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178 of 181 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best DVD Box Set EVER Made, 14 Dec 2007
At long last, "Blade Runner" gets the definitive treatment it needs. With a release as lavish and enormous as this, there is no possibility of an abusive triple, quadruple, or seventh-re-release : almost everything you could possibly want is here.
"Blade Runner" is one of the greatest science fiction films ever made : a period piece set in an impossible future, a film noir detective thriller that uses the endless possibilities of Science Fiction to explore inner and outer space, a meditation of the nature of humanity, identity, and conscience. It is without doubt the finest film that anyone ever involved with it ever worked on. Given that the people who worked on it were also involved in "Star Wars", "2001", "Alien", and ...um... "Blind Fury"... that speaks for itself. I won't waste words on the film anymore : you either know what it is or you don't. If you don't - watch it. If you do - you know what I'm talking about. It's a classic - and one of the best films ever made.
This DVD re-release features a whopping 5 DVD's of material. Disc 1 contains the "Final Cut" :Ridley Scott's intended version that was sabotaged by brainless studio nincompoops and accountants. Here, Ridley has revisited and completed the film so it is now the way it was always meant to be seen. To the average viewer, these changes are often miniscule and barely noticeable : to the enthusiast they are the final brushstrokes to Scott's masterpiece. It's still "Blade Runner" though. If you liked it then, you'll like it now. If you didn't, you won't. But this Final Cut (the fifth version of the film released) is a film of such merit it deserves to be hung in a museum as one of the greatest justifications for mankinds continued existence.
The first disc is fleshed with three commentaries : Ridley Scott is, as ever, a fascinating orator. The other commentaries are equally interesting. The second DVD contains "Dangerous Days", an enormous, standard-setting, 214 minute `making of' document that covers every element of the films existence in forensic detail. It's a fascinating journey : packed with interviews with everyone who was even slightly involved in the film (including characters cut from any released version), as well as stuffed to the gills with bonus material : whereas some documentaries will use clips from the film to demonstrate the finished product, this chooses (wisely) to show reams of alternate takes, deleted scenes, and unused footage across its length. This is the definitive `Making Of' by which all others must be judged. To anyone who has seen the film more than once, it is an absolutely essential piece of work.
DVD 3 contains the three previously released versions of the film. Including the 1982 International Cut (with a fraction more violence), and the 1991 Directors Cut (which in reality was a rushed studio hodge podge with no actual direct input from Ridley Scott). Each prefaced by an introduction from Ridley Scott, and exist largely for the sake of the completists.
DVD 4 meanwhile, wraps up the remaining material. There are 48 minutes of deleted scenes arranged to create a vignette/montage alternate version of the film - it would have been fascinating to see these alternate trims placed in the context of a entire `deleted scenes' version of the film. The deleted scenes themselves are generally unexceptional (and when viewed it is easy to see why they were not in the finished product) but are essential viewing to see All That Could Have Been. DVD 4 also features two hours of extra documentaries detailing the P K Dick novel, the adaptation process, how the film and novel differ, and a cornucopia of additional material that covers literally everything under the sun from the films influence on cinema, the ethos of poster art, to - in all probability - a documentary about the Kitchen Sinks used in the film.
DVD5 meanwhile, features a remastered copy of the first ever seen version of the film - a rough cut `Workprint' that previewed to a few hundred in 1982 - and this version is undoubtedly the Holy Grail of the Blade Runner world. Seeing this version, when compared to the original cinema release, is akin to seeing two completely different films in tone and style : the violence is harder, the narration and voiceover absent, the film no longer insults the viewer with Vlad The Explainer condescendingly commenting on the events of the film. This version of the film - clearly a work in progress - is as ever an intelligent, sensitive film that explores the basic questions of humanity. The disc is rounded off with a commentary by author (and renowned Blade Runner authority) Paul Sammon, and a final 30 minute look through the torturous evolution - and multiple versions - of the film to its Final Cut. It's a final fascinating glimpse into the process.
Given the sheer wealth of material (I estimate at least 26 hours of stuff spread over the five discs - the largest amount yet compiled for any one film that I know of), it seems almost churlish to gripe about what is missing : original plans were to include the Channel 4 documentary "The Edge Of Human", but the material in that is exhaustively covered elsewhere in this set so it would be almost redundant were it included. Overall, if you have the slightest interest in film or Science Fiction, this is an absolute no brainer Must-Buy and sets the standard as the High Watermark of DVD releases so far in the formats first decade.
Simply put, it's one of the most comprehensive and thus, definitive DVD packages to ever exist. At last Warners have given this great work of art the attention, care, and investment it deserves. Buy it.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The full story of the dystopian classic, 13 Dec 2007
Seldom has a film provoked as much debate or lead such a tumultuous existence as Ridley Scott's classic dystopian futuristic detective story Blade Runner. Boasting some impressive talent, Scott himself, Harrison Ford, the superb Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young etc.etc,the film was reviled by many upon release in 1982 but found a niche market as a cult classic soon after. A Director's Cut and now a Final Cut later and Blade Runner stands out as one of the best films of the 1980s and one of the best of the genre ever.
All of the previously available versions of the film are present in this package making it the ultimate must have box-set for anyone who likes the film. The real gems as is the case with many box-set editions comes from the extras disc. With no notable absentees other than those who have died since the film's release, cast, crew, execs and writers all offer a compelling insight into the film. What comes across strongly is the extent to which Ridley Scott was obsessed with detail and being in control of all the elements both visual and non-visual of the process and the film is certainlt better for it. The documentaries on disc two entitled Dangerous Days, the Making of Blade Runner help to confirm and disopense with a variety of rumours and myths which have surrounded the film such as the origin of the voiceover, the disputes Scott had with writers and studio execs and much discussed disagreements between the English Scott and his American crew over his working style.
From start to finish the film is a visual triumph and years ahead of its time (a fact that Scott picks up on the documentary disc when he acknowledges that being ahead of your time proved in this instance as problematic as being behind the times can be) and even those upon whom the story is lost or vague tend to recognise its impressive mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography. The special effects in contemporary Sci-Fi such as Star Wars, E.T, Close Encounters etc is deliberately fantastical and futuristic but in Blade Runner, the effects blend effortlessly into the dystopian landscape, you don't so much marvel at the technology as lament it as a symbol of the pursuit of progress at the expense of the environment and of our humanity.
This is an outstandingly good box set at fantastic value for money and Blade Runner is itself an outstanding film in all of its versions, there are times when the original edition with Ford's voice over must be revisitied, there are times when the first Director's Cut needs to be seen but it is the Final Cut which offers the definitive version, the version Scott intended us to marvel at and which upon seeing, you certainly do.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything a Blade Runner fan could need in one handy collection, 22 Jan 2008
By now, most viewers will be fairly familiar with Blade Runner (1982) in some capacity. For example, I'm sure anyone with a passing interest in film has already seen it, if not on video then most probably on late night television or the initial "director's cut" edition from 1991. This new "final cut" attempts to clean up some of the flaws and errors that director Ridley Scott was unable to fix at the time of that last particular revision; finally giving us the film as it was always meant to be seen in shimmering anamorphic widescreen; with a pristine image backed by a beautifully mixed soundtrack and all the embarrassing little schoolboy errors touched up with the magic of CGI.
The actual plotline remains almost identical to that of the aforementioned "director's cut"; with the voice over gone and the more open-ended climax present and correct. I thought Scott might have perhaps been a little more radical and mixed in a few of the alternative takes from the legendary work-print version, but no; this is his idea of what Blade Runner is, was, and always should be... and I'm sure most die-hard fans, and indeed, casual viewers, will find little here to complain about. At a first glance the plot seems fairly routine; a loose re-working of the Phillip K. Dick novella, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, in which a grizzled bounty hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) tracks down and terminates rogue androids (here known as replicants) who might pose a threat to the status quo of this dark and dank dystopian future world. Scott adds a sense of further cinematic depth to the story by juxtaposing the science-fiction elements of the plot with the conventions of film noir in a way that was very much revolutionary back in 1983, having only really been seen on a much smaller scale with the Jean Luc Godard film Alphaville (1964).
It is in part his depiction of the world of Blade Runner that gives the film much of its power and mystique, as Scott envisions a world of densely populated, multi-cultural, consumerist drones lost in a maze of looming skyscrapers, neon strip-lights, darkness and torrential rain; all of which is perfectly realised by his team of highly skilled production designers, art directors, set-decorators and craftsmen. The cinematography too was radical for the time in which the film was created, with Scott building on his background in TV commercials and the work that he had done on his first sci-fi masterpiece Alien (1979) to create a look that is continually dark, dank, distressed and decaying; finding beauty in the most bizarre places and capturing a sense of lonesome claustrophobia that became a staple of subsequent films, commercials and music videos for the next twenty-five years.
The film looks better than ever here, with the re-mastered picture and sound quality and the very subtle use of CGI to clear up things like out-of-sync dialog, support wires on the spinners and the obvious stunt-double for Joanna Cassidy's character Zhora; all helping to maintain the endless feeling of plausibility that the world of Blade Runner presents. Admittedly some fans have complained about Scott changing the glorious shot of the dove being released into the bright blue sky for a more suitable shot of cloudy dusk, but I suppose it does make more sense in maintaining the dark world in which the film unfolds. The only new addition that seemed slightly strange to me was in clearing up the original confusion as to how many replicants were actually missing. Much of the film's mystique revolves around the central question as to whether or not Deckard is, in fact, a replicant; a theory that initially came about due to a dubbing error during Deckard's briefing with Captain Bryant. Given that Scott has been one of the most vocal supporters of this theory, it seems odd to me that he would correct this line of dialog in such a way that destroys any real mystery surrounding the "Deckard as replicant" debate.
Whether or not you buy into the Deckard/replicant theory is secondary to the exotic atmosphere created by Scott and his production team, or the central narrative paradox presented by the replicant characters, in particular, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). The crux of Blade Runner deals very much with the idea of a synthetic human being more human than the humans themselves; with much of Blade Runner focusing on Batty and his gang of robots in arms trying to prolong their limited lifespan by any means necessary. Once again, Blade Runner is radical in the sense that it gives us a villain that is very much exciting, charismatic, and empathetic in their pursuit of life, and in direct comparison to our supposed hero Deckard, who seems bored, tired and completely lost against the sheer strength and intellectual menace of the iconic Batty.
This isn't a film that everyone will adore; without question it has its flaws like any other film, but regardless, remains a visually impressive and endlessly beguiling science-fiction, mystery noir (and more so than ever on this re-mastered, special edition DVD). Others have already explored the wider aspects of the package itself, pointing out how the five-disk box-set is very much for the die-hard obsessive's, while the two-disk set would appeal more to the casual fan who loves the film and wants the version closest to Ridley Scott's original vision. Without question, Blade Runner is a significant work of science-fiction cinema that manages to overcome any such flaws in character or narrative to take us on a trip into a world far beyond anything we've ever seen before.
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