Thursday, August 6, 2009

More Human Than Human...?

On TV this week, the director's cut of the 1982 classic Blade Runner, which was voted by enthusiasts as the top sci-fi film of all time. Of course I just had to watch, if only to see Sean Young looking gorgeously aloof! Now, if you don't know the film... Sean Young never looked so good!
...it's set in a rather unsavoury version of our future (2019), where man has created 'replicants' - human clones - to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans to stop them developing emotions and the desire to live.
In a very grotty-looking Los Angeles, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in 'terminating' replicants. He's brought back into operation when four replicants escape from a colony and return to Earth, seeking an extension to their limited lives.
This film questions what it is to be human, why life is so precious, and what happens when man's creation becomes superior to mankind. Times are tough when Harrison Ford is forced to eat noodles in a roadside cafe...Rutger Hauer and Darryl Hannah play replicants, while Sean Young is the exquisite Rachael, a special new-version replicant with no expiry date. She is so realistic that even the Blade Runner is unsure of her reality.
And indeed, what is Deckard's reality? For over 25 years, people have debated whether he's human or not...until finally director Ridley Scott has put the matter to rest...

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