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Topic: Blade Runner The Final Cut
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted July 11, 2008 10:51 AM
BladeRunner was such an odd bird when it came out.
This was the year of Star Trek 2, great action sci-fi, and then around that same time, (if not the same year) E.T. (My Gawd! Has it been that long ago?).
But Bladerunner was a slow paced, very old fashioned in storytelling, and it wasn't a film that was designed to make you go out of the theater happy go lucky, but to think.
It's such a testament to this film that like Alien (also Ridley Scott) and a handful of other films from that time period, it simply hasn't aged. It's timeless. If Bladerunner was released today, it would probably recieve much the same reviews as back then, probably worse, but it wouldn't LOOK any different or aged by comparison to todays films, and there aren't many films that can say that nearly thirty years later.
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Lars Pettersson
Master Film Handler
Posts: 282
From: Stockholm, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2007
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posted April 16, 2009 12:29 AM
Chris, if youīve never seen this film, I envy you -youīre in for a treat. If possible, go for the "Final Cut", project it on a large screen, crank up the volume and donīt allow anyone to interupt you for the next 2 1/2 hours. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Frankly, myself I have never seen this title as Blu-Ray, but concerning the various discs and versions, hereīs my opinion:
Technical quality: The "Final Cut" version is an astounding transfer, with the 65mm elements scanned at 8K resolution (imagine the overkill when watched on DVD/BluRay ![[Wink]](wink.gif) ) and the sound remixed and tweaked by -among others- my two-time Academy-award-winning fellow countryman Per Hallberg and even new material filmed with Harrison Fords son, to fix a minor lip synch flaw. I feel this version also brings the city itself forward more than the others.
The various versions: "The International Cut" retains the narration and is a very good version of the film if you ask me.
"The Dallas Preview" is physically in poor shape, but itīs an interesting version as it is really the origin of the two later recuts (Directorīs and Final).
"The Final Cut" as I already mentioned is really the "non plus ultra" in the package, as it has been tweaked to, and almost beyond, the limits of what can be defended in terms of time and money. Itīs clearly been a work of love and a matter of prestige to many involved.
"The Directorīs Cut" is not very interesting. It was a rush job and somewhat poorly handled.
I think, much as with 2001 a Space Odyssey and Casablanca, the people involved in making this film didnīt think it was going to wind up THAT much a classic/cult title, but of course it did. The richness of texture and themes in the film actually run deeper than many involved in itīs production thought of at the time.
By all means buy the 5-disc version, I probably sound like some warner Bros salesman ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) but it is truly a beautiful package, and to really delve into every aspect of it you would have to spend about a week, watching and listening.
Way back when Blade Runner played in cinemas in 70mm in the 80s, I know at least the plan was to go directly from 65mm materials for the effects sequences. Whether this was done or the general technical level was simply very high, I donīt know, but the effects scenes when I saw it the first time were simply jaw-dropping. If there were such a thing as a Nobel Prize for visual effects in movies, Douglas Trumbull should have won it several times over.
Cheers
Lars
[ April 16, 2009, 04:40 AM: Message edited by: Lars Pettersson ]
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