You Get to Recut Blade Runner Yourself, What Do You Use?

[HotTastyChili]

Suppose you befriend Ridley Scott and he allows you to create your own cut of the original Blade Runner from scratch. Why not? What's one more version? What would you include, what would you change, what would you visually tamper with? Spoilers ahead, obviously.

This is all my opinion. I know that most people tend to gravitate towards The Final Cut, but that one leaves me unsatisfied. Big publications that push the The Final Cut tend to parrot ad nauseam that it "represents director Ridley Scott's true vision". I don't really care, because I don't agree with Scott's vision. First off, any vision that would allow for that awful green color grading is suspect in my eyes. It subdues the awe inspiring city and groundbreaking effects. Secondly, I don't agree with how explicitly he argues that Deckard is a replicant with the unicorn dream. I think simply posing the question on Deckard's humanity is actually brilliant, it adds another layer of confusion to a film already rife with tension.

However, since the Director's Cut, Scott has seemed hell bent on shattering the ambiguity, which I certainly disagree with. I don't think Deckard being a replicant makes much thematic sense, but the implication itself is harmless to the movie's theme while simultaneously upping the emotional stakes. Of course, it's only harmless so long as that implication isn't turned into something more, which is exactly what happened with the addition of the unicorn dream. I think it's hinted at enough when Rachel asks him if he's ever taken the Voight-Kampff test himself.

Speaking of ambiguity, I would certainly leave out the narration. It's poorly written, poorly performed, and poorly implemented. Occasionally it does offer some nice clarity and background information, but the way it's done is so corny that every time it's used it just rips me out of the film and shatters the atmosphere and that underlying tension.

Here are some of the minor aspects. I would leave out Batty apologizing to Sebastian as seen in The Final Cut after Batty kills Tyrell. It's not that I dislike the apology (I know it's Batty sympathizing with Sebastian because they're both living on borrowed time), I just believe that Roy's soliloquy at the end of the film is more powerful when he's on screen prior to that as little as possible. It makes him more of an enigma. I subscribe to less is more with Batty given that Hauer's performance is so powerful. Don't overuse him. The apology also implies remorse, which is out of character for him up to that point. When he doesn't apologize, it makes the ending where he saves Deckard much more surprising and impactful.

I would also use "I want more life f***er" instead of "father". I have no good reason to justify that, other than I'm more used to hearing it as the swear word and "father" just sounds misplaced now.

So if I had to put my ideal version in the context of the existing versions to give you a better idea of my "true vision" of Blade Runner, I'd do it like this. Besides the atrocious green color grading and the unicorn dream, I like The Final Cut. It cleans up the visuals by getting rid of the wires on the cars and patches up the obvious stunt double for Joanna Cassidy. It also includes the violence from the International Theatrical Cut. The sound is also markedly improved. So if it were color graded like the previous cuts, I'd use The Final Cut sans the unicorn dream, sans Batty's apology to Sebastian, and "f***er" instead of "father".