This weekend I watched Blade Runner for the second time, last time I seen that movie was probably in early 90’s. Back then I was just a little kid who couldn’t understand much from it. I only remembered the fight between Deckard and Roy Batty, and I’m really glad that I forgot the movie since book has much richer story than the movie. Well isn’t that usually the case that we prefer books to movies? Well, maybe, unless we see the movie first. Nevertheless “Do androids dream of electric sheep” pints a bigger picture of wild post-apocalyptic world while Blade Runner focuses more on action aspects of the story.

I really don’t like how the movie discards parts where Rick Deckard obsesses about owning a real living animal. I guess this is why Bade Runner is called Blade Runner and not “Do androids dream of electric sheep” since there’s no mention of any sheep throughout the whole movie. This really kills the whole theme of the book. When we see how people in the future are obsessed about owning a real animal we can somehow imagine how their longing for a natural things hurts. The movie doesn’t show us that. It focuses more on the androids and their hunters and not on everyday existential problems of regular people left on Earth. Another thing that was left out in the movie is Mercer and his empathy boxes. I think Philip k. dick wrote about empathy boxes for a good reason, as it really adds a nice mechanic touch to the whole trans-humanist/ post-apocalyptic landscape of human experience. We can think about the use of empathy boxes as a metaphor for how humans can turn into more mechanical entities completely ruled by their will with complete disregard for useless emotions and feeling. Just Like androids are. This is important theme of the book where we draw parallels between humans and androids. It always gives us those hard questions: What it means to be real? What it means to be alive? Are emotions just chemistry or a source of passions that creates a vehicle for human spirit and creativity? Well we might never know answers to this questions but asking them gives you a good reevaluation of your own humanity.

I really like the mood of the movie, it had a very “Noire Movie” feel to it, and I love Noire movies, “eyes wide shut”, “blue velvet” “twin peaks” are one of my all-time favorite flicks. I’m also a sucker for anything cyberpunk, I thoroughly enjoyed the scenography, architecture and lighting of most of the scenes. The movie has a nice feel too it and actions scenes don’t feel that old for such an old movie. Too bad it didn’t cover all the stories that are presented in the book. It would make a perfect sci-fi flick
I’ll give it 7/10