Dreaming of Electric Sheep in Hi Def

After a fun afternoon of softball with UW's Team 'A-U-D S-L-P' and too lazy to prepare for my long trip in central Washington, I'll mention a little film called Blade Runner. Although it's not my favorite film in the world it is definitively one of the best, if not the best, sci-fi films around. I'm sure many would contend 2001 over this film, I'll take BR over it because it's more coherent. For those of you who are asking about Star Wars(since you know I'm a huge Star Wars geek) - sorry, but that's about as sci-fi as The Lord of the Rings. Last year was the 25th anniversary of BR's theatrical release. The only version of the film that has been widely available was the director's cut and the only way to see the theatrical version was on Criterion laserdisc - which I never did get off of eBay. The 25th anniversary edition includes both of these versions and a brand new final cut, which director Ridley Scott had remastered and tweaked the director's cut. Since it looks like the Final Cut may never see my mailbox via Netflix ('Very Long Wait' for the last 4 months), I decided to see the theatrical version. The film looks absolutely amazing in HD. The dark dystopia scenery against the bright neon lights looks better than ever. The theatrical version has a couple of things that the director's cut does not: voice over monologue of Ford's Deckard character, and a happy ending. Ford's voice overs are awfully done (I think intentionally), and it reminded me of a sentimental Steve Martin film. The voice overs do make the film more accessible, as it 'holds the viewer's hand' through much of the plot. I think what I like about BR so much is it's perfect blend of film noir and sci-fi and I think had Ford done the monologue in sync with the feel of the film it would have worked perfectly. Also, the happy ending seems a bit tacked on at the end. It reminds me of the feud that director Terry Gilliam had with another one of my favorite films, Brazil, in sticking with a darker ending. I'm not going to go over the whole debate over whether Deckard is a replicant or not, although in my personal opinion I think the story has more depth if he is a human, but the theatrical version definitely has a stronger case for Deckard being human. If you've never seen this movie, check it out. It's not a fast pace action thriller, it actually has a simple plot but it's filled with a lot of heady philosophical questions.