Blade Runner: The Final Cut (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

Seldom does a movie come around that is as popular or more popular than it was decades ago. Blade Runner was a Box Office flop when it originally debuted in 1982. Although the film quickly gained a cultish following of hardcore fans that enjoyed it as an epic Sci-fi classic. Now in 2007 the movie can once again be enjoyed by it's masses. A newly remastered collection of five discs has made it's way to hi-def world. So how does it look and play all these years later. Extremely well. I am probably one of the few to buy this movie who has actually only watched it once before. I was a child when this movie first came out and it was hard to understand how good of a movie this is until now as an adult. The story takes place in a futuristic world set in 2017. From the first moment on you can realize the epic scale this movie was put on. A corporation has created these cyber humans called replicants. Nearly identical to real people they were created to do slave labor. Although the replicants are very human like and that causes problems. Thus brings in Blade Runners. These bounty hunters go searching for rogue replicants. The replicants have been banned from Earth which means the Blade Runner must find any that find there way here. Harrison Ford plays one of the Blade Runner by the name of Rick Deckard. Fresh from his first Indiana Jones movie he shows why he is a action/sci-fi star. Four replicants free themselves from a planet and have come to Earth to search for their maker. From the first moment on this movie begins to raise philosophical questions. Right or wrong and should all replicants be retired(killed) for just being a replicant. Especially when these replicants become so human like. This becomes evident in the character played by Sean Young named Rachael. So human like and yet created by science. Most of the movie appears dark in many scenes, night seems to be when people live in this futuristic world. Despite the darkness much of the color is illuminated in a light blue color which is fascinating to the eyes. The music sets the tone thru the movie in which it can be rather pleasant to sometimes eery. The Blu-ray version of this film is quite a feat. The sheer beauty of it in high definition is the clear vision that Ridley Scott intended. From the first scene to the last you can tell this movie went thru more than a once over. The sound is excellent and really brings out the film. Blade Runner is without a doubt another classic. Although a sci-fi movie the story delves much deeper than that. This is a movie that should be seen by everyone. Any fan of sci-fi or just a good plot will love this movie. Age has only made it better. Without a doubt this is one collection that should be in any Blu-ray movie owners collection.

One of my favorite movies all time, and to get 4 different versions is beyond a bonus. Love it.

Item arrived in good condition and on the day that was predicted. Great, old movie.

BLADE RUNNER, 1982. Director Ridley Scott went back into post production to create this long-awaited definitive new version, Blade Runner: The Final Cut to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this iconic sci-fi masterpiece. It is spectacularly restored, remastered from original elements. Contains never-before-seen added/extended scenes; added lines; new/improved special effects—although, still, no computer generated effects; director/filmmaker commentary, an all-new digital audio track and more. And even some welcome cuts. So calling this treatment of Blade Runner ‘long awaited’ is actually a resounding understatement. It’s been well worth the wait. Director Ridley Scott has now created the definitive version of an iconic, visually stunning, highly intelligent film. By far its best version. Even backed with a staggering extra features package that varies depending on for whatever version of the release you opt). But the highlight nonetheless remains the stunning film itself, which remains a testament to creative people whose thinking was well in advance of their contemporaries. The core of Blade Runner, of course, remains the same. It opens in the then futuristic year of 2019, Los Angeles, California. Which has become a dark depressing metropolis, filled with urban decay, greatly Asianized, where, despite its being by geology a desert city, it seemingly always rains. The film presents an amazing cityscape proven to be well ahead of its time, with resounding visuals that defied 1982’s supposed limited special effects. The handsome young Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, ex-cop, "Blade Runner," one of the persons assigned to assassinate "replicants.” Androids that look like real human beings, have been given great artificial intelligence, greatly resemble their human models, but have been created with life spans limited to four years. Four replicants, anxious to have their life spans extended, stage a bloody mutiny on an Off World colony, steal a spaceship, return to Earth to find their creators, call them to rights. Deckard is called out of retirement to track them down. As he does, eliminating them one by one, he comes across another replicant, Rachel, who evokes in him human emotion, despite her replicanthood. As Deckard closes in on the leader of the replicant group, he begins to question his own identity in this future world, wonders what's human and what's not. The picture was based upon a story by Philip Dick, written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples, directed, of course, by the great Ridley Scott. It boasts a beautiful, emotionally evocative score by Vangelis. Leading actor Ford, then at the beginning of his long, still-prospering career, so young he sometimes doesn’t look like the actor we know, carries the picture manfully. He is backed by an all-star cast, including Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, leader of the insurrection; Edward James Olmos as Gaff, Deckard’s odd-ball coworker; M. Emmet Walsh as their boss Bryant; Darryl Hannah as Pris, replicant built to please; Joanna Cassidy as Zhora. replicant built to fight. William Sanderson as JF Sebastian, one of the replicants’ designers; James Hong as Hannibal Chew, another unfortunate replicant designer. Each actor plays his/her part with an intensity rarely seen on screen; Hauer makes his great deathbed speech truly memorable. Here’s the time for me to mention an inconvenient truth: I loved this film back in 1982, love it still, and bought this DVD to replace a VHS tape I finally had to give away. Like the improvements, but loved the original even so. And I am well aware that those Hollywood idiots, not content with greatness, are currently remaking the film in Prague. Now Prague is a great, beautiful historic city, I’ve been there and I know, but it ain’t LA. LA serves as another character in the movie. It is irreplaceable, its history such as it is, its historic buildings, such as the Bradbury Building, which is heavily used in the film. And I know that compared to Prague’s buildings, the Bradbury is a baby. But that’s not the point. And how can you replace young Harrison Ford – surely not with the still scantily bearded Ryan Gosling. Nor can you replace the remarkable Dutch actor Rutger Hauer. Or Edward James Olmos, Emmet Walsh, James Hong, William Sanderson, Joanna Cassidy, Darryl Hannah. Sorry, I may yet be forced to eat my words, but I don’t know why Hollywood insists on trying to remake films successful, at least in part, for outstanding performances. We shall see. Meanwhile, I have loved this film since 1982.

Yep, same thing happened to me (as indicated in the other customer reviews): Disc 1 is labeled The Final Cut but the content is the same as disc 5 (The Workprint). I thought this kind of thing only happened to OTHER people. I hope Warner Video responds to my complaint and makes it right. Meanwhile, it was good to revisit this classic, but imperfect, movie. I first saw this as a youngster when it premiered in theaters back in '82, and numerous times since in its various incarnations. Here are some observations upon watching it again with "fresh eyes": Great cast... all except for Harrison Ford. I never really noticed (or acknowledged) how terrible his performance is. It is "sub-Keanu". Ford appears to be in a coma/pot-stupor throughout the movie and is truly the weak link in an otherwise exceptional cast. There are plenty of actors from the era who could have done so much better playing Deckard. But nothing can be done about that now. I was impressed with the skill Sean Young brought to such a flimsy character. Good job, girl! Same goes for the other broads: Daryl Hannah (sexy and creepy) and Joanna Cassidy (sexy and violent). Cassidy is onscreen so briefly but provides the movie's liveliest scenes (and not JUST because she gets topless). Most of the film's (few) laughs come from the lively, otherworldly Rutger Hauer. Brion James seemed to be an unusual choice to play Leon but is thoroughly effective. William Sanderson, Joe Turkel, Edward James Olmos (saying olmos nothing) M. Emmet Walsh, even James "Lo Pan" Hong: all delightful. The movie really could have benefited from more energetic scenes like those featuring Cassidy. This is why audiences were initially irked by the movie upon its original release: the preview was specatcular and this was Ford's follow-up to "Raiders of The Lost Ark". We were expecting an action spectacle. But the film has endured as a classic due to the considerable richness of its other qualities. Here's another observation: "Blade Runner" is very Kubrickian. Despite the terrific cast, the photography is the star. Special effects maestro Doug Trumbull also worked on "2001: A Space Odyssey" and here, as on that film, his work is still dazzling and magical after all these years. It should also be noted that both movies feature a prominent Pan Am logo whereas that company did not last into the time-periods depicted in either! Sure, Joe Turkel appeared in a couple of Kubrick movies, but tell me that the nose on J.F. Sebastian's diminutive "friend" is not almost identical to the one on the mask that Alex wore in "A Clockwork Orange", or that the replicant eyes do not remind one of the eye of HAL 9000. There's probably numerous other comparisons to be made if one has the time. But I've got better things to do. Like writing lengthy reviews on Amazon that no one will read.

Answer: This movie, appearing on every list of not only the greatest science-fiction films of all time, but the best movies ever made. "Blade Runner" is a movie that you have to not only see, but own, because it's one of the few monumental American classics, along with "Casablanca", "It's a Wonderful Life", "The Third Man", "Vertigo" and "The Godfather", that gets better by age. Like most of these movies, "Blade Runner" was a critical and commercial bomb, ludicrously dismissed as style over substance, for lacking a coherent story and for its one-dimensional human characters. Seen today, in a time of economic recession, class division and the state's utter disregard to come in human terms, "Blade Runner" feels more modern and relevant than ever. Why is "Blade Runner" one of the greatest movies of all time? I could write a lengthy review describing the movie's greatness, but I'll do the movie greater service by listing the reasons: 1.) It's a simple story, brilliantly told, tightly paced and superbly directed. A retired police officer is forced by the police state to hunt down (or "retire") a group of bio-engineered cyborgs called Replicants. Under Ridley Scott's tight direction, the movie is a gripping experience as we see the main character struggle to fulfill his obligations and survive. The opening sequence where Leon is interrogated as rather or not he's a Replicant and the scenes where Deckard is pursuing Pris in a room cluttered with mannequins are as suspenseful as the best of Hitchcock. 2.) The acting is utterly terrific. Harrison Ford probably gave the greatest performance of his career as the replicant hunter Deckard. Ford hated the movie and called it a miserable experience, yet in some ways, this helped add greater depth to his character, as we see Deckard's anguish, frustration and anger simmering throughout the movie. Sean Young is outstanding as the Replicant assistant Rachael and her scenes with Deckard, where he tries to teach her about love in his apartment, have an emotional intensity barely found in other sci-fi movies. Darryl Hannah made a huge impression as the lonely and tragic Pris and Edward James Olmos provides comic relief as the officer Gaff, who raises an ambiguous question at the end that still resonates to this day. But the highest acting honor, of course, belongs to Rutger Hauer, as Roy Batty, the movie's main antagonist. Subtle yet dangerous, a menace to society yet one with tragic grandeur, Hauer's Batty may rank as one of the greatest and most memorable villains in movie history. 3.) "Blade Runner" successfully continues the tradition that has defined science-fiction movies in decades, in that it presents the central theme that the most humane characters are in the fact the most inhuman. Despite their supposed lack of humanity, Roy Batty and Pris are arguably the most sympathetic characters in movie, primarily because they are outcasts who refuse to blend in to an oppressive society (see below). In fact, the general complaint about "Blade Runner" when it was released was that the replicants were more interesting than the hero, when that was precisely the point. There's a disturbing sequence where Deckard is hunting down a female replicant and instead of having the audience root for him, the movie defies conventions and has us hoping that the replicant escapes (there's even a hint in the movie's finale that Deckard himself may be a replicant). At the end, when Batty chooses his fate, you feel a great sense of sadness for this inhuman yet paradoxically humane character. 4.) No other movie, not even "2001" or "Metropolis", captures the feeling of being displaced, oppressed and and dehumanized in an oppressive society. One of the biggest reasons for the movie's initial failure was that it presented such a dark vision of a world where privacy is lacking, noise is abundant and commercialism runs rampant throughout the city. The sets, outfits, the insufferable rain and the cluttering masses on the street create a feeling of powerlessness, a feeling that prevents people from having the free will to be themselves. Deckard is a perfect example of that, as he is powerless towards a quasi-fascist police state that determines his fate or he will be part of the "little people". The movie is, for all its futuristic technology, is an expressive drama. 5.) "Blade Runner" has one of the best musical scores ever made. Composed by "Chariots of Fire" conductor Vangelis, the music is a groundbreaking merge of futuristic synthesizers, organic compositions and even an element of jazz, as seen in the beloved "Love Theme", with its beautiful saxophone solo. You can listen to this music without seeing the film and imagine the whole movie in your head. 6.) "Blade Runner" seems more relevant and prophetic today than it was released in 1982. Critics and moviegoers were taken back by seeing such dark, dreary vision, a vision where the rich care so little about the poor that they form a hostile, miserable ghetto. Yet walk down the inner slums of any city, from Los Angeles in early 1990s and Moscow to Tokyo and that vision is there before our eyes. Technology, which was supposedly man's gift to preserve humanity, has slowly overtaken our human traits, making us cold, mechanical and increasingly dependent on machinery. And yet... 7.) The movie, despite its darkness, ends with a suggestion of hope. When Batty spares Deckard's life and delivers that immortal monologue which has earned its place in cinema, this scene suggests a promising hope in the future: that machines and human, instead of striving to dominate the other, can live side-by-side in harmony. This is not a hippie message, but a heartfelt plea for everyone in diverse groups to coexist and accept one another. "Blade Runner" is one of the American cinema's most towering achievements and an institution for every science-fiction entity that has come afterwards, from "The Matrix" and "Dark City" to "Ghost in the Shell" and "Cowboy Bebop", from the fantastical adventures by Hayao Miyazaki, to the grim, political fables by Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron. Even "The Fifth Element", in some ways, plays like a sunny, cartoony alternative to this grim classic. It is essential that you watch "Blade Runner", even if you don't like it (which is highly doubtful). If you even think of starting a Blu-Ray/DVD collection without it, then you are simply just one of the "little people". Strongest recommendation to steal at all costs. P.S. Like many great movies, "Blade Runner" has come out in a variety of editions, each of them a worthy purchase. There was a five-disc ultimate collector's edition that came out on both DVD and Blu-Ray. That is currently out of print. In its place, there was 30th anniversary edition released in two box sets: a multi-format version (with that memorable Asian face on the front cover) and a three-disc set released with only Blu-Rays (that's the one with the unicorn on the front cover). Either version you watch is fine, but if you just want the Blu-Rays in an affordable set, go with the three-disc set. Besides nearly a dozen hours of supplements, the picture and audio qualities are excellent. Since "Blade Runner" is an intensely visual experience, it is highly recommended that you watch it on a big screen and with big speakers. As the saying goes, the bigger, the better...in everything.

Re-watching this in an era of ubiquitous AI is unsettling. Watching the cast embody the dilemma of what it means to be sentient is more relevant now than when it was first released in 1982. The video upscaled great on my TV and the VFX were truly ahead of its time. It feels dreary and oppressive, relying on mood, not jump scares to build tension. Do yourself a favor and read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as well, the character's names are the same but the stories are vastly different. This is a movie I know I'll revisit, it belongs in every comprehensive Sci-Fi collection.

A cult classic

As per description.

Een van die films waar het beeld en de fotografie wezenlijk bijdraagt tot de sfeer en geheel van de film. Met zo'n mooie 4K transfer wordt die nog beter!

Veramente devo scrivere la recensione di Blade Runner? Guardatelo e riguardatelo, è storia del cinema con la C maiuscola

Zu Aller erst: Als "Blade-runiac" der jüngeren Generation (Baujahr Ž81) muss ich gestehen, dass dieser Film (in ALL seinen Versionen) ein absoluter Meilenstein des "not-just-fictional-Science-Fiction" ist. (für die, die vielleicht irgendwann mal was darüber gehört haben aber nichts damit anzufangen wissen) Zugegeben, wer auf poppig bunte Farben und spassige Klamaukunterhaltung steht wird sich schwer mit Ridley ScottŽs Film tun (auch hier, egal in welcher Version). Der Film ist, bis auf wenige Ausnahmen dunkel, düster und verregnet. Dem Zuschauer drängt sich sofort ein behaglich-klaustrophobisches Unwohlsein auf, ohne jedoch aufdringlich zu werden. Man wird einfach gefesselt. Nun aber will ich auf einem kleinen Umweg zur Box an sich kommen: Vor Jahren habe ich bereits einige Versionen von "Bladerunner" auf VHS gehabt und muss zugeben, dass ich ziemlich angep***t war, wieviel Platz die fetten Boxen weggenommen haben. Ein Paar Jahre später auf DVD ebenfalls nahezu das gleiche Spiel. JETZT, dank der qualitativ hochwertigen und schön mit Relief geprägten Tinbox sieht das Ganze schon wieder anders aus. Optischer Eindruck: 1a Nachdem ich die Box geöffnet hatte ertappte ich mich, wie mir ein "häääääääää? wasŽn DAS?" entfleuchte. Der erste Blick des neuen Besitzers nach dem Öffnen fällt auf ein Schaumstoffrechteck in dessen Mitte "irgendwas durchsichtiges, aber in Folie eingepacktes steckt. Also gleich mal Žrausgenommen und geschaut. Es ist das 35mm Hologramm. Allerdings nicht so ein "billiges" wie man es von Spec-Ed DVD-Covern kennt, es ist eine komplette Bewegungsabfolge von Harrison Ford. Super geili gemacht! Bei richtiger Kippweise entsteht wirklich der Eindruck als schaue man ein Stück Film auf einem transparenten Hintergrund. Also mal weiter ausgepackt 5 DVDŽs mit sämtlichen, jemals erschienenen Versionen des Films, PLUS der ultimative Final Cut des Films. Was es damit auf sich hat, bzw. mit welchem technischen Aufwand und Methoden dieser hergestellt worden ist, verrät uns Ridley Scott in einem "Brief", der auf "transparentem Papier" gedruckt ist. Will heissen natürlich auf stabiler, formbeständiger Klarsichtfolie. Wer das Teil in den Händen hält, fühlt sich sofort ein Stück näher in die Bladerunnerwelt versetzt. Dieser typische "irgendwie schon kitschig aber kultig-geil" Eindruck. Weiter in der Box gegraben und wir finden in einer Hülle: Sketches des Films, Konzeptzeichnungen "der ersten Stunde"....natürlich als Repro, aber einfach nur *pardon* endgenial. Über die verschiedenen Filmversionen möchte ich hier garnicht viel verlieren. Warum nicht? Weil dies zu einer Kontroverse führen würde. Jeder Film hat seinen ganz eigenen Fankreis und ICH kenne keinen, der alle Filme gleich gut findet. Einer ist IMMER der Fave und die anderen Versionen werden darauf hin als "eben nicht ganz so gut" eingestuft. Wir kennen alle die Gespräche in denen irgendwann der Punkt kommt "...ja, aber DIE Version von dem Film find ich 1000 Mal besser..." Sehenswert sind sie ALLE und zwar allemal! Also mein bisheriger, persönlicher Favorit ist die Version mit HFordŽs Stimme aus dem off, quasi das "the all seeing I" Mal schauen ob der Final Cut dieser Fassung den Rang streitig machen, oder gar abluchsen kann. Ich habe mir den Final Cut zusätzlich auch nochmal als Blu-Ray bestellt, um für mich selbst zu schauen ob es gelungen ist, soviele Jahre nach Release der Urfassung eine zeitgemäße Aufbereitung vorzunehmen. Auch wenn der BD-Player die normalen DVDŽs schon recht gut hochskaliert, so erwarte ich trotzdem noch eine sichtliche Steigerung von der reinen Blu-Ray Version. Mein Fazit für diese Box: Unbedingt zulegen - spart Platz - sieht super genial aus - beinhaltet alles was man braucht ob man nun neu oder alt eingesessen ist, was das Thema angeht. - spart unter Umständen auch noch Geld im Vergleich zum Kauf der Einzel DVDŽs - Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis meiner Ansicht nach optimal

Great movie