Twenty-five years after its original theatrical release, director Ridley Scott has completed the definitive "final cut of his sci-fi classic Blade Runner. The Final Cut will be receiving a limited theatrical release in select markets, allowing fans that may have never seen the film on a big screen to view it in all its cinematic glory.
Even after 25 years, Blade Runner remains one of the most beautiful and fully realised visions of the future ever committed to film, and seeing the new print on a big screen allows fans to truly appreciate the detail that went into this pre-digital effects era production.
In a dystopian future Los Angeles, an elite police unit, known as Blade Runners, keeps the city safe from renegade android Replicants. When four Replicants, used as slave labour on off-world colonies, escape to Earth in the hopes of forcing their maker to extend their four-year lifespan, former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is charged with retiring the mutinous bio-machines. Deckards resolve is tested when he meets Rachael (Sean Young) and learns that the new model Replicants are implanted with false memories designed to give rise to human emotions. Instead of retiring machines, Deckard must kill sentient, near-human creatures that have super-human strength and a will to live, no matter the cost.
The new material that Scott has restored to the film doesnt significantly change the 1992 Directors Cut, adding a few extra seconds of footage here and there that only die hard fans will spot. The only major change is the inclusion of the full-length "Unicorn Sequence during the middle of the film, which further points towards Scotts assertion that Deckard is actually a Replicant. Like the Directors Cut, Blade Runner: Final Cut does away with Harrison Fords film-noir style voiceover, which was originally added to the theatrical release at the request of Warner in order to make the film more easily understood by mainstream audiences.
For fans, its well worth the price of admission to see this cult classic as its meant to be seen. For those outside the select markets, this limited run is a pre-cursor to the upcoming release of the multi-disc Final Cut box set, which will feature all the various versions of Blade Runner, as well as new bonus features. Blade Runner will only be back on the silver screen for a short time. If you miss it, the moment will be gone, like tears in rain.
(Warner)Even after 25 years, Blade Runner remains one of the most beautiful and fully realised visions of the future ever committed to film, and seeing the new print on a big screen allows fans to truly appreciate the detail that went into this pre-digital effects era production.
In a dystopian future Los Angeles, an elite police unit, known as Blade Runners, keeps the city safe from renegade android Replicants. When four Replicants, used as slave labour on off-world colonies, escape to Earth in the hopes of forcing their maker to extend their four-year lifespan, former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is charged with retiring the mutinous bio-machines. Deckards resolve is tested when he meets Rachael (Sean Young) and learns that the new model Replicants are implanted with false memories designed to give rise to human emotions. Instead of retiring machines, Deckard must kill sentient, near-human creatures that have super-human strength and a will to live, no matter the cost.
The new material that Scott has restored to the film doesnt significantly change the 1992 Directors Cut, adding a few extra seconds of footage here and there that only die hard fans will spot. The only major change is the inclusion of the full-length "Unicorn Sequence during the middle of the film, which further points towards Scotts assertion that Deckard is actually a Replicant. Like the Directors Cut, Blade Runner: Final Cut does away with Harrison Fords film-noir style voiceover, which was originally added to the theatrical release at the request of Warner in order to make the film more easily understood by mainstream audiences.
For fans, its well worth the price of admission to see this cult classic as its meant to be seen. For those outside the select markets, this limited run is a pre-cursor to the upcoming release of the multi-disc Final Cut box set, which will feature all the various versions of Blade Runner, as well as new bonus features. Blade Runner will only be back on the silver screen for a short time. If you miss it, the moment will be gone, like tears in rain.
