Adam Savage of MythBusters fame (surely the most enjoyable geek-oriented factual programme on the box) has written an appreciation of one of the most visually stunning and influential SF films of all time on its 25th anniversary: Blade Runner. Ridley Scott’s film (adapted from the great – not to mention paranoid and drugged out – Philip K Dick) wasn’t a commercial success when first released but, like Citizen Kane, has gone on through the years to build a cult following and become acclaimed by critics and cited by endless artists as an influence because of the innovative visuals. The opening shot of LA in 2019 at night, flames shooting into the sky from industrial buildings as hover cars scoot past high rise blocks with giant video screens on the wall, all set to music by Vangelis, has to be one of the finest visual scenes in film in my book. Alongside the ravishing visuals is a very Phil K Dick study in the nature of humanity, individuality and reality – what makes someone a person? How real are your memories? What boundaries are there between reality and dreams? No wonder I count it in my personal top ten movies and, like Adam, find I need to re-watch the movie regularly (and I’m not just saying that because I look a bit like Adam, especially with the hat).
A veteran effects man, Adam also makes the case in Practical Mechanics for how well the visual effects have held up over the intervening quarter of a century, still looking superb even against modern digital effects: “I worked on Star Wars Episodes I and II, on the Matrix films, on AI and Terminator 3; yet 25 years later there are ways in which Blade Runner surpasses anything that’s been done since.” He’s right, you know, it ranks right up there alongside Metropolis.
Gollancz is printing a new, updated edition of Paul M Sammon’s excellent Future Noir: the Making of Bladerunner this autumn to mark the silver anniversary, pretty much the best book written on this film (it also has a new, exclusive interview with Ridley Scott, the final Philip K Dick interview and will cover the release of Blade Runner: the Final Cut which is due to be released around the same time). And in a bit of movie-comics trivia, did you know that Ridley Scott credits the graphic novel The Long Tomorrow by Moebius and written by Dan O’Bannon – who would go on to write Alien – as one of his references for Blade Runner? (link via Boing Boing)
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