How BR has aged

After sitting here and watching BR for the umpteenth time (but the first time in a long time), I've noticed that the movie has aged very well. Most movies of the same era which make heavy use of special effects now seem dated, cheaply-made, and, dare I say, cheesy. Even taking into consideration the little flaws here and there (cables used to levitate spinners, for instance), the special effects, the plot, characterisations, etc., all continue to seem fresh and new. Not many movies that I've seen can make this claim.

id say blade runner hasn't aged at all besides the points you made but those were unavoidable but Scott did a wonderful job of not using what was then pop culture instead he used retro styling i.e. 40's i think he did this because he was making a detective story set in the future a wonderful idea i wish it was used more often im a big fan of the noir type movie and now you dont see that which is sad <BR><BR>Directors used to be artists now they're puppets of the industry forced to make something that will make money not mean something Scott did that when he made Blade Runner he made a movie that meant something how human are you what separates you from a computer and if you've read Future Noir you'll know that the producers fired him he had a vision and he was relentless in it i wish more directors were like him so in my mind Blade Runner hasn't aged is because it was made by a man who knew what he wanted and he knew how to make it happen <BR><BR>and that message scott made still has relevance which is another reason the film has aged the way it did now more than ever does it have relevance what with human cloning a very real possibility/reality what will separate us what makes us human thats what the movie was about so theres my two bits
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Well, at least it doesn't look so synthetic like new Star Wars.
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Blade Runner is like a fine bottle wine: It gets better with age.<BR><BR><BR>

I was just thinking this the other day..<!-- BBCode Start --><B>Blade Runner</B><!-- BBCode End --> is for me the pinnacle of pre-CGI FX..it hasn't aged a bit it how it looks and sounds. Vangelis' score and the set design is extraordinary, a true one off. Most futuristic films have scenes that either copy it (<!-- BBCode Start --><B>A.I</B><!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Attack of the Clones</B><!-- BBCode End -->) or tried to go the opposite direction (<!-- BBCode Start --><B>The Fifth Element</B><!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Back to the Future 2</B><!-- BBCode End -->)..and none will hold up as well in 20 years time at all. Even in 2019 <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Blade Runner</B><!-- BBCode End --> will regarded as a timeless classic.
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When BR is viewed as a 'pure Science Fiction film' I think it has stood the test of time. Empathy, Dick's theme in the novel and Scott's in the movie, will hopefully never go out of date (and if it does God help us). I have always been (and will remain) an admirer of 2001:A Space Odyssey even when it is quite clear now that neither Kubrick or Clarke were wardrobe geniuses (Hardy Amis?) but that is not the point. <BR>2001 is a totally valid film regarding the possibility of Mankind's discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, regardless of style. It was, is and will always be the benchmark by which later films are judged (to me at least).<BR>Blade Runner holds a similar position in my mind because, even when 2019 has come and gone bringing whatever reality with it, it was the first SF movie to deal seriously and in a popular medium with questions that are arising as we speak.<BR>Fair play to such works as Metropolis and R.U.R., but I have never thought that they were approaching the same theme. You might disagree with that view of course! <BR><BR><font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jch on 2003-02-12 18:18 ]</font>

<!-- BBCode Quote Start --><TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE><BR>On 2003-02-12 18:16, jch wrote:<BR>R.U.R<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE><!-- BBCode Quote End --><BR><BR>Now that you mention it... I!d like to put down my imaginary hat in front of the legendary Czech writer Karel ?apek.<BR><BR>He's actually the man who invited the term <BR>"ROBOT" sometimes around 20th century's 20s. He has developed it from the word<BR>"robota", which is an older term (but still in use) for "work", in Czech and Slovak language. <BR><BR>So according to ?apek's intention, a "robot" was a arteficial humanoid, designed to do the hard manual work for humans.<BR>
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Blade Runner has aged extremely well and will always look like the classy movie that it is.<BR><BR>In comparison, a movie like Total Recall from 1990(a full 8 years later), has aged HORRIBLY. It really has(sorry Robocop, not trying to trash Paul Verhoeven).<BR><BR>Blade Runner will definitely stand the test of time.

I also think Alien by Sir Ridley has aged much better than Aliens...which gets better reviews.

Regarding <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Alien</B><!-- BBCode End --> I would agree that it has aged better than <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Aliens</B><!-- BBCode End -->, and <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Blade Runner</B><!-- BBCode End --> looks 10 times better than <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Total Recall</B><!-- BBCode End -->..in fact very few movies set in the future age well..though <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Robocop</B><!-- BBCode End --> has still managed to maintain its atmosphere, even though it was shot for a lot less than <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Blade Runner</B><!-- BBCode End -->..so deserving of my second favourite sci-fi movie slot..
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<!-- BBCode Quote Start --><TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Now that you mention it... I!d like to put down my imaginary hat in front of the legendary Czech writer Karel ?apek.<BR><BR>He's actually the man who invited the term <BR>"ROBOT" sometimes around 20th century's 20s. He has developed it from the word<BR>"robota", which is an older term (but still in use) for "work", in Czech and Slovak language. <BR><BR>So according to ?apek's intention, a "robot" was a arteficial humanoid, designed to do the hard manual work for humans.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE><!-- BBCode Quote End --><BR><BR>Actually, it was Karel's brother Josef who really invented the word as he suggested to Karel what to call these created workers. It was then a matter of certain circumstances that the play became rapidly popular across Europe, but even more, that the word "robot" was latched onto as a replacement for the word "automaton". But in the play, the created workers are biological, not mechanical. In many ways, where Blade Runner differs from DADoES, it is in these areas that it has direct comparison to R.U.R.<BR><BR>Incidentally, there is a new animated film which looks excellent - start with the trailer at <!-- BBCode u2 Start --><A HREF="http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/dc_studio/robota/" TARGET="_blank">Apple</A><!-- BBCode u2 End -->.
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I definitely agree that Alien has aged much better than it's sequal, Aliens.<BR><BR>I have always liked Aliens a lot, and thought it was one of the darkest, most intense action films. But I recently watched the expanded version on DVD, and started noticing a lot of the James Cameron tastelessness in it(mostly because of his bad writing). The man has great concepts for movies, but cannot write. BTW, I thought the extra scenes really did detract from the movie(it was better first seeing the living quarters totally abandoned).<BR><BR>I know this is early to say, but I think people will be looking back at the Matrix in 15 years and say "what was that pretentious cheese?".

I know this is early to say, but I think people will be looking back at the Matrix in 15 years and say "what was that pretentious cheese?".

Not me - I thought The Matrix was the best Sci-Fi movie released for a long time and certainly the best movie that I had seen that year. I sometimes wonder if people actually understood the concepts explored in the movie.

I'm looking forward to the next two installments..

Actually, yes. Matrix is the best SF movie of the year 1999.<BR><BR>An excellent example of how the film science fiction is downgrading into fashion shows and popmusic videoclipes.<BR><BR><IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif">
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Yeah, it did have a lot of 'pop' stuff in it and a lot of people probably appreciated it at that level only.

But it did have a lot more depth to it than that, IMHO