By now, if you’re like me, you’ll have bought the 5 DVD boxset of Blade Runner with every version known to man including this new “Final Cut.”
But before Christmas I did actually see the film projected in the cinema, and it really was a sight to behold. This film does have a bit of history having originally been released in 1982 in a version that famously had a deadbeat Harrison Ford voiceover. It ended with some outtakes of footage of a green valley that was taken from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
Then in 1992 having gained something of a cult reputation, the film reappeared as The Director’s Cut. That was before every film ever produced came out with a “Director’s Cut” DVD a year or so after the original release.
But this wasn’t quite the cut that Ridley Scott had hoped for, and he couldn’t spend either the time or the money that was really neeeded. But the voiceover went, and a couple of scenes reappeared including, famously, a scene involving a unicorn.
Now we’ve got the real director’s cut – or the “final cut” – which has seen the film getting a proper clean and spruce up, as well as few more subtle edits and changes. It must be said that the changes really are quite subtle. There’s no really obvious new CGI introduced George Lucas-style. New technology has been employed, but the film still feels true to itself. And that’s not surprising as it still feels like a thoroughly believable dirty future. So many other films and adverts have taken their lead from the stylings of Blade Runner that it’s sometimes hard to realise quite how revolutionary this film and 1979’s Alien were.
I haven’t really touched upon the full story of the making of Blade Runner and its many incarnations. For a fuller picture, can I commend Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner which has just had a new edition published in time for this film.
One way or another, now is a good time to revisit this classic.
Now I hear that there’s a new edition of the soundtrack out too…