Blade Runner, The Final Cut

Bowman9991 writes "A new promotional website is up and trailers for Blade Runner: The Final Cut have been released. I've been waiting ages for this one. SFFMedia has some details about the Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition on HD-DVD and Blu-ray with new footage. It's slated for a December 18th release. Apparently it's also being released in the cinemas again in the US."

Comments

Best movie news this year

[empaler]

Yay for Blade Runner! The plot may be a bit iffy, but the style is awexome.

How many final cuts are there?

[Anonymous Coward]

My entire adult life, every few years there are expanded cuts, director cuts, ultimate cuts, supercuts, etc. of this particular movie. I'm waiting for the best boy & gaffer cut after this one.

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[Dunbal]

The Paper Cut is going to hurt like hell.

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[Nahooda]

Don't forget the Eyebrow Cut. A very bloody version!

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[no_pets]

The all can be summed up as the "Attempt to make more money Cut".

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[Basehart]

I'm wondering whether it will even sync up with the original Vangelis soundtrack. They had some new music accompanying the trailer I saw on youtube. I'd bet that without Vangelis the film wouldn't have become the classic it has.

I finally buckled last year and bought the Gongo Records version of the soundtrack on Ebay and it was glorious to hear the original soundtrack although I do hope that Vangelis can one day release an "official" pristine remastered version from the master.

In the meantime there are a few versions to choose from here.

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[mattpalmer1086]

Because replicants are biologically identical to us. They're bio-engineering, not AI devices. So one way to tell them apart is the lack of normal emotional responses. Which is why implanting memories in them is such a big deal - "to create a cushion"...

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[mattpalmer1086]

Sorry to reply to myself, but I just realised you had a much better point than I gave you credit for.

Since these replicants can plunge their hands into liquid nitrogen without harm, and apparently have an assortment of other enhanced physical capabilities, there must be some much easier tests than emotional response.

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[AuMatar]

Read the book- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It makes far, far more sense there.

Re:How many final cuts are there?

[Conanymous Award]

That one is released right after Blade Runner: The Upper Cut.

The first director's cut removed doubt...

[Chmcginn]

Gaff knew who the replicants were, and he marked Deckard as such. I don't see the need for having somebody come out and say it...

Re:The first director's cut removed doubt...

[Linzer]

Gaff knew who the replicants were, and he marked Deckard as such. I don't see the need for having somebody come out and say it... Thank you for reminding people of this. The scenario as described in TFA strictly matches the "Director's cut" released eons ago. This sounds like they removed a scratch here and there and re-released the very same friggin' thing. Which I loved, by the way, but it isn't new.

I know I am probably in the minority

[Shivetya]

but I want the voice over.

If not something I can select then please include that version. For some reason I like the version of the film I saw first, the voice over to me put me in the mood. Very 50s like and that is what I best remember. I actually never liked subsequent releases simply because of that feature being missing. Yes I know the arguments against but we are irrational beings and well...

Re:I know I am probably in the minority

[gEvil (beta)]

If you want the voiceover then get the 5 disc set. It will contain all the released cuts of the movie, plus some extras.

Re:I know I am probably in the minority

[morari]

The DVD release will see three versions this December. A basic two-disc edition with just the Final Cut and special features. A three-disc edition with the Final Cut, special features, and theatrical cut (what you're talking about) and original director's cut. Finally, a limited edition, numbered five disc version that includes all of that, an early workshop cut of the film, a unicorn figurine and a full-sized detective briefcase to hold it all in.

The workshop edit of the film is really the only thing that makes the super-huge edition appealing for me...

Re:I know I am probably in the minority

[gEvil (beta)]

But too bad it won't contain this version...

Re:I know I am probably in the minority

[ximenes]

This is included in some of the versions, but as you mention hasn't been on DVD before this. A far cry from someone who refuse to release the markedly superior initial versions of three films in a decent DVD format. Of course those movies in question have been forever tainted for me by the next two.

The story is that Blade Runner was repossessed by its creditors prior to release and changed, against the wills of various people who were involved in its making, in substantial ways for its theatrical release. Hence the Theatrical Version, which didn't do very well from a commercial standpoint -- possibly because its artistic vision was compromised.

Then there's the Director's Cut, which Scott has claimed does not really amount to such as he didn't have sufficient time to work on it.

Hence the interest in the Final Cut, which is claimed to be a real director's cut finally.

I'll withhold judgment until I see the Final Cut, but at this point it could be pretty good. If not, then the Director's Cut still exists and I'll try to forget that I ever saw the Final Cut. But there is the risk of the Final Cut ruining the movie in such a concrete way that I'll never watch the film again (see the director's cut of Donnie Darko).

Being against revisionism in cinematic works is one thing, but being against the restoration of a previously mangled work is another. Having said that, it's common for people to have an attachment with whatever version of a work they are originally introduced to. People tend to prefer the film version of a novel if they saw it first; they may prefer a remake over the original; etc. This is the peril of being introduced to derivative or inferior works before their superior counterparts, you have to actively discard what you saw first and it can be difficult.

For instance, if you saw Psycho (1998) before Psycho (1960) you may very well have ruined one of the best films ever made for yourself.

Leon shot first.

[ah.clem]

I'm just sayin'.

ah.clem

Revisionist

[The Dobber]

Does Rachael shoot first in this one?

Re:Revisionist

[je ne sais quoi]

No, Rachael's going to be dubbed over with an incredibly annoying CG alien with a faux jamaican accent: "Issa dis testin' whether Mesa'm a weplicant or a lesbian, Meester Deckard?

hey

[Anonymous Coward]

torrent plz

Re:Dammit

[The Dobber]

Silly wabbit, DVDs weren't invented yet, it was VHS.

Thank you jesus

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I can stop calling girls Rachel in bed and instead dry hump my HDTV...this will save me tons of money on hookers that look like Sean Young.

Beating a Dead Horse

[Anonymous Coward]

How many cuts are there going to be released? Okay, so we get another 2 minutes of unseen footage? Oh, we *finally* know Deckard is an android? Please, make us buy another overpriced DVD with promised new scenes and remastered video. I'll go ahead and add this one to the other 2 copies that are sitting on my shelf.

What is a drive-in?

[AHumbleOpinion]

Yeah, I know, I'm old. Do you guys even know what a drive-in is?

Yes, its a parking lot equipped with a large movie screen and speakers at each parking space. People either (a) drink lots of booze with their buddies or (b) get laid in the privacy of their car with fogged up windows. Either way people do not remember the movie. ;-)

Damn the critics...

[Anonymous Coward]

I much prefer the original narrated version. The Director's Cut release a couple of years back just removed the narrative and reversed the order of 2 scenes - and was worse for it. As for Ripley Scott changing his story about Deckard being a replicant - he's full of it. Rutger Howard's character would have figured this out. Him leaving Deckard alive at the end of the movie would be pointless if Deckard were a replicant.

Re:Damn the critics...

[Oktober Sunset]

Ohes noes, I don't understand the story so I need someone to tell me what is happening in a voice over... Once upon a time there was an android hunter called Deckard...

Re:Damn the critics...

[bennomatic]

Sounds like you were starting a limerick...

Once a blade runner named Deckard
Whose childhood memories were checkered
Found a hot babe
that he wanted to save
only to end up hen-peckered!

How's that?

Re:Damn the critics...

[Dun Malg]

I much prefer the original narrated version(1). The Director's Cut release a couple of years back just removed the narrative and reversed the order of 2 scenes(2) - and was worse for it(3). As for Ripley Scott changing his story about Deckard being a replicant - he's full of it(4). Rutger Howard's(5) character would have figured this out(6). Him leaving Deckard alive at the end of the movie would be pointless if Deckard were a replicant(7). 1) What could possibly be wrong with you that you'd think that?
2) ...and changed the ending, and added back the footage hinting that Deckard might be a replicant the studio suits removed.
3) Only for those too dim to follow the story, like you, and those studio suits.
4) RS didn't change his story, the studio morons did. The DC version restores it to what it was originally.
5) Rutger Hauer. I begin to see your difficulty, watching films through that fog of illiteracy.
6) Who says he didn't?
7) Why kill him if he's going to die just like Roy? You really didn't understand the movie. See, Roy wasn't a Blade Runner, he was a replicant soldier. Deckard was the Blade Runner, and his job was to go find escaped replicants like Roy and "retire" them. Roy only wanted to live. He had no particular reason to go after Deckard, regardless of Deckard's status as human or replicant.

Re:Damn the critics...

[gbjbaanb]

I got to disagree about the narration, it made it more reminiscent of a 50s film noir private eve detective movie. I mean, it was a 50s private eye movie complete with rainy city and hot dame with the bright red lippy. The narration was in keeping with all that.

The ending was better in the remake though. Perhaps the new one has bits of both, and to be honest they could put everything on the DVD so I could choose the options I want! Of course they won't, they'll just try to rip us off with the same movie, 2 deleted scenes, a voice-over from Rutger reminiscing about his Guiness adverts and charge us £15 for it. .. actually, if they put Rutger's Guiness adverts on the disc, it'd be worth every penny!

Re:Damn the critics...

[loganrapp]

This man speaks the truth.

Harrison Ford himself made it clear that he hated the voice-overs, that he intentionally did it so bad because he was hoping the studio execs would just throw it out on account of its shittiness.

He was wrong - they used the VOs. And I believe Ford, I doubt it's an excuse for his poor voice acting since he's been known to cop to it whenever he does something less-than-great.

Re:Damn the critics...

[Txiasaeia]

The 4 disk set includes the original North American theatrical version (voiceover), the international cut (same as theatrical but with more violence), the director's cut (different ending, no voiceover, deckard's a replicant), and the new ultra-director's cut (no idea what's on it). There's also a 5 disk collector's set that includes the original workprint. 4 disk set is currently about $25 on Amazon.com, and the 5 disk collector's cut is roughly twice that. You *can* just get the new version for $15 or so, but why bother? This is the first time that the theatrical version's been on DVD.

Re:Damn the critics...

[Lord Flipper]

BUT THEN SHE WOULD TAKE IT OFF THE WALL AND KEEP ON ADDING TO IT.

You bring up a very interesting notion. One of the things that is very similar between artists and children is that they can walk away from something; It is done, or 'finished', whereas most of us keep refining, 'adding to', the older we get. My mother painted late in her life, also. I don't recall that she kept adding to her oils. But I did have a few lady friends who would occasionally show me their paintings that were nearly 3D what with the thickness of the layers of oil in places. It was rather astonishing. Or peculiar. Or maybe just a graphic example of 'A woman's work is never done.' Who knows?

Re:Damn the critics...

[ukemike]

Future Noir quotes Katherine Haber, the Production Executive, as saying, "Bud Yorkin supervised that session, and Harrison hated it. He hadn't wanted to do voice overs in the first place and by now I think he was sick of the whole movie anyway. Harrison also didn't like what Kibbe had come up with. So he purposefully, I think, recited that narration badly. I think he was hoping they wouldn't be able to use it. And of course they did - that third narration was the one they released with the finished film."

Harrison was quoted in the same section of the book as saying, "It was in my contract that I do the voice-overs, but I hated them. Ridley hated them as well, but when the film went over budget, they made me do it. I went kicking and screaming to the studio to record it."

His attitude may have had an impact on the reading but I don't believe that he intentionally sabotaged the session.

Flash video has its uses

[Jeremy Erwin]

but movie trailers are not one of them. I'd like to see this trailer in quicktime, perhaps even HD. It's unfair to subject the brilliant cinematography to the muted color gamut and harsh artifacts of youtube.

Re:Flash video has its uses

[netik]

There's nothing wrong with Flash Video. The upcoming flash release will have H.264 support for HD Video. It's just not out yet.

The best quality to bitrate ratio you're going to see right now is either DIVX or Quicktime H.264.

Re:Flash video has its uses

[MouseR]

Absolutely everything is wrong with flash-based video. Skip, fast-forward, replay control is always fucked up. Buf... wait... buf... wait... buffering is a constant issue and I dont care about features to come. Right now, flash based videos is a bit to use, a bitch to watch and a bitch to listen to.

As far as awfulness is concerned, I put in the same spot as Real player.

Deckard is a lesbian

[konstant]

Admittedly, the paper unicorn is not present in the original cut, nor the unicorn dream. Nonetheless, subsequent releases made it quite clear that Deckard is in fact a lesbian. Why are we still debating this?

Final?

[aldheorte]

So is this the final director's cut or the final ultimate collection or the final on HD-DVD or the final but we'll add some new useless commentary in the next edition final, no truly final cut? I jest, but the continual trotting out of new editions of old movies to get people to buy the same thing over and over again is a tad ridiculous. I can acknowledge that there might be a theater release and a director's cut for timing reasons, but once that's done, it's time to move on and create something new.

Also, does anyone else share the feeling that the extra commentaries and features on DVDs are pretty much completely worthless? I remember thinking that it was very nifty when I first got a DVD player, but after watching a few, I haven't watched any in years. The only ones of any value I have seen are sometimes animated shorts that go with animated films. If anything, special features generally detract from the enjoyment of a good movie as you struggle to reconcile how a group of such insipid and insincere people could have pulled it off.

Re:Final?

[Scrameustache]

Also, does anyone else share the feeling that the extra commentaries and features on DVDs are pretty much completely worthless? Some are worthless, some add value.
I highly recommend the commentary on Robocop, with the director, writer and producer. It's hilarious.
I also really appreciated Whedon's commentary on the last episode of Firefly (objects in space), but some of the commentary on the other eps were, well, pointless.
I was glad to see the "making of" of A Scanner Darkly, I was sure they had some kind of automated process doing most of their rotoscopy by algorithm, turns out they did it by hand, the maniacs.

Re:Final?

[PCM2]

A lot of people seem to like Robocop, but it always seemed really camp to me. A sort of robotic nazi with lipstick with homoerotic overtones...was it supposed to be like that?

So far as I know ... yes, it was totally supposed to be like that.

If you watched "RoboCop" taking it dead seriously as a futuristic actioner, you missed most of the point. It's cruel, inky-black social satire. In "RoboCop," the world of the future is falling apart under the weight of its own decadence. Corporations run the show, even social services like the police and fire department. RoboCop superficially seems like a comic-book hero come to save the day, but if you stop suspending your disbelief for even a minute -- and the movie strains credibility so far that you're all but forced to do so -- it's obvious that a world "saved" by RoboCop would be a fascist nightmare. The extreme violence and gore effects only drive home the point. The world of "RoboCop" is thoroughly, utterly irredeemable -- yet disturbingly familiar -- and, just to rub salt in the wound, it's served up as a camp joke. I think it's brilliant. And, incidentally, it's a great bookend to Verhoeven's other sci-fi black satire, "Starship Troopers."

Where the fuck is Deckards goat?

[Oktober Sunset]

If Deckard doesn't have a goat, a penfield mood organ and a close relationship with Mercer, then I don't wanna know.

Re:Where the fuck is Deckards goat?

[Mister Transistor]

Or his Mountibank Codpiece, for that matter!

The Best

[Soiden]

The best of this movie is Vangelis.

Re:like tears in rain.

[Nexus7]

Apparently the Nexus 7 did not have the dying problem.

Humanity ftw

[childprey]

Too bad Deckard as a replicant invalidates one of the greatest moral points of the movie.

Except (slight book spoilers)

[itsdapead]

Deckard as a replicant with implanted memories is a crude, movie-friendly way of getting over one point of the book..

... in which Deckard isn't a replicant (probably - but he meets other unwitting replicants) but discovers that pretty much everything he knows and values is artificial (his religion, his favorite DJ, his pet animals...) so what is the difference?

Besides, the main evidence for the "inhumanity" of the replicants is their inability to participate in the bogus empathic communion of the fatalistic Mercerist "religion" which has been invented to keep the earthbound dregs of humanity content (the VK test is clearly inspired by Mercerism).

It's amazing

[FatalTourist]

Saw it at the Ziegfeld in NYC. It looks and sounds incredible. Changes are quite minor, no Lucasing here. The best part was the remastered picture and audio. If you are a fan, you'll love it. If you are a nitpicking wiener, you'll hate everything, so stay at home and register your complaints on a message board.

Re:It's amazing

[pavon]

When you say the changes are quite minor, is that in comparison to the theatrical release or the directors cut? Just curious - I like both. I am glad that they are finally releasing it on DVD, and although it is annoying that I have to buy the 4 disc collectors edition to get it, $35 isn't a bad price.

Re:am i the only one?

[mfnickster]

this has hands down got to be one of the worst movies of all time..it is long, it is pointless and it is very very boring does anyone even care about blade runner? i doubt it

Maybe you find it boring, but it is FAR from pointless. That's why people still love it after all this time. Personally I love it because Ridley Scott puts so much detail on the screen, always giving you something interesting to look at while simultaneously giving you time to think about what's going on in the movie. It's not all slam-bang action. This is the kind of movie that's only boring if you try to watch it passively. Put some effort into watching it and it's far more rewarding.

Re:Material from the Sequels?

[Joe Tie.]

Do they ever bring up Mercerism in it? I thought that was one of the best parts of electric sheep, and a shame to have it fall out of the movie storyline.

Re:like tears in rain.

[stjobe]

For shame, AC! What are you trying to do to my beloved quote?

Batty:
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

theatrical release

[JeffSh]

i emailed my local theatre chain asking about blade runner. they responded that they had no clue about a theatre re-release. turns out that it is only being screened in new york and LA.

so, the theatrical release note is quite a bit misleading.

Re:am i the only one?

[Shadowplay00]

I was hoping you'd list other films you hate so I could beef up my Netflix queue. I'm sure I'm not the only slashdotter who loves both flicks

Re:Another release?!

[Pollardito]

this is the last time. now they start merging it with other movies to release as a set. expect "Sling Blade Runner, Special Robot People Edition" and "The Blade Kite Runner, Oppressive Android Regime Edition" in the spring

Re:am i the only one?

[Dun Malg]

The week previous we had watched apocolypse now redux..this has hands down got to be one of the worst movies of all time..it is long, it is pointless and it is very very boring My wife jokes about how no one in this town reads. You must be one of them. You know, people who, when you strike up a conversation and ask "do you read?", they say "yah, I read like, USA Today, and magazines and stuff". I'd bet you've never read any classics, like The Great Gatsby, or Heart of Darkness, unless you were forced to by your high school English teacher--- part of the 58% of americans who never read another book after graduating high school. Perhaps you might've gotten more out of Apocalypse Now if you had read Heart of Darkness, or at least had a more developed education and were capable of being intrigued by complex questions of morality. I suppose you were disappointed that it didn't have as much action as Rambo II, or The Kingdom. Clearly, you are the class of person they're aiming at when they green light another movie with Bernie Mac or Tim Allen. People like you are the reason Lost is going to irritate us with inane "didja see Lost last night?" chatter for 3 more fucking years while Firefly got the axe after only one. People like you are how Phillip-Morris, McDonalds, and Hummer dealerships stay in business.

If you get the idea that I am perhaps insinuating that you're stupid, that's because I am.

Re:Why the canadian ripoff?

[Dun Malg]

Why is the box set $25 higher in Canada? Because even though the Cnadian Peso isn't actually worth less than the US Dollar, it ought to be.

Lousy maple-sucking puck-slappers, coming here taking all the good jobs...

Re:am i the only one?

[callmetheraven]

Perhaps you might've gotten more out of Apocalypse Now if you had read Heart of Darkness,
You should also read "Dispatches" by Michael Herr if you want to understand Apocalypse Now. The movie is a blend of the two books.

I also prefer the original version - A Opinion

[gadlaw]

You know everyone has an opinion. My opinion is that I like the original version, not the directors cut, the second directors version, the laser disk version, the version without the narration, the version released only in Nambia, the version released to the airlines, the tv version or any of that. Does that make me an idiot because my opinion differs from your self described superior opinion? Calling people illiterate or otherwise belittling their opinions to prove how smart you are or how superior you believe your own opinion to be is just sad. It's a movie, buy the super deluxe version and pull it off your shelf every once in a while and lecture your cat about how your opinion is better than anyone else's opinion. I'm sure the cat will be impressed.

Alan Nourse title

[brassman]

I read Blade Runner in Analog magazine, back in the 70s. The producers of the "Electric Sheep" movie could have had two great movies, but they only bought Alan Nourse's story because they wanted its title -- which they wasted. The title is integral to Nourse's story, which was about a guy making his way as a smuggler in a devastated society, one where surgical supplies were especially precious and hard to get... supplies such as scalpels.

No, I'm not joking. The story was called Blade Runner because the lead character actually smuggled blades, the way a gun runner "runs" guns or a rum runner "runs" rum.

Re:am i the only one?

[chuckymonkey]

Thank you for that, even though I work with a bunch of really smart people not a one of them can carry on a conversation deeper than what's put out by hollywood these days. They have no idea what a thought experiment is, don't understand what a moral dilemma is or why movies such as Apocolype Now and Bladerunner are great movies. It really saddens me and makes me lose faith in my fellow countrymen.