login | register

Blade Runner

A chilling, bold, mesmerising, futuristic detective thriller. 

Year: 1982 
Running Time:
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Scope) 
Certificate: BBFC 15 Cert – Not suitable for under 15s 
Subtitles: The level of subtitling in this film is unknown to WSC 
Directed by Unknown 
Starring: Unknown  
Review:

Blade Runner is indeed a mesmerising peek into the near future. Set in a horribly polluted Los Angeles teeming with street urchins, the story serves as a device to explore this neon nightmare that is Ridley Scott's vision of things to come.

Harrison Ford is Deckard, a bounty hunter or blade runner who must hunt down escaped replicants (a group of genetically-pioneered robots with human appearance and super-human abilities designed to build colonies in space) in the crowded streets of a futuristic slum crawling with strange inhabitants. Just as Deckard finds their trail, his sentiments are shifted by his romantic involvement with Rachel (Young), a beautiful replicant who has been equipped with emotions and an artificial set of memories by her creator Tyrell.

Although handicapped by a script that takes a bit too much from the detective films of the late 1940s, director Scott makes each scene count visually. Science fiction fans will revel in the complexities of Lawrence G. Paul's elaborate production design, a wondrous maze of steam and slime that obviously has Scott's stamp on it. the director fares much better with scenery than actors. Harrison Ford, though a competent leading man, is reduced to a one-dimensional gumshoe clone who spends more time explaining the story via voice-overs than he does taking action. Weaknesses aside, Blade Runner is a stunning film, now elevated to the status of cult classic.

David Linck

More Information | Back to Previous Schedule | This Season  |  BBFC Classification Guidelines

Screenings of this film:

1983/1984 Autumn Term (35mm)
1983/1984 Autumn Term (35mm)
1983/1984 Autumn Term (35mm)
1983/1984 Autumn Term (35mm)
1984/1985 Summer Term (35mm)
1984/1985 Summer Term (35mm)
1988/1989 Autumn Term (16mm)
1993/1994 Spring Term (70mm)
1998/1999 Autumn Term (35mm)