"Blade Runner - The Final Cut"

Oh my goodness. I love "Blade Runner", but seeing this digitally restored version was just incredible, and on the big screen no less! The first shots of the cityscape of Los Angeles were just stunning and breathtaking, and made all the better with Vangelis' majestic music overriding it. I haven't seen either of the two previous versions of the film in a while, so I couldn't identify what all the new footage is - I only caught two bits. Everything about the film is just gorgeous. It really was a landmark film of its time, and it's completely underappreciated in a lot of circles. The set design in itself is incredible. I tried to take in a lot of the backgrounds and other things rather than the main action. I forgot how good Edward James Olmos was in this film. You'd expect Harrison Ford to be good, but I forgot how much he got beat up in this. And with how amazingly good Sean Young is in this film, you'd have thought this film would have made her an incredible star. But, of course, with his quiet, steady, calm, commanding voice and demeanor, Rutger Hauer really does steal the show. It would be entirely cliche and predictable to say how powerful Roy Batty's final speech is and how gripping the final scene on the rooftops is in general. But there's a reason that both are so often cited and so recognizable. Being able to see this version of the film on the big screen is one of the kind of things that makes me live in Southern California.

It's playing at the new Landmark Theatres (how appropriate!) near the Westside Pavilion in West L.A., but I don't know for how long. It's also playing somewhere in New York.

And yes, we're buying the mega-disk version in the cool packaging come December, even if it does come with that stupid unicorn origami thing.