Science fiction films are all too common nowadays. They provide fascinating worlds for us to savour and watch on the screen, worlds that are not possible to witness in the real world. Perhaps, science fiction can be thought of as an escapist genre. Anything is possible in the realm of science fiction. A wide variety of movies have been made in this genre but no other film has been as influential as Blade Runner. It can be thought of as the genesis of the aesthetics of modern science fiction. Bright neon lights, a rainy atmosphere, dark alleyways, and robots. These visuals are common in sci-fi films today but were not as widely used before Blade runner. Blade runner had a lasting impact on the way filmmakers started to approach their art.
Blade Runner is a 1982 film by Ridley Scott. It stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard who is the central character of the film. The film is based upon the work of science fiction author Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”. Rick Deckard is tasked with hunting down rogue human-like androids known as replicas. The story is very complex thematically and has a lot to say about human nature and artificial intelligence. The film doesn’t contain a lot of action and is rather slow-paced to let the audience breather and revel in the dreamy atmosphere.
This movie also contains one of the most popular monologues in cinema history. The ending of the movie has an android recount experiences of his short existence in a monologue titled “tears in rain”. It is one of the most moving death soliloquies in a film and hones in the final message of the movie – whether artificial intelligent creatures are capable of expressing human emotions? The unique visuals combined with a deep, philosophical story resulted in Blade Runner being hailed as a sci-fi classic and a must-watch for movie buffs.