Blade Runner

Plot

In the Los Angeles of the future, the Tyrrel Corporation has created the androids of tomorrow, similar to humans, but greatly enhanced in the cognitive and physical realms. But such beautiful beings were created as slaves for perilous operations in off-Earth colonies and for less than noble purposes such as the beautiful female androids used for male pleasure. So to avoid surprises, such perfect beings are limited their lifespan to just four years. When in an extraterrestrial station the replicants mutiny are declared illegal on Earth: four of them, however, manage to escape from the extraterrestrial colony and arrive on our planet. On Earth, Rick Deckard's hunt for the fleeing androids begins ...

An unparalleled masterpiece, Blade Runner manages to mix and blend different genres perfectly: it is an action film, a noir, a science fiction film, a film full of philosophical references and references. Few phrases have entered the myth of cinema like those present in this Ridley Scott film.

Direction

Filming for Blade Runner began on March 9, 1981 and lasted four months. It took place in the studios of Burbank, where the streets of a futuristic Los Angeles were recreated. Further locations came used the Bradbury Building, for J. F. Sebastian's apartment, and Union Station in Los Angeles, transformed into the interior of the police building.

During filming Scott had numerous clutches with Harrison Ford. The actor complained of a lack attention and guidance on how to characterize his character, while Scott thought that Ford was professionally trained enough not to need suggestions and preferred to devote himself to actresses Sean Young and Daryl Hannah, in their first major role. The environmental conditions of the filming, often at night and in artificial rain, did not help to lift Ford's mood, which keeps a bad memory of the making of the film.

Scott's perfectionism also caused him problems with production, worried about the delay accumulated from the film. Filming ended in a hurry, because those responsible had fixed a deadline, beyond which they would withdraw their funds. The last day of shooting took place then under great pressure.

Against a budget estimated at around $ 28 million, Blade Runner made a total of home to about 27.5 million. Later, the release of the Director's Cut version which grossed about 3.75 million, followed by the 2007 Final Cut which generated 1.5 million in revenue, brought the film's total gross to United States to the figure of approximately 32,800 million dollars. Despite the disappointing outcome in North America, the international audiences welcomed the film positively, with frequent re-screenings in cinemas around the world world that made it a cult film.

Review

Loosely based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Blade Runner is a dystopian feature film directed by Ridley Scott set in a futuristic 2019 in Los Angeles.

The work has greatly influenced masterpieces of the same Cyberpunk vein as Akira (1988) by Katsuhiro Ōtomo and Ghost in the Shell (1995) by Mamoru Oshii. In turn Blade Runner was inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927), from which he takes up the themes and futuristic settings.

From the very beginning sequences in long and very long shots of the megalopolis, Ridley Scott manages to immerse us in a futuristic Los Angeles, perpetually nocturnal and rainy, lit only by Neon signs and the headlights of futuristic cars flying over the city. Glacial photography manages to bring out the cool colors, which go perfectly with the nocturnal and rainy ambiance.

The film talks about the man-machine relationship, technological progress and the concept of "life". The Nexus 6, the latest generation replicants, are able to think independently and to try emotions. Quoting Descartes: "cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am). Precisely for this reason replicants should be protected like any other human being. Being able to think and feel emotions, they cannot be used as mere people slaves. Where is the line between humans and replicants?

The film offers an excellent framework for a possible future, but several details show similarities with the contemporaneity: how close is man now to machines? How much car is a man? And how much can man be a machine?

Elements

i = 0;

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    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';