What makes a human human? Could an artificially created human have a soul? Is it possible you were never a child, yet could have perfect memories of your childhood?

The movie Blade Runner asks these questions, and leaves the answers to the audience.

Directed by Ridley Scott, this 1982 movie was based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by late science fiction author Philip K. Dick.

Like most book to movie conversions, much has been changed. Blade Runner, however, does its source material justice.

Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a “blade runner” living in Los Angeles in the year 2019.

Blade runners are responsible for hunting runaway “replicants”, artificially enhanced humans with four-year life spans.

Deckard is called back from retirement when six replicants, led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) escape from their colony, and land on Earth.

The movie is dark and foreboding. The synthesizer soundtrack might have sounded dated in any other movie. However, in Blade Runner, it helps add to the murky atmosphere.

The special effects, while dated by today’s standards, also help set the mood.

The acting is good, too. Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer make you sympathize with their characters.

Neither character is a clear-cut “good guy” or “bad guy”. While Deckard is only doing his job, you can feel the guilt he feels for killing replicants. While Batty kills several people, he does so out of sheer desperation.

The movie also has a lot of great scenes. One of the best is towards the beginning, when Deckard is shown a tape of one of the replicants being tested by another blade runner.

This scene (the “tortoise” scene) starts off slowly, but literally ends with a bang.

However, the movie isn’t for everyone. The dark atmosphere and stylized direction may not be for everyone, and some people may feel that the movie moves too slowly.

In fact, I thought it moved a little slow the first time I saw it. But, once you’ve seen it, you start to pick up on things you didn’t the first time. (For example, how did the detective, Gaff, know about Deckard’s vision of a unicorn?).

There are also a few inconsistencies in the movie, such as how many replicants escaped, versus how many Deckard actually hunts. Still, these don’t detract from the movie.

Note that there are several versions of this movie. I’ve reviewed the director’s cut, which lacks narration, has a few extra scenes (such as the vision of the unicorn), and has a different ending.

I haven’t seen the original, but I’ve read in several sources that it had a “happy ending”. The ending of the director’s cut isn’t “happy”, but it is hopeful.

Blade Runner, while not for everyone, is nevertheless a great movie.

I recommend it for anyone looking for something very different from the average actionmovie.