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Blade Runner: The Final Cut Review (Contains spoilers)

PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:10 pm
by NMMan
I attended a screening of Blade Runner: The Final Cut (NYC at the Ziegfeld) last Friday, and all I can say is "wow". The first thing that impressed me was the Ziegfeld Theatre itself, where BR is the only film being shown for the next week and a half. The theatre seated about 2,000 comfortably, and was formatted to screen digital prints, which meant that BR would look incredible.

And did it ever, I can say firsthand that a tremendous amount of work had to have been done to digitally restore BR to have it look how I saw it the other day. This is easily the best that BR has ever looked or sounded, you truly felt like you were in the middle of the atmosphere. Sound effects rumbled or exploded around the audience, and the soundtrack was equally as lush.

As far as the movie itself and its changes, it was nearly identical to the previous director's cut, with some exceptions.

*In the opening shot, the flames shooting up have been re-animated to look more realistic
*In the second shot of the staring eye, you could see the pupil react to the setting of 2019 L.A.
*A couple of shots were trimmed (such as Deckard's intro staring at the blimp)
*All spinner wires have been removed and matte lines erased
*Captain Bryant now says that "2" replicants were fried in the electrical field
*A new voiceover from Captain Bryant was inserted describing Leon's job
*New Cityspeak came over on the police scanner in Gaff's spinner rides both to the police station and the Tyrell building
*The original shot of Batty in the VidPhon booth that had been recycled from the later confrontation with Tyrell has been digitally altered so that it truly does look like Batty was in the booth
*The hotel manager mutters "Kowalski" as he opens the door to Leon's room for Deckard and Gaff, also Harrison's son Ben Ford was used as a stand-in during the silhouetted bathroom scene
*Of course, the new Unicorn footage
*New footage of the LA streets before Animoid Row and Taffey Lewis's club, including the hockey-masked geisha dancers
*The serial number on the snake scale now matches the Animoid Row lady's dialogue
*The lip flap between Deckard and Abdul Ben Hassan has been corrected
*Zhora's snake tattoo on her face from the photograph has been digitally added
*In Zhora's death scene, you can tell it is her the entire time. While previously it was obvious that her stunt double Lee Pulford was in the shot, Cassidy's head was digitally superimposed over Pulford's.
*The "extra violence" footage from the International Version was inserted
*During Batty's confrontation with Tyrell, he says, "I want more life, father", in addition to saying "Come Sebastian, come" when Sebastian is trying to escape after Batty murders Tyrell
*When Batty releases the dove, it now flies up into a background that matches 2019 L.A. (one of the most gorgeous shots of the film, I need a screen capture of that)

I don't want to be repetitive, but seeing BR this way is just like seeing it for the first time - if you're a fan, you're almost guaranteed to fall in love with the film all over again. If you're anywhere close to NYC or Los Angeles, I promise you, it is worth the trip to check out this masterpiece on the big screen. For everyone else, you have a lot to look forward to on December 18. :-)

PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:50 pm
by msgeek
So the audio system at the Ziegfeld has a bit more bass than the one at The Landmark, huh? Cool. So it's not the mix, it's the audio system. Do you know what kind of projection system they use at the Ziegfeld? Yeah, I know, geeky questions about minutiae.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:01 am
by NMMan
I wish I could say I was more technically proficient to give you more information, but I do know that the film was in 4K projection on a 52-foot digital screen, if that helps you any.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:58 am
by deleted
Thank you for the review! I'll be seeing it on Saturday. I was just wondering, the shot where you said...

*A couple of shots were trimmed (such as Deckard's intro reading the newspaper)

Is it the shot of him looking at the blimp?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:05 am
by NMMan
Yup, that's the one, it runs a little shorter than it did in both the 1982 original version and 1992 director's cut.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:07 am
by deleted
NMMan wrote:Yup, that's the one, it runs a little shorter than it did in both the 1982 original version and 1992 director's cut.

Ah, ok. Thanks. Then they used the WP version...nice.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:11 am
by eccentricbeing
I will say that Lauzirika was right about the FC having a different color timing than the remastered DC. It's not vastly different, but I noticed on most of the matte painting that different shades were added to create better detail. Not sure if the purists are going to like that. :lol: I could care less, honestly.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:30 pm
by deleted
Oh, also, did Roy say "You?re not in pain, are you? Are you in pain?" after bursting through the wall?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:54 pm
by dmohrUSC
Wondering if there was any previously-rare footage of Deckard in Leon's hotel room included in the FC, like what's in this trailer (which I saw for the first time @ the New Beverly retrospective theater in L.A. about 10 years ago and my jaw hit the floor). Check it out from 1:17 to 1:25...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lW0F1sccqk

Though I'd imagine that this footage didn't make it into the FC either, and it will be included "as is" on the trailers section of the extras DVD in December, and possibly (hopefully!) in the deleted scenes section as well.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:05 pm
by eccentricbeing
deleted wrote:Oh, also, did Roy say "You?re not in pain, are you? Are you in pain?" after bursting through the wall?


No, I don't think he did. It plays like the DC.


dmohrUSC wrote:Wondering if there was any previously-rare footage of Deckard in Leon's hotel room included in the FC, like what's in this trailer (which I saw for the first time @ the New Beverly retrospective theater in L.A. about 10 years ago and my jaw hit the floor). Check it out from 1:17 to 1:25...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lW0F1sccqk

Though I'd imagine that this footage didn't make it into the FC either, and it will be included "as is" on the trailers section of the extras DVD in December, and possibly (hopefully!) in the deleted scenes section as well.


That trailer is f***ing awesome! I love that trailer. It didn't make the FC, but I'm sure, like you said, will be in the DVD.

Also, the shot you're talking about is deleted's avatar.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:37 pm
by THX1138
Great list of additions. Thanks a lot. I had a question about what was added, but you seemed to answer all of them.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:45 pm
by I. J. Thompson
One thing I wonder about is the sequencing of Batty's elbow breaking the window after Deckard whacks him with the pipe. Batty driving the nail through his hand takes place in the same location, but the window is already broken (seriously - look at the pattern of the glass shards). Then, when Deckard hits him, we see his elbow break the glass into the pattern we've already seen!

Have the scenes been rearranged (I doubt it), or have any 'enhancements' been done to the glass to make them look different?

PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:18 am
by deleted
eccentricbeing wrote:
deleted wrote:Oh, also, did Roy say "You?re not in pain, are you? Are you in pain?" after bursting through the wall?


No, I don't think he did. It plays like the DC.


dmohrUSC wrote:Wondering if there was any previously-rare footage of Deckard in Leon's hotel room included in the FC, like what's in this trailer (which I saw for the first time @ the New Beverly retrospective theater in L.A. about 10 years ago and my jaw hit the floor). Check it out from 1:17 to 1:25...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lW0F1sccqk

Though I'd imagine that this footage didn't make it into the FC either, and it will be included "as is" on the trailers section of the extras DVD in December, and possibly (hopefully!) in the deleted scenes section as well.


That trailer is f***ing awesome! I love that trailer. It didn't make the FC, but I'm sure, like you said, will be in the DVD.

Also, the shot you're talking about is deleted's avatar.

Yup. I love that trailer. The shorter trailer one is great too (its the one with the Rachael smoking shot), and I'd stick that on youtube as well, but the one i have is really bad quality, and its part of another video, and basically, I need a better copy.