Blade Runner Parent Guide

In the far-off year of…um, 2019, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) has been tasked with hunting down four replicants, androids nearly indistinguishable from humans, who have killed several humans and escaped into Los Angeles. Led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), the replicants are eager to extend their short four-year lifespans by any means necessary. Deckard will be hard pressed to find and “retire” them before anyone else is hurt, and in the process, will be asked some crucial questions about who he considers to be human.

Blade Runner is a classic of science fiction for a reason. The plot is compelling and thought-provoking, but it’s the aesthetic qualities of this film that draw people back. Deckard prowls the gloomy, rain soaked and neon splattered streets of Los Angeles, circa 2019. The city is dark and choked with fogs and mists, along with a general miasma of depression and loneliness. The brightly colored advertisements that permeate the smoke do little to brighten the films tone: To the contrary, they reinforce through contrast the otherwise drab and miserable nature of this distant future.

Deckard is a deeply flawed character, one prone to drowning his melancholy with alcohol, but his involvement in the manhunt is involuntary from the start, making him a sympathetic protagonist. His job is dangerous, thankless, and unpleasant, and he drinks to cope with the stress. Worse, the job has forced him to confront the moral quagmire which coats humanity’s use of replicants as off-world slave labor, despite their human appearance and intelligence. With all that weighing him down, it is unsurprising that Deckard is such a perfect neo-noir detective, full of angst and with nowhere to run to.

This is not suitable as a family film, owing mostly to the violence and brief nudity, but older teenagers and adults with an interest in big questions should absolutely see it. Although the story occasionally takes a backseat to the breathtaking cinematography and soundtrack, or to the dazzling special effects shots, what does come through is poignant and increasingly relevant as breakthroughs continue in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. Even then, led by talent like Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer, the simple plot is easily traceable through the occasionally dense filmmaking and complex morality. And at the end, through all that, Blade Runner is varyingly, slow, dark, philosophically difficult, and a superb example of science fiction.