Time has caught up with the Blade Runner future, and its strangely specific “November, 2019” setting.
Why “November, 2019”?
Was it because – like “the 21st day of September” – it just sounded good?
We don’t know. But we do know that this strange, beautiful, flawed classic has earned its place in the pantheon of cinema. That the ‘Final Cut’ version is the best version. That the film, in any version, still looks amazing. That Deckard isn’t a replicant, that’s just the director talking. That Blade Runner influenced everything. That Rutger Hauer stole the show – but the film’s world-building was the real star.
And that the Vangelis soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks of all time.
https://giphy.com/gifs/michael-jackson-comments-popcorn-pUeXcg80cO8I8
Love the movie and the soundtrack!
Its rather strange that some one chose 2019 because i think it was obvious back then that things would not develop that fast. Maybe it has some special meaning to one of the creators of the story or film.
It’s an adaptation from a K. Dick novel written in 68. That makes the story happening 50 years in the future of its conception. Not an unrealistic time frame I suppose, especially from that time.
In the original drafts of the script Deckard is a replicant. All the way up to the version before last. The original ending was amazing. I think. Nobody else agrees. Deckard drives Rachel out into the woods and shoots her in the head. Then says he doesn’t know how long he has, replicants can’t self terminate so he’ll just wait it out.
The script is available online.
Probably folks know this stuff already, but…. the book(1968) was originally set in 1992. Philip K Dick was involved in the movie though he didn’t live to see it’s release, so maybe it was still his idea to push that metaphorical Delorian just a little harder.
https://soundcloud.com/dirtrobot/blader-maintitles-redux
Here’s my remake of the main titles I did a loooong time ago.
We are now living in the future !!
Deckard could not have been a replicant. He sucked.
Totally correct. If Deckard was a replicant designed to be the most formidable blade runner, then why was he getting his ass kicked by the female replicants he was hunting? What was his termination date? He didn’t have one. He’s still alive in 2049. Tyrell told Deckard that Rachel was special – no termination date. The original ending is perfect because of the symbolism. Deckard’s life in LA was depressing; it was rainy, polluted, and society was dystopian. Rachel represented an escape from that into a sunny and beautiful world.
Phillip K Dick’s stories were about living with doubt and paranoia. It seems appropriate that based on the movie there’s not a definitive answer to Deckard’s origin. However, if you read the book…
If you read the book, the whole place was a dying desert that was sort of best represented by the latter part of Bladerunner 2049. In most ways, the book and the movie are completely unalike, another one of those cases of “based on a story by…” Dick loved the movie and accepted the director’s vision, but it was not what was, at least, in my head when I read the novel. The music is also great and has become iconic, but it romanticized a story that should not have been romanticized, that should have been revealed as brutal and existentially meaningless.
maybe if we hadn’t focused on mobile phone tech, smart weapons, and the internet we would have off-world colonies settled by replicant slave labor.
The movie is still a classic. The soundtrack is dated and cheesy in parts.
wish there was a stronger theme big synth riff in Blade Runner 2049. Nothing at the start credits but SFX…nothing 1/3 of the way thru except more drones and SFX. Then only 1/2 way along do we finally get a very unmemorable kinda theme that sounds like a bunch of notes thrown into a Theme Generator…kinda random.
I always felt the first 15 seconds of Rita Oras song “For Ya” would have been a wayyy stronger theme riff for Blade Runner 2049…it sounds just made for it…and every time i hear it i am just thinking what the hell!!! oh well clearly it was not meant to be. Check out the first 15 seconds…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtT3qs96yb0
at least we have Vangelis and the original. Genius.