I just watched... Bladerunner

 In the future: Indiana Jones became a bounty hunter after tiring of being President

                I find myself reaching a conclusion: Harrison Ford doesn’t play characters, he’s just himself in all the movies that he seems to find himself in. Let’s take a look at all his most iconic roles through adjective-based inquiries. Are they smug? Rogues? Sly? Non-Paragons? Of questionable base morality? Not quite the lover of rules? Now, which role am I talking about? Solo? Jones? How about all? Despite all this I find it amusing how he manages to still fit the role well… or does the role fit him? Oh dear the paradoxes.

                Now if I were to reflect upon the past and bring back the list, that I hopefully spoke about, of things that I should have experienced by all that is bleak upon this world then Bladrunner has always been high on the list. Forget its revolutionary styling, its genre-defining nature and so on – the single reason I should have watched this a long, long time ago is because it’s the inspiration for many works that I adore, enjoyed or liked. ‘Bladerunner-esque’ is a term many people used to describe the original Deus Ex’s tone and atmosphere; ‘Bladerunner-inspired’ is a term some people used to describe the Ghost in the Shell franchise. My adoration for Deus Ex alone has always been enough reason for me to watch it… and I finally did, and the experience was odd.

Quite the cityscape, no?

                When it comes to story, the world, the characters and nuances Bladerunner falls short, a fair bit short, but unlike many instances of such a problem, the curious case is that the problem is not a ‘real’ problem here. Well, remember that bit where I defined it as genre-defining, therein lies the root of the problem’s paradoxical problem. Bladerunner has been outdone, outdone by great leaps and bounds by successive works, but the point here is ‘successive’ and the fact that the movie was the first to utilise what is best termed as ‘Sci-Fi Noir’ and initiate a stylistic trend that many followed.

                ‘How much criticism can the founder be subject to?’ and ‘Can you compare the founder to its successors?’ were the two questions that rattled about in my brain a bit like a rattle snake in a can, rattling while it rattles. And part of the reason for these questions is probably the fact that Bladerunner didn’t live up to the hype my mind had generated for it. The hype could be considered my fault because I expected to be a messianic work which will make all other works in the genre to look like crusty stale bread.

                The blurred line between man and machine is almost always the question at the heart of these urban Sci-Fi Noir stories, raising a great number of existential questions while engaging us with a great deal of scenery porn or incredibly cool ways to do mundane things. And one area in which Bladerunner stands tall like a monolith is in the visuals department alongside the atmosphere department and the world department; after all the most revered aspect of this movie is the world, and it definitely delivers there.

                Yes, it’s an old, old movie but it is still visually striking, if not surprising. In today’s world Bladerunner’s dystopian cityscape and mixture of sleek futuristic technology with archaic architecture is more commonplace, but it isn’t too difficult to imagine why it created waves when it first unveiled itself. The same can be said for the story, which has its origins in old Sci-Fi works by the likes of Asimov (and the movie itself is based off Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick) and has been explored in arguably more ‘detail’ by many great successive works… and many other terrible works so pretentious you’d expect moustaches to come to life and start talking to you about philosophy and tea and life and existence.

Rutger Hauer, ladies and gentlemen. 

                Despite its nature as a cult classic the film still has its fair share of flaws, which is usually the case with cult classics now that I think about it, and the pacing can feel incredibly off and the story abrupt in many spots. Some scenes just don’t transition very well and I was left with a feeling of unpleasant surprise, the kind of surprise which can be equated to that ‘twisty’ feeling you might get in gym, a kind of strain but different from the nice kind of strain because it isn’t pleasant because it doesn’t feel natural. There were quite a few scenes and transitions that made me go ‘what’, ‘huh’ and ‘whaaat’, all of the less pleasing kind.

                ‘What is the purpose of existing if you’re going to disappear?’ is, in many ways, the prime question asked by the movie and really puts emotions, thoughts and experience in a different, more fascinating light, the kind of light that makes you think about persistence after death – are you more important than your thoughts, your memories? If death is inevitable wouldn’t these experiences, thoughts and feelings be the true meaning of your life? And if these were to persist, is that life after death?

Deckard is brought out of retirement to retire rogue replicants... Ford is sure pulled out of retirement a lot.

                In all honesty I’m finding myself at a bit of an impasse writing this, which may have to do with the fact that I have Ghost in the Shell, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a replay of Deus Ex and more down the pipeline so I am fully aware that I am going to talking about Bladerunner’s main themes and questions when writing about those as well.

Deckard has quite the apartment. 

                Oooh, I have an idea, and aren’t spontaneous ideas the best? I can do some comparative writings and thinking and so on as I go through the other works, encompassing all these similar works and essentially starting a snowball. A Sci-Fi Noir snowball prone to using black as a primary colour and loving tech with highlight lighting. 

...like tears in the rain.