Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #836 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-12-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Box set, Collector's Edition, PAL
• Original language: English, Spanish, German
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 114 minutes

Synopsis
It is 2019 and genetically made beings known as replicants exist as slaves and prostitutes in the off-planet colonies. Despite possessing such human traits as intelligence and virtual emotion, they are limited by a four-year life span which forces them to question their mortality. Four escaped replicants, led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer, THE HITCHER), arrive in Los Angeles to confront their designer, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel). Hot on their trail is world-weary assassin--or 'blade runner'--Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford, INDIANA JONES), who has come out of retirement especially for this case. His objective is to hunt down and liquidate the four renegade androids before they have a chance to exact revenge on their cruel human oppressors. In the course of his search, Deckard becomes romantically entangled with Tyrell's lovely assistant Rachael (Sean Young)--who may not be all that she seems--and a dramatic face-off with Batty is inevitable. Director Ridley Scott's hauntingly prescient vision of the not-too-distant future is a stark revelation: a dark, polluted, overcrowded dystopia dominated by cloud-piercing buildings and looming neon billboards, the air dense with acid rain and flying traffic. Based on the novel DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip K Dick, BLADE RUNNER boasts astonishingly rich art direction, juxtaposing ingenious technological gadgetry with yellowing photographs and fetishist objets d'art as it touches on questions of time, memory, identity, and mortality.

Customer Reviews

Blade Runner - No 5 - All Time List 2008
I'll quickly start by mentioning cuts of the movie - I've watched the Director's Cut and the Final Cut - literally with one or two exceptions (Tyrell eye scene anyone) they are blink and you'll miss them changes. Only fan boys would spot the difference - or someone with better eyes than myself! I'm yet to watch the voiceover cut or work print which I am hoping will add a little something to the experience - even if the directors / final cut is supposedly the better version of the movie.

Now the movie itself, because lets face it, who would care about numerous cuts / releases etc of a film if it was rubbish - thankfully Blade Runner is not. It's anything but, you can read a synopsis yourself and I'm not repeating myself but effectively Harrison Ford is a Blade Runner who is reluctantly ordered to hunt down and kill four replicants who are illegally on earth. Now that might sound like Sci-Fi rubbish, but it's easy enough to pick up when the film starts and without ruining the film in anyway you don't want to know too much more.

Blade runner offers a bleak view of the future, but it's a mysterious journey set completely within a film-noir world on dark alleyways, dodgy characters and rain. The film is magnificent; I challenge anyone to say they got bored watching it, because there is not a dull moment. Without doing a thesis on is Ford/ Deckard a replicants and really giving the advice not to even worry about it, just know that with Blade Runner you are guaranteed an edgy, atmospheric, action pack movie which touches some great themes and one that you won't want to look away from and when it finished you'll be looking on the internet about the film, then watching the next version of the movie.
The fuss is justified.

I purchased the five Blu-Ray Briefcase DVD box set from America - and whilst I am happy to get all five DVD's Blu-Ray the box set isn't worth the extra money in my eyes - a really cheap and nasty toy car and unicorn and some sheets you'll never look at - whilst the briefcase is cool - it's too bulky to fit anywhere in a normal persons DVD collection. On a plus side the Blu-Rays are of awesome quality - you can't believe this film is over 25 year old when you watch the clarity of the picture and listen to the quality of the sound. I'd advise someone to get the 5 Blu-Ray non box set version from the US. The amount of extras is second to none and if only film studios could give us a Blade Runner style set for some other classic that deserve the treatment.

The reality dysfunction we can remember for you
I've just watched the new edition of Blade Runner and feel like saying a few words on the film. Why review a 25 year old film? For the same reason it's been reissued. It's a pretty important film.

What I have to say fits under three headings.

1. Plot
You know the story. Dangerous criminals are on the streets of LA and only one man can stop them. Several chase scenes and a few fights later, he does, rescuing a beautiful girl in the process. It's a basic thriller plot, used in hundreds of films for a very good reason. It works. It's got very little to do with the Philip K Dick book the script is ostensibly based on. The only thing worth saying about this aspect of the film is that it's very well done and makes for great entertainment. Think 'Total Recall'. Remember it's the plot I'm talking about here. Score 8/10.

2. The Setting
Everything to do with the look of the film: sets, costumes, artifacts, design, lighting and camera are incredibly well done and make this film one of the most influential ever made. Not necessarily original, but influential nevertheless. Here we get a taste of the world Dick made, where technology has developed fangs and claws and makes life difficult for the people it's supposed to help. It's a believable future and we're half fascinated, half repelled by its depiction. The detail is astonishing and the production interacts very effectively. This is why we remember the film. It's Armageddon with a cobra stare we can't turn away from. Score 10/10.

3. The Themes
The film is loosely based on the Philip K Dick book 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'. Dick is a major novelist with a lot of very important things to tell us if only we could forget he was a science fiction writer and listen. Dick's world is consistently one in which machines have demonstrated they have no humanity even should they be simulacra. The book is full of astonishing concepts that the film has ditched to make room for the chase scenes and perhaps that's unavoidable. But considerable play is made in the film on the nature of the android/replicant characters. Much ink has been spilt determining who is or is not an android/replicant among the major characters. Ridley Scott has emphasised Deckard's replicant nature when he remade the film (Director's Cut). But the physical nature of these characters is relatively unimportant. Dick's theme, carried over to the film, is: what is human? In a world where a replicant can only be discovered by means of an intricate psychological test, and real humans are behaving more and more like machines, the meaning and value of 'human' becomes important to define. Humans are not automatically humane, just as replicants are not automatically automata. The film emphasises this by showing the only characters who act with humanity to be replicants. It's not profound but it's moving. Score 9/10 (loses a point for leaving out so much of the book).

The Edition
The choice is a 5 disc, 4 disc, Final Cut or Director's cut edition. If you're a fan you've already got the 5 disc edition. If you're studying film you'll buy the 5 disc edition for the workprint and the rare chance to see how the film was shaped and adapted through the production process. In my view the Final Cut, though beautiful to look at, was not worth the effort. My choice was the 4 disc edition, which contains all the fabulous extras and my preferred edition, the original theatrical release, which stays a tad closer to Dick's vision than the Director's Cut. And it's the best value for money as well.

There's so much more to say but I'll just go and watch the film again.

Awesome Film. Awesome DVD.
Think you know everything there is to know about 'Blade Runner'?. Think again. This five(!) disc set is without hyperbole, the best DVD i've ever seen, and covers every possible aspect of making a sci-fi masterpiece. Hour after hour of documentaries, commentaries, deleted scenes, interviews, you name it.

There's little, if anything, left to be said about the film itself. Ex-blade runner Deckard (Harrison Ford) is charged with finding and 'retiring' four trespassing replicants who've ventured onto Earth. Replicants being illegal, he finds that hunter and hunted aren't so very different and starts to question not only his targets motivation, but also his own. With special effects that still amaze, and a vision of future that is rapidly becoming science fact, 'Blade Runner' is sci-fi at its bleakest and best.

So what of you readers who already own a copy? Surely there's no point in shelling out for another version? Well how about this. This collectors edition has not only 1 version. Or even 2. No, there are 5 different versions of the film! The original theatrical versions with voice-over and happy ending (Doh!), The directors cut, original screen test version and the brand new final version which includes all new scenes. The latter is Ridley Scott's favourite version and should finally put to rest the 'which one's best debate'.

And with all the extra material, plus input from everyone, this is the only edition of 'Blade Runner' that matters. This is sheer gold, and just look at the price.

So buy now, thank me later.