In the midst of a dark, industrial wasteland where pluming flames and smog ascend to the heavens high above, where skyscrapers tower over the ethnically-diverse, overpopulated masses…it can only be one place: Los Angeles. Though that definition could account for L.A. in the present day, it is actually describing the Los Angeles of 12 years into the future. That is, if director Ridley Scott has his way.
Blade Runner, a science-fiction/film-noir masterpiece released in 1982, has finally arrived in a home video edition worth owning (one released on DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). Previous DVD releases were devoid of anything remotely resembling special features, or even decent video transfers for that matter…blasphemy! That being said, this set has been in the works since the year 2000. Why did it take so long to be released, you may ask? Well, to make a long story short, the film went overbudget during its production, one of a number of problems that plagued the movie. When that happened, a pair of corporate stuffed shirts by the names of Bud Yorkin and Jerry Perenchio technically took possession of the film rights. When they originally heard that Ridley Scott wanted to go back and release his final cut of the movie, their motives for corporate greed and petty revenge took over, tying up the matter in court for 5 years. However, the unwashed, sunlight-deprived masses of BR fans (of which I am proud to count myself) delighted when it was announced last year that the new version would come out after all, after Ridley and company reached a settlement with said corporate fatcats.
Now to the actual DVD set itself. Seeing as I am somewhat poor and don’t own one of the next-generation formats, I went with the regular DVD edition, of which I had three choices to pick from. The movie was released in 2, 4 and 5-disc editions, and for me it was an easy choice to go with the ultimate 5-disc version (which several of my fellow mutant BR brethren also did at Best Buy this morning). This version comes in a limited-edition numbered briefcase and with all kinds of supplemental goodies that mean nothing to 99% of the world, but make my day indeed. These include replicas of the movie’s police vehicle and origami unicorn, which have no significance whatsoever to those who haven’t seen the film yet…so watch it!
Disc 1 contains Ridley Scott’s new version of the film, which has cleaned-up visuals and sound, and some slight digital fixes that corrected continuity errors in the original versions. Now before the cineastes have diabetes-induced heart attacks, the changes are merely cosmetic and nothing on the order of George Lucas’s desecration to the Star Wars Trilogy. Disc 2 displays a 3 1/2 hour documentary on the film entitled “Dangerous Days”, detailing every aspect of the film’s making. Those of you with wives or girlfriends probably want to hold off watching this, lest you spend the next month sleeping on the couch. Disc 3 holds a trio of previously-released versions of the film from 1982-1992 for archival purposes, while Disc 4 has more behind-the-scenes material, including 45 minutes of deleted scenes alone. The final disc contains a rare, pre-release “workprint” of the movie which has only been shown to the public less than 10 times or so…and when this feature was announced, the BR mutants had one giant orgasm – to which I proudly contributed the fruit of my loins.
Bottom-line, for the faithful fans and geeks of the movie (likely some of the people reading this), this is an easy choice. This movie has influenced geek and science-fiction culture for the last 25 years, I daresay that one wouldn’t even be worthy of calling themselves a “geek” if they haven’t experienced the dystopian goodness of “Blade Runner”. For new fans and old, this is the release that enthusiasts have been salivating over for years. I proudly give this release 9.7 Voight-Kampff tests out of 10, replicants of the world rejoice!
