advertising has become ever present in the intervening years and there is a deleted scene featuring technology like E-Readers. In terms of the replicants, it is not hard to feel sorry for them and their situation even the murderous Roy. They are forced to live a life that lasts but 4 years and yet have all of the emotions and needs of a real human. A pertinent question today as we move more and more toward the use of artificial intelligence.

While it performed poorly on its release, it has since come to be seen as a classic. It marries complex themes with and enjoyable detective storyline and this was perhaps too far ahead of its time for the audiences of 1982. There have been numerous versions of the film since its release as Ridley Scott has played around with it and had  it played around with by studios. Perhaps the definitive version is 2007's The Final Cut and this is the version I have reviewed as it fully realises Scott's vision of the film.

Deckard: You're reading a magazine. You come across a full-page nude photo of a girl. 

Rachael: Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?

All in all, this is a really great film which anyone with even a passing interest in the genre has to see. The influence of its design and technical achievement cannot be overstated. Rutger Hauer gives the performance of a lifetime and there is a fine supporting cast including Daryl Hannah.

Flick of The Day: The Adjustment Bureau

Hollywood will forever owe a debt of gratitude to the American author Philip K. Dick. Perhaps not as well known as he should be, Dick was a writer of grand metaphysical science fiction exploring such disparate themes as authoritarianism, drug usage, mental illness and elements of theology. Like so many writers, Dick spent most of his life in relative poverty and yet since his death his work has been adapted into numerous big budget pictures, sometimes well sometimes poorly but always profitably. Film's include Total Recall, Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report and today's flick of the day, The Adjustment Bureau.

The Adjustment Bureau

David Norris is a dashing young politician, ably played by the usually dashing Matt Damon, with a promising future as a Congressman and campaigner. However, on the night he loses his first big election he meets a young woman named Elise, played by Emily Blunt while practising a concession speech in the toilets. Making an instant connection, they appear perfect for each other. Then fate intervenes to pull them apart. Years pass and David becomes enchanted by the memory of Elise, seeking her out on city buses. Eventually they reunite only to be separated again. However, what if it is not fate pulling them apart but something all together more sinister. Enter the Adjustment Bureau. A group of dapper gents dressed like Mad Men, who intervene in human life to ensure everything stays according to the plan set down by the The Chairman, a god like being. There are fine turns from John Slattery and Terence Stamp as adjusters. Of course before long David stumbles on the bureau doing its work and they tell him the truth. That the plan says he and Elise are not to be together. He cant't leave it alone though and sets about defying the bureau and seeking out Elise so that they may be together. How far is he willing to go for a relationship?

While at times mind bending, this is a thoroughly enjoyable tale. It strikes a fine balance between an old fashioned romance and the action of a chase movie. Depending on your point of view, you may view David and Elise's obsession with each other as unreasonable but I suppose anyone with a romantic bent can't but fall for their love at first sight tale. Such a story is as old as time, from Tristan & Isolde to Romeo & Juliet, star crossed lovers overcoming resistance has always made a good story. It helps of course that there is some fine chemistry between Blunt and Damon. The film asks that fundamental question, how far are you willing to go for love? In the case of Elise and David, the answer is pretty damn far.

The film hints at the larger consequences of Elise and David staying together not just for their own lives but perhaps for the world in general. If there is any criticism it is that not enough is made of this. The special effects and the powers of the adjustment bureau are particularly enjoyable aspects, giving the film the wow factor which when added to a great story makes for a decent film.

David Norris: What ever happened to Free Will? 

Thompson: We actually tried Free Will before. After taking you from hunting and gathering to the height of the Roman Empire we stepped back to see how you'd do on your own. You gave us the Dark Ages for five centuries... until finally we decided we should come back in. The Chairman thought maybe we just needed to do a better job of teaching you how to ride a bike before taking the training wheels off again. So we gave you the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution. For six hundred years we taught you to control your impulses with reason, then in 1910 we stepped back. Within fifty years, you'd brought us World War I, the Depression, Fascism, the Holocaust and capped it off by bringing the entire planet to the brink of destruction in the Cuban Missile Crisis. At that point a decision was taken to step back in again before you did something that even we couldn't fix. You don't have free will, David. You have the appearance of free will.

All in all a fine film, and another fine adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story which once again begs the question, how long can Hollywood plow through his body of work for ideas? A while longer I'm sure. In any case, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt make the best of their roles.Well worth a look and those peddling the idea that this is a poor man's Inception would do well to reconsider.