Hearing Deckard stumbling in the other room, she looks out of the corner of her eye and shot after shot after shot through this entire sequence demonstrates absolute mastery over the frame. Later in that same scene, she sits at the piano, plays for a bit, and then lets her hair down. An emotional wreck of killing another replicant on top of the revelation that she, herself, is a replicant – she stands by a window where light floods in, so much light that the whole screen goes white, and then it recedes again and we see the characters again. My favorite scene comes when Rachel has saved Deckard's life.

I like the movie in its action scenes, but I simply adore it during the quieter moments – the parts where not a whole hell of a lot is happening, and you can simply watch and absorb Jordan Cronenweth's marvelous cinematography. Everything that happens, in some queer way, feels natural to this strange futuristic world. Pris's acrobatic means of attacking Deckard? When Roy Batty chases Deckard in his shorts (when a few moments before he was fully clothed?) The film goes over-the-top to the point where I find myself asking, 'why in the world would the characters do that?!' But here's what's interesting: as silly as Blade Runner may get it never betrays its own world. Particularly in its more climactic moments where the protagonist faces off against a replicant. In some ways, many ways, Blade Runner strikes me as silly.

Blade Runner is easily one of the best looking films ever made. In fact, when I got to the Final Cut, which had been cleaned up, restored, and remixed, the picture and sound quite literally took my breath away. And across those eight hours I spent with the film, I did not get tired of watching – just watching – that futuristic film-noir vibe: deep dark shadows and majestic use of light and color used to make a run-down polluted cityscape look so beautiful. Watched all four versions pretty much back to back (minus the work print version) starting with the US theatrical and finishing with the Final Cut. I spent a weekend with the new DVD set of Blade Runner.

1998 4 runner cat