Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

This is a 1982 sci-fi drama noted mostly for its deep, dark gothic set and art direction.  But remembering it only for its sets would be a grand misjudgment on this 1982 classic.

Harrison Ford stars as Deckard in futuristic Los Angeles, taking place in the year 2019 A.D.  Deckard is employed as a blade runner, an occupation which deals with hunting down rampant "replicants" or simply just superhuman androids.  These replicants are basically used in the future for off planet enslavement but every once in a while they escape, and its usually the blade runner's job to kill them.  But the problem is, is that even though they are not human, they are designed and built to perceive emotions exactly us.

Five replicants escape in the film and it becomes Deckard's job to hunt them down.  But along the way, he falls in love with Rachel (Young), another replicant he meets in his journeys.  He knows that she is manufactured but he doesn't care.  Its also from her he learns that the replicants that he's hunting  down are not just machines, but are very much like us and they just want to be left in peace, but a job's a job.

This is a more dramatic film than action.  There isn't a lot of shooting or fights, but it works just as well.  What I really liked about this film, is that you actually feel sympathetic towards the replicants and their desire to live longer.  They want to live longer because replicants only have a life span of five years.  One of them, named Roy Batty (Hauer) gives more understanding on how they feel, as he somewhat the leader to their survival.  He also delivers a brilliant soliloquy near the end of the film, showing us how he just wanted more life.  Deckard also has to face his own feelings about Rachel and himself in general and he does a good job doing it too.

And oh boy, the sets.  Los Angeles is treated like a giant garbage dump, and its really dirty and overpopulated.  Its just showing us how are own future is going to be like later on, if nothing gets straightened out.

Blade Runner on the whole is a wonderful film that takes the sci-fi genre into a whole new level.  There are two versions of this film available today. The theatrical version and the director's cut.  The director's cut eliminates Deckard's voice-overs, is presented in wide screen and digital sound, adds a short dream sequence and lastly changes the ending from the original.  If you haven't Blade Runner already, then you can't afford to miss this classic.