Blade Runner: The Final Cut

[ellen_datlow]

Yeah, sure it is. I don't think Scott will ever finish fiddling with it. However, I did want to see it on the biiiig screen at the Ziegfeld, so caught the 2pm show today. (which is why I was so late responding to all the comments on my previous post ;-) ).
This whole post is a spoiler so if for some odd reason you haven't seen the movie's most recent incarnations, do not read on.

First of all, the only change I could discern from the last "director's cut" was more graphic violence in the killing of Tyrell. I suppose there might have been a few seconds added here and there, but I didn't notice them.

I still love the movie--it's my favorite sf movie--and it's kind of lovely seeing Harrison Ford and Sean Young and Rutger Hauer and even Daryl Hannah in their prime.

I am not particularly willing to argue about the "is he or isn't he a replicant" issue because frankly, at this point, I don't give a rat's ass what Scott says. For me, if Deckard IS a replicant, none of the rest of the movie makes sense. To me the point has always been that the replicants have evolved towards humanity and humanity has moved more towards behaving like replicants.

(yes, of course I know about the unicorn stuff--I just....don't....care) :-)

Comments

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

Personally, I have no idea. I always thought it was jarringly out of place, as if he'd stuck in an outtake from "Legend".

[livia-llewellyn.livejournal.com]

I thought the unicorn was meant to show Deckard that Olmos' character knew he was taking Rachel away, but that he was not going to pursue him - or at the least, that he was giving him a head start. I never thought of it as being "proof" that Deckard is a replicant, only proof that Olmos was choosing not to act according to the rules, just as Batty choses not to kill Deckard, and Deckard choses to leave with Rachel. To me, the unicorn = free will. Scott may insist that it means something else, but any good artist should know that once you release your work into the world, people have the right (free will!) to reinterpret it however they chose.

[sunpony.livejournal.com]

Hoorah for free will! For awhile I tried to go with the Decker = replicant notion, but it just never added up. The undertones of struggling for freedom and Batty's absolution depend, to me, on Decker being human, but QUESTIONING whether or not he might be a replicant. He is disconnected from his humanity and trying to survive, and that task becomes a much larger struggle for repossession of his soul. Decker is trying to find out if he really is a being with free will, struggling violently with conformity and purpose while looking for the clues that reaffirm his humanity. His love for Rachel, his emotional response to Batty's sacrifice, etc., all add up to that reaffirmation and acts as a springboard for him to launch his bid for freedom.

The unicorn scene really DOES look like a tacked-on outtake from Legend :-). I think that scene can still work with my thesis, however.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes.. Also, even from the beginning he's started to burn out "retiring" replicants--He looks like he's affected by his killing the four in the movie (even though two of three were trying to kill him.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I think I agree with you...the magic/freedom of a unicorn...