During my stay in the Netherlands it gave me the opportunity to see this marvelous Sci-Fi movie on the big screen. Normally I wouldn't go to the theater back home, because Belfast has spoiled me with cheap cinema tickets and perks which you do not get in the Netherlands. And the countless time they pissed me off by dubbing Disney movies and making me go to a different town to see the original version because people just don't understand English that well.
Sadly I haven't seen the original release of this timeless movie, because I was still in diapers back then. ;P But I must admit a bit of Dutch pride comes with this movie. Rutger Hauer is part of the cast and I always though he was an amazing actor who got discovered by Hollywood. I've seen a lot of Dutch films he starred in like Soldier of Orange, Turks fruit & Escape from Sobibor. And I have a bit of an old-man crush on him. He still has the most stunning blue eyes ever. ;)
Sadly trying to find people with a similar taste in movies has been a challenging part in my life. As someone once told me when I showed him the movie, that the special effects sucked and he didn't understand that for 1982 the special effects were acceptable. But then again he liked the Total Recall reboot better than the original, so what does he know. ;)
So off we went to the special viewing of the movie in the Verkadefabriek in 's-Hertogenbosch. The Verkadefabriek is a performing arts theater which occasionally shows art house movies who never get released in the normal cinemas. The room it was showed in had these large yellow couches that could have been a little more comfortable but it made due.
Blade Runner is a modified film adaption of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick (great book, try to read it once).
Plot (from Wikipedia):
The film depicts Los Angeles in November 2019, in which genetically engineered replicants, which are visually indistinguishable from adult humans, are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega-corporations" around the world. The use of replicants on Earth is banned and they are exclusively utilized for dangerous or menial work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and killed ("retired") by special police operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a desperate group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt-out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down.
Roy & Pris
Blade Runner is an action movie but it has a lot of narrative levels weaved into it. Maybe that is why it original reception wasn't good. People weren't used to reading between the lines, but I think the screenwriters did a wonderful job and luckily the movie received the credit it deserved but just years later.
The themes are about religion and moral implications of genetic engineering. And those are themes that really interest me. How far can you go with genetic engineering when you cross the ethical line?
The difference between the Final Cut and the Director's Cut aren't that large. In the Final Cut they tried to make the images and sound as good as possible and eliminate the smaller mistakes of the film. Lucky for us, spectacular new CGI was avoided. So serious changes of the movie aren't noticeable. That is how you do that George Lucas.
I really enjoyed my evening and the movie. And I managed to dig up the second hand copy of the album when I went to Nijmegen the next day. ;) Now I can listen to Vangelis when relaxing on the couch.
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