It seems an increasing number of directors have been going back through their work from the 1970s and 1980s and reworking them into new “director’s cuts.” Some examples are George Lucas (who can never stop tweaking his epic “Star Wars” episodes), Richard Donner (“Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut”) and now Ridley Scott in the newest version of his 1982 film that is being re-released as “Blade Runner: The Final Cut.”
It is always interesting to see what directors wanted to do differently, whether it’s adding that “never-before-seen footage” or an extended scene to our favorite films.
For example, during “Superman II,” Richard Donner was kicked off the project after having shot more than half of the film. When they released the Richard Donner version on DVD last year, it was fascinating how different from the theatrical version it was.
With “Blade Runner,” however, there have been five (yes, five!) versions of this cult classic. There is the 1982 theatrical release, the 1982 international version, the 1992 director’s cut, the work print version, and most recently, the final cut version. So despite the many versions, I think we’ve pretty much got it, Mr. Scott.
“Blade Runner” is adapted from Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” A prolific science fiction writer, Dick has had many of his other novels turned into films as well, including “Minority Report,” “A Scanner Darkly” and “Total Recall.”
Set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, a special branch of the police force is established to maintain safety among humanity. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is one of these cops, called blade runners, whose dubious job is to hunt down and kill androids that society has deemed dangerous.
Deckard is summoned from retirement to hunt down five androids that have illegally come to earth. These androids, led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer, “Sin City”), search for their creator to get him to extend their short life spans before Deckard retires them.
Sean Young (“Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”), Daryl Hannah (“Kill Bill: Vols. 1 & 2”), Edward James Olmos (television’s “Battlestar Galactica”) and James Hong (“Balls of Fury”) round out the film’s cast.
The new version of the film has been digitally restored and a lot of the special effects have been cleaned up, so it looks really good in the theater. Also, there have been scenes and lines added and extended in this most recent version.
Scott’s futuristic film noir is playing only in limited engagements in select cities around the country before it heads to video. Dallas is one of the fortunate few cities in the country to show the film. It will be playing at the Inwood Theater for a week starting this Friday.