BookTalk.org

I saw the re-release of Ridley Scott's final cut of Blade Runner last night. Now, I know that it wasn't supposed to be radically different, but I had a hard time finding much of anything that was different from the 1992 director's cut, compared to this final one. I think perhaps Tyrell's death might have been a bit more violent, and the fight between Pris and Deckard a bit longer, and possibly a few more clips of Roy chasing Deckard. Also, you actually see the nail Roy pushes through the palm of his hand pierce through the skin, which I don't think was in the last cut. But, I could be wrong on all counts. And, otherwise, if there was anything new, it was missed on me. I was wondering if anyone knows the '92 cut better than I and could point out if I missed something.

It was nice to see the film on a big screen.

It's playing right around the corner from me, and I own and have watched the Director's Cut numerous times, so it's just a matter of timing. I'll let you know what I think when I get a moment to see the latest version, although I think it's probably just a way to extort some more money out of fans. Did you see "The Exorcist -- the Cut You Never Saw" when it came out? It had that one creepy crab walk scene in it, but otherwise nothing of much importance, and all of the added scenes tended to disrupt the flow of the movie, which was pretty masterful to being with. "Blade Runner" is the movie that started this whole mania for "director's cuts", but it's time it came to an end. Very few movies really need an extended or director's cut, and most of those were von Stroheim or Welles films.

But Blade Runner's director's cut wasn't really extended was it? It largely just implemented the obscure ending Scott had originally intended, and cut out Ford's aggravating voice-over, both changes that I appreciated. I really think the extended violence is likely all that's different in this final cut. I definitely won't be adding the final cut to my library. But I still appreciated the opportunity of seeing it in a theater--even makes the score more amazing.

Never saw The Exorcist, any version.

I've never seen the theatrical version of Blade Runner, but my understanding is that the unicorn sequences are an addition that didn't appear until the director's cut, and were actually filmed for, though not used in, Legend. I could be wrong about that, but it amuses me to believe it, so I don't intend to fact check it just yet.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. The unicorn scene was cut in the theatrical version as "too artsy" as I recall.