Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #570 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-12-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
To call this cut of Blade Runner ‘long awaited’ would be a heavy, heavy understatement. It’s taken 25 years since the first release of one of the science-fiction genre’s flagship films to get this far, and understandably, Blade Runner: The Final Cut has proved to be one of the most eagerly awaited DVD releases of all time.

And it’s been well worth the wait. Director Ridley Scott’s decision to head back to the edit suite and cut together one last version of his flat-out classic film has been heavily rewarded, with a genuinely definitive version of an iconic, visually stunning and downright intelligent piece of cinema. Make no mistake: this is by distance the best version of Blade Runner. And it’s never looked better, either.

The core of Blade Runner, of course, remains the same, with Harrison Ford’s Deckard (the Blade Runner of the title) on the trail of four ‘replicants’, cloned humans that are now illegal. And he does so across an amazing cityscape that’s proven to be well ahead of its time, with astounding visuals that defied the supposed limits of special effects back in 1982.

Backed up with a staggering extra features package that varies depending on which version of this Blade Runner release you opt for (two-, four- and five-disc versions are available), the highlight nonetheless remains the stunning film itself. Remastered and restored, it remains a testament to a number of creative people whose thinking was simply a country mile in advance of that of their contemporaries. An unmissable purchase. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
In celebration of Blade Runner's 25th anniversary, director Ridley Scott has gone back into post production to create the long-awaited definitive new version. Blade Runner: The Final Cut is spectacularly restored and remastered from original elements and scanned at 4K resolution. It contains never-before-seen added/extended scenes, added lines, new and improved special effects, director and filmmaker commentary, an all-new 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track and more. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, Joanna Cassidy, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah are among some 80 stars, filmmakers and others who participate in the extensive bonus features. Among the bonus material highlights is "Dangerous Days," a brand new, three-and-a-half-hour documentary by award-winning DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika, with an extensive look into every aspect of the film: its literary genesis, its challenging production and its controversial legacy. The definitive documentary to accompany the definitive film version. As Scott himself puts it, "The Final Cut is the product of a process that began in early 2000 and continued off and on through seven years of intense research and meticulous restoration, technical challenges, amazing discoveries and new possibilities. I can now wholeheartedly say that Blade Runner: The Final Cut is my definitive director's cut of the film."

Other versions released:
Blade Runner: The Final Cut (5-Disc Ultimate Collectors' Edition)
Blade Runner: The Final Cut [Blu-ray]
Blade Runner: The Final Cut [HD DVD]

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

Probably the only version of Blade Runner you'll ever need to see
By now, most viewers will be fairly familiar with Blade Runner (1982) in some capacity. For example, I'm sure anyone with a passing interest in film has already seen it, if not on video then most probably on late night television or the initial "director's cut" edition from 1991. This new "final cut" attempts to clean up some of the flaws and errors that director Ridley Scott was unable to fix at the time of that last particular revision; finally giving us the film as it was always meant to be seen in shimmering anamorphic widescreen; with a pristine image backed by a beautifully mixed soundtrack and all the embarrassing little schoolboy errors touched up with the magic of CGI.

The actual plotline remains almost identical to that of the aforementioned "director's cut"; with the voice over gone and the more open-ended climax present and correct. I thought Scott might have perhaps been a little more radical and mixed in a few of the alternative takes from the legendary work-print version, but no; this is his idea of what Blade Runner is, was, and always should be... and I'm sure most die-hard fans, and indeed, casual viewers, will find little here to complain about. At a first glance the plot seems fairly routine; a loose re-working of the Phillip K. Dick novella, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, in which a grizzled bounty hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) tracks down and terminates rogue androids (here known as replicants) who might pose a threat to the status quo of this dark and dank dystopian future world. Scott adds a sense of further cinematic depth to the story by juxtaposing the science-fiction elements of the plot with the conventions of film noir in a way that was very much revolutionary back in 1983, having only really been seen on a much smaller scale with the Jean Luc Godard film Alphaville (1964).

It is in part his depiction of the world of Blade Runner that gives the film much of its power and mystique, as Scott envisions a world of densely populated, multi-cultural, consumerist drones lost in a maze of looming skyscrapers, neon strip-lights, darkness and torrential rain; all of which is perfectly realised by his team of highly skilled production designers, art directors, set-decorators and craftsmen. The cinematography too was radical for the time in which the film was created, with Scott building on his background in TV commercials and the work that he had done on his first sci-fi masterpiece Alien (1979) to create a look that is continually dark, dank, distressed and decaying; finding beauty in the most bizarre places and capturing a sense of lonesome claustrophobia that became a staple of subsequent films, commercials and music videos for the next twenty-five years.

The film looks better than ever here, with the re-mastered picture and sound quality and the very subtle use of CGI to clear up things like out-of-sync dialog, support wires on the spinners and the obvious stunt-double for Joanna Cassidy's character Zhora; all helping to maintain the endless feeling of plausibility that the world of Blade Runner presents. Admittedly some fans have complained about Scott changing the glorious shot of the dove being released into the bright blue sky for a more suitable shot of cloudy dusk, but I suppose it does make more sense in maintaining the dark world in which the film unfolds. The only new addition that seemed slightly strange to me was in clearing up the original confusion as to how many replicants were actually missing. Much of the film's mystique revolves around the central question as to whether or not Deckard is, in fact, a replicant; a theory that initially came about due to a dubbing error during Deckard's briefing with Captain Bryant. Given that Scott has been one of the most vocal supporters of this theory, it seems odd to me that he would correct this line of dialog in such a way that destroys any real mystery surrounding the "Deckard as replicant" debate.

Whether or not you buy into the Deckard/replicant theory is secondary to the exotic atmosphere created by Scott and his production team, or the central narrative paradox presented by the replicant characters, in particular, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). The crux of Blade Runner deals very much with the idea of a synthetic human being more human than the humans themselves; with much of Blade Runner focusing on Batty and his gang of robots in arms trying to prolong their limited lifespan by any means necessary. Once again, Blade Runner is radical in the sense that it gives us a villain that is very much exciting, charismatic, and empathetic in their pursuit of life, and in direct comparison to our supposed hero Deckard, who seems bored, tired and completely lost against the sheer strength and intellectual menace of the iconic Batty.

This isn't a film that everyone will adore; without question it has its flaws like any other film, but regardless, remains a visually impressive and endlessly beguiling science-fiction, mystery noir (and more so than ever on this re-mastered, special edition DVD). Others have already explored the wider aspects of the package itself, pointing out how the five-disk box-set is very much for the die-hard obsessive's, while the two-disk set would appeal more to the casual fan who loves the film and wants the version closest to Ridley Scott's original vision. Without question, Blade Runner is a significant work of science-fiction cinema that manages to overcome any such flaws in character or narrative to take us on a trip into a world far beyond anything we've ever seen before.

Classic Sci-Fi
An amazing genre-setting sci-fi classic based on Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", his novels always seem to translate well to film, but this was the best.

Nowadays, in an age where numerous throw-away sci-fi blockbusters form a regular part of the mainstream, it is hard to remember the impact that this film had when it first appeared. There had been nothing like it. From the atmospheric swirls of the Vangelis soundtrack to the oppressive intense dystopian-future setting, to the intriguing storyline of secret 'replicants', this was groundbreaking stuff. Many modern sci-fi cliches originate from Bladerunner.

When I first saw this I thoroughly enjoyed it, and got totally immersed in its atmosphere and exciting story. Now, when I see it again, it still holds all that original appeal, but I can see the extra level of allegory, with the two central characters Deckard and Rachael both suffering from somewhat of an existential crisis - it raises the question for all of us: "who are we, really?" and leads us all to examine how unsuspectingly mechanical we are, and to wonder how much of our life-experiences are real, and to what extent they are manufactured or illusionary. 'The Matrix' is a great modern counterpart to this film.

A classic, which can be enjoyed equally as well on different levels.

Genre defining sci-fi ..... given ANOTHER cut
Did we really need this? How many times has this been re-released? I suppose fans of this genre defining sci-fi classic would argue that to much is never enough where Blade Runner is concerned.

So what do we get in this update? In terms of additional content I didn't spot a single thing in the film that I hadn't seen from previous versions. I think there are some slight additions/changes in there but they are minimal. That's a good thing because it wasn't broken & it didn't need fixing. There's a foreword from Ridley Scott but it only lasts about 30 seconds making it the most pointless foreword ever! Why did he bother? Apparently the picture quality has been improved. I didn't feel things looked particularly improved from previous DVD versions (remastered directors cut DVD, incept date: October 2006) so I'm guessing that HD/Blue Ray viewers are going to get the best out of these improvements.

For this 2 disc edition you also get the brilliant 'Dangerous Days' documentary about the making of Blade Runner. This is an incredibly detailed analysis of the film making process, from initial idea, script drafts through casting & the realisation of the director's vision to actual filming. It's a fantastic documentary for fans of Blade Runner & film making itself. But I was disappointed that there wasn't a chapter dedicated to the films seminal Vangelis soundtrack as this is without doubt as important to the film as the visual impact, not to mention one of the best & most original film scores ever. It would have been nice to see how Vangelis got involved & how the soundtrack was realised.

There are also commentaries for the crew & cast, which seem almost a standard feature of DVD content these days but in this case will hold strong interest from die hard fans of the film. I must admit though, even though I'm a huge fan of the film & couldn't really be bothered going through this section of the disc.

As for the film itself? Well, what is left to say about Blade Runner? It's widely regarded as one of the best examples of the sci-fi genre & is nothing less than genre defining, spawning countless imitators & inspirations not just in other science fiction films but also in cinematography, special FX, lighting etc. When you watch the 'Dangerous Days' documentary you realise how much work is involved & how close a project this big comes to not being completed at all. This only makes the films achievement that bit more remarkable.

The story itself is a fairly simple one & the themes involved are open to interpretation. It's not hard to see how the audiences & critics were split on the films release. Whatever you think of the film nobody can deny that it is & always will be one of the best, if not the best, example of the science fiction genre as well as a masterpiece of modern cinema & film making.

Blade Runner 5/5 - A masterpiece of the genre & modern cinema
Final Cut - 2 disc DVD edition 3/5 - Excellent documentary but other new additions somewhat lacking.