Blade Runner (1982) *****

Ridley Scott's orgy for the senses Blade Runner is about a bleak future (notice how the future is always bleak in cinema) and the technology that man has created that has gone out of control. Harrison Ford plays Deckard, a Blade Runner whose soul job is to "retire" Replicants, man made humans that are illegal on Earth and have a life averaging four years.

Harrison Ford is great in the Deckard role, a loner who is trying to retire himself but gets pulled back in when four Replicants (played by Joanna Cassidy, Brion James, Daryl Hannah, and the incredible Rutger Hauer) land in Los Angeles. In the process Deckard meets Rachel, a Replicant that doesn't know she's a Replicant.

Blade Runner is still a visually stunning film, even with the advent of CGI and new ways of hocus pocus. What gives Blade Runner its style is the way that the film hypnotizes us with its beauty, even though the film is all night scenes and grungy exteriors. In one shot you can see the marvel of progress in the background while the past lies in decay in the foreground.
Blade Runner is one of the greatest noir films ever made. The dark tone of the film and Deckard's relationships with his superiors and Rachel is pure noir at its finest. It's the sci fi twist that pulls you in. This could be another detective story, but with the futuristic direction and Scott's fabulous direction it becomes the classic that it deserves to be.
Scott may have tweaked his project over the years (four released cuts that include his Final Cut, which is what I reviewed) due to the harsh atmosphere that the film was originally produced in (you can give him the George Lucas criticism, though it doesn't really stick since Scott doesn't pretend the other cuts don't exist ala Lucas). Over the years Scott has molded this film into a dark exploration of man kinds push for technology that backfires in its face.
Blade Runner is a film that can't have judgment passed upon its first viewing, which also depends on which cut your a viewing. It's a great film that deserves the praise it has gotten over the years. A true classic that everyone should view at least once..