Ridley Scott spent years fiddling with his film after studio interference, CGI developments and DVD reissues, and finally in 2007 we got the definitive version which is re-released by the BFI to give film fans another chance to see it on a big screen.
It is certainly a big-screen film, a unique futuristic film noir that creates a complete world that satisfies on just about every level. Pretty much all the elements of 1940s film noir are there the lonesome gumshoe (Harrison Ford), complete with battered raincoat, drink problem and zero sense of humour, stalking the dark streets in search of the bad guys, with the obligatory visit to a seedy strip club. Sean Young is the femme fatale, with red lipstick, enormous shoulder pads and an untrustworthy past. The dark, neon-lit urban landscape of Los Angeles has more than a few echoes of Edward Hopper, with Ford’s apartment clearly inspired by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. And there’s a mystery how do we know who are the humans and who are the replicants?
What makes Scott’s film unique is the fact it’s not set in the past but in the future, a nightmarish world in which technology has raced ahead perhaps too far, and man’s greed has created a breed of replicants, human robots who have evolved so far they now want to break free from slavery and live like humans. There’s a problem they have a built in life span of just four years, and four of them have escaped a colony and are on earth trying to track down their evil creator, Tyrell, to get themselves rewired so they can live longer.
This version thankfully omits the awful Ford voiceover that was in many an early cut one of the many problems the film had in its gestation, the main one being Ford and Scott’s difficult relationship. This cut, without the voice-over, was thought to be lost, but in 1989 Michael Arick, a sound preservationist, stumbled upon a 70mm print of the film. Scott refused to call it a director’s cut until he had tweaked a number of issues with the film, small mistakes such as the serial number on the snakeskin being read out wrongly, and Joanna Cassidy’s double crashing through the glass when she is shot it’s clearly not her, but a bit of digital whizardry has papered over the cracks.
Watching the film now it’s clear that this is Scott’s masterpiece. Ford looks suitably pained but is a perfect noir hero, slowly falling for Young even though he suspects she is a replicant early on he asks Tyrell tragically “How can it not know what it is?
There are some minor flaws, sure personally I found Hannah’s punk gymnast a tad annoying, and the Vangelis soundtrack, which sounded like the future in 1982, now sounds hopelessly weedy and dated synthesisers have moved on quicker than CGI. However these can all be forgiven, especially in the face of Rutger Hauer’s near-perfect scene-stealing show at the end.
His is a lurking presence thoughout the film, with his mad unblinking eyes and extraordinary facial expressions, flicking from child-like to psychotic in the blink of an eye, but it is the final showdown between him and Ford which completely steals the show. During this amazing fight sequence, lasting 15 minutes, Ford utters not one word, while Hauer rants, cries like a wolf and hams his way through an amazing scene whilst losing more and more clothes. It veers between extreme camp at one point he pretends to cry like a baby to Jack Nicholson-style bonkersness, smashing his face through a wall, all the while throwing Ford around like a rag doll. His final lines though completely catch the viewer off guard, and it’s amazing to discover that, with all the script problems and rewrites, he improvised them himself. “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe star ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion is one of the great lines of sci-fi.
Interestingly the whole idea of testing whether a robot can match a human for emotional response was dreamed up by Alan Turing, the subject of recent movie The Imitation Game but never mentioned in it. Somehow I feel Turing would approve of this film.
Overall verdict: This version can rightly take its place in the list of all-time sci-fi classics. It stands alone as a futuristic noir, beautifully shot, brilliantly realised and still absolutely gripping. It may have taken decades to get right, but it was worth it. A must-see, especially on a big screen.
Reviewer: Mike Martin