"All they'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us wanted, where have I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got?"

Los Angeles 2019, a mish-mash of cultures, a bleak look at the future. Blade Runner (1982), is easily my favorite film of Ridley's and it is always on my top-ten all time list. A renowned sci-fi classic, one of the most influential films of the genre. Beautifully photographed, great f/x (models and matte paintings look better than much of the CG stuff today), well acted, incredible art direction, and on and on.

These are only the technical aspects of the film, what really makes Blade Runner great is the ideas behind it. What makes us human? Why are the replicants any less human than us? They have thoughts, feelings, dreams and goals. They are not evil, they only come back to Earth with the hope that they can somehow lengthen their short life spans. Deckard is forced into hunting them down. When he kills them it's heart-breaking, they are completely innocent. They are so convincingly human that Deckard falls in love with Rachel who he knows to be a replicant. We are even left with the thought that Deckard may be a replicant himself.

In the OC the studio forced Ridley to have Harrison do a voice-over for the film. This does help first time viewers follow the some what complicated story line, and gives you more insight into what Deckard is going through. Harrison does sound bored though. There is also a happy ending to the film, with Deckard and Rachel escaping to the country, the voice-over says that Rachel is not going to die like the others.

The voice-over is axed in the DC. The happy ending is also lost, it ends the moment Deckard and Rachel step into the elevator. However, the biggest change is that Ridley tries to make it a more obvious that Deckard is a replicant himself. He does this by adding in a unicorn dream sequence for Deckard, he then finds a origami unicorn left by the other blade runner Gaff. So much in the same way Deckard knew Rachel's memories, Gaff knows Deckard's dreams. But this brings up a few questions for me. If Deckard is a replicant, why is he weaker than the others? Is Deckard built with normal human strength, in order to feel more human? Something else that I only noticed on my last viewing. For a brief second you can see a red glow behind the eyes of Roy, Pris, etc., but I never saw that for Deckard. Maybe another closer watch will reveal it?

Ridley says Deckard is definitely a replicant, read about it HERE.

Things I love about this film.

Things I don't like.

Blade Zone / Los Angeles 2019 / 2019: Off World / Home of BR

The rest of his films will get a review like above sometime soon.

Gladiator, what an incredible film. Possibly my favorite film of it's genre, I'd probably only put Braveheart above it. The battle scenes gave me chills, I just had this stupid grin off my face the whole movie. The story was very interesting, and very well told. I liked Russell Crowe before, but this put him on a new level for me. I can't wait for the DVD so I can watch it over and over again.

With this new love for Ridley, I am very optimistic about Hannibal. Julliane Moore should fit in very well as Clarice. The important thing is that they got Anthony Hopkins back, without him I don't think it would work. I'll be there first day.

8/30/00: I just rewatched Black Rain, I hadn't seen it in over 10 years. This movie is just pure 80's, Michael Douglas as the cop who's on the edge and must go up against a pyscopathic villian. Douglas is almost sporting a mullet. It's all very cliche, one of the many Lethal Weapon clones. What sets it apart, is Ridley's beautiful photography. It almost reminded me of Blade Runner, very dark, raining, highlighted by all the neon lights of Tokyo. It's a decent flick, enjoyable in a mindless way.

11/20/00: I just watched the Hannibal trailer. Having read the book I recognize most of the scenes in it, and it looks fantastic. Ridley's photography looks beautiful as usual, and of course Anthony's performance is going to be right, the one question was Julliane Moore in replacement of Jodie. From the brief glimpes I saw she looked decent, it's not her story anyway, it is called Hannibal. Check out a couple of early reviews and here. I really enjoyed the book and it seems they stay pretty faithful to it, except for the ending. I look forward to this film greatly.

2/12/1: I of course saw Hannibal this past weekend, along with the rest of the country, \\$58 Million weekend! My seeing this film had nothing to do with Ridley Scott, it could have been directed by a monkey in a straight-jacket, but I felt it was a bonus. The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't in cinemascope, which Ridley always shoots in. I'm thinking he did it because Silence wasn't, so to better match with that film.

Ok, the film. It's pretty hard to live up the Silence of the Lambs, easily one of the best films of the 90's, an incredible film all around. It well deserved the Best Film, Director, Actor, and Actress awards that it won. Hannibal doesn't have to worry a lick about winning any awards, it's just not that kind of film. Where Silence was a drama and suspense film, Hannibal is a action and slasher film. None of the mystery that filled Silence is present in this film, in it's place is killing and gore.

Now that's not to say that Hannibal is a bad film, it's just a different film. It kept me mostly entertained through the entire film. It follows the book pretty closely, well as close as a film can follow a book. Anthony Hopkins is good, but not great, it's more like he's doing his Hannibal imitation, than living the role. Julliane Moore is fine as Clarice, but she wasn't given much to do. Ridley's photography is typically beautiful, but the film has got none of the heart that Gladiator did. Overall it's an ok follow up for Silence, but I sure wanted better.

8/16/1: Ridley's latest Black Hawk Down had it's trailer premier online. Find a link for it in the Watch section. Can't really tell much about the film from the trailer. War scenes and close-ups for the most part, with Ridley's gorgeous photography. I'm a little hesitant because of the involvement of Jerry Bruckheimer. He excels at making Hollywood crap. I'm hoping that we can get a deeper film from Ridley's direction. Check out a lot of news about the film and the real event at: CineMAYHEM