Blade Runner
Overview
Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction neo-noir film directed by Ridley Scott, based on the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a "blade runner" who is tasked with hunting down and "retiring" rogue replicants — bioengineered androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans. The film is set in Los Angeles in 2019, a dark, rainy, and overcrowded city dominated by Japanese advertising and towering skyscrapers. Deckard is a former blade runner who has been forced out of retirement. He is told to find and kill four replicants who have escaped from an off-world colony and are hiding on Earth. The replicants are: Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), the charismatic, intelligent, and philosophical leader; Pris (Daryl Hannah), a "basic pleasure model"; Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), a snake dancer; and Leon (Brion James), a strong, simple soldier. Deckard falls in love with Rachael (Sean Young), a replicant who does not know that she is a replicant. The film is a meditation on what it means to be human. Roy Batty, a replicant, is more human than the humans who hunt him. He shows Deckard mercy, saving his life. He gives a famous soliloquy, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe." Blade Runner was not a box office success, but it has become a cult classic and one of the most influential science fiction films of all time. It was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. The film has several versions, including a Director's Cut and a Final Cut, which are considered superior to the original theatrical release.
