Blade Runner

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, & Sean Young

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Blade Runner is widely considered to be the best Science Fiction movie ever made. It is on almost every top 100 list, and that's why I am reviewing it. To tell you why it is one of the most overrated films of all time. Science Fiction is my favorite genre, and the author of Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick is one of my favorite authors, but Blade Runner is far from his best work. I would go as far as saying that Blade Runner isn't even in his top ten, and if it wasn't for Ridley Scott, it wouldn't have been the first film adaptation of Dick's work. At the time, the special effects were innovative and exciting, but they fail to live up to today's standards. With that being said, all that's left over is a simple story that follows a futuristic police chase and a very cheesy, awkward, love story. In a futuristic Los Angeles, android technology has been perfected. These replicants are used for labor an odd jobs, but occasionally, they become aware and try to run for their freedom. That is when the blade runners are called in to eliminate them. The best Blade Runner around is Deckard (Harrison Ford), a man who doesn't love his job, but always gives one hundred and ten percent. After three replicants escape from the moon, Deckard is called in to track them down and this is the whole premise of the movie. There isn't much of a side story and the rare breaks in the action, rarely prove to be substantive. The film is just you're typical chase with some very weird elements. For example, why does Rutger Hauer take off all his cloths before he fights Harrison Ford, and for that matter, what the hell is he talking about the whole time? How about the talking toys, can you tell me they weren't just a bit creepy and out of character for the rest of the film? Finally, we're in Los Angeles, why is everything Chinese? The story is just a very strange chase through a futuristic nightmare scenario for Los Angeles. Yes, Harrison Ford was terrific, and yes, it must of been the hardest thing Ridley Scott ever had to direct, but the film and story itself are very simplistic and certainly not worthy of legendary status. I love Philip K. Dick and I am obsessed with Science Fiction, but watching Blade Runner for the third time, I was still just as bored and confused as I was the other two times I saw it. How can anything that makes a person feel that way be considered legendary?