We’ve talked about the movie’s thematic structure, how Rick Deckard becomes a robot over the course of the movie, having started out not far removed, and how Roy Batty is humanized as he accelerates toward his engineered death. The only weak link in the narrative extends from this point – the tears in rain monologue was of course very telling of Roy Batty’s character as human, but it was meant to reflect on Rick Deckard as a replicant. One of the endings of Blade Runner (never filmed) was Deckard taking Rachel up north and shooting her in the back, which would have worked perfectly after the monologue scene, where our hero must embrace the robot he’s become.
Of course, what we have in the Director’s Cut, which in my opinion is the most best Cut (I hate that I even have to make the distinction) is the taste that lingers – ambiguity, as some see it. I see it as a clever bookend and a confirmation on what we’ve observed earlier, that Deckard is in some sense a replicant, and the preface to a truncated denoument.
Of course, had Blade Runner shown Deckard shooting Rachel, which we may or may not infer happens after the credits, it may have suffered Boyz N the Hood syndrome: we didn’t have to be shown (or told, rather blandly) that Doughboy dies young, it’s been implied internally in the narrative. Not only that, but it seems to be pounding the sadness of the South Central situation on to near excess. So maybe we don’t need to see the guy shoot the girl, because it is in some way implied – as an extension of Deckard as dehumanized robot – but I see too many pros over cons to the scene.
Running with this thematic thing, the hypothetical shooting of Rachel serves only the plot, a payoff to the various discussions of “No [I wouldn’t come after you]. But somebody would,” but an actual displayed shooting of Rachel would have a grave tragedy to it because of the visceral nature of the act itself – its power lies in its existence, which sounds stupid, so in other words we need to see it in order for it to work. This is film, after all.
Rachel walks out into a clearing and Deckard is there behind her (I believe while snow is falling) mulling it over with that stoic and shadowed face, and then shoots her and walks off. He doesn’t like it, but he’s not human anymore, and this is the demonstration of that fact. That would solidify the themes whereas now what we’re sort of stuck with is endless ambiguity. Will Deckard and Rachel live a happy life together? (I guess that’s explored in the sequel novels – Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human through Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon) Is Deckard a replicant? Will Gaff ever find true love?
So basically Blade Runner‘s ending should be like what Jin-Roh has. Kill the girl, embrace the wolf.
It’s too bad she won’t live. But then again – who does?
For more on Blade Runner, check out the Blade Runner Directory
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November 12, 2011 at 10:23 PM
Craig D.
I don’t know if I would be satisfied with any ending other than the Director’s Cut ending, not the unfilmed Of Mice and Men ending with Rachel getting it in the back and certainly not the “forget all that darkness and uncertainty, everything worked out perfectly” theatrical ending that came out of fucking nowhere and didn’t belong at all. The Director’s Cut ending works for me, I guess, because it doesn’t really matter what happens after Deckard comes home to Rachel. The story is over at that point.
From what I’ve been told, the sequel novels are something of a joke, poor fan fiction written by an author with contempt for the material. Which is funny, knowing that K.W. Jeter was a close friend of Phil Dick. Apparently Jeter explains who the “missing replicant” was (a plot hole that was fixed in the Final Cut), brings Pris and Sebastian back to life, reveals that Pris was actually human, I remember hearing something about a Roy Batty clone, and… yeah, I don’t really want to read them.
November 13, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Jung-ho
Yeah I have little interest in the Blade Runner sequel novels as well, but I’ll hold out hope for Scott’s own Blade Runner 2, after his Alien sidequel or spiritual successor. This is a truly crazy time for scifi… not an automatically great one (Scott’s been off his game for eleven years) but we’ll see…
The Director’s Cut ending is pretty solid. I like that the door closes and -boom- cut to credits and that Vangelis ending theme. It also lets the Unicorn origami be the final bookend, where in the Theatrical Cut, not only does the Unicorn origami have less significance, it goes on and on with that absurd voice-over……..
November 13, 2011 at 2:36 PM
Craig D.
I may be mistaken here — I haven’t seen the theatrical cut in years — but I don’t think the unicorn origami is in that cut. I think Deckard comes homes to Rachel and it cuts to their happy frolic in the woods. I’ve heard people defend the voiceover by saying that it fits in with the film noir aspects of the movie, and I get that. But it’s just so fucking awful, seriously the worst acting I’ve ever heard from Harrison Ford, and the writing is miserable.
Call me crazy, but I think Chris Nolan should make Blade Runner 2. My dislike of The Dark Knight hasn’t lessened any, but I liked Inception well enough, and Batman Begins proves that he absolutely revels in Blade Runner. And honestly, I’m not sure I trust Scott these days. Not only are his movies more miss than hit, but there’s every indication that he doesn’t even understand Blade Runner at all, going on and on about how Deckard is definitely a replicant.
November 13, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Jung-ho
Ridley Scott’s output from Gladiator onwards was not only as far from science-fiction as he could get, it ranged from the terrible (Black Hawk Down) to the Gee I wonder why this movie was made (Body of Lies)? Christopher Nolan would be a good fit; he’s definitely a huge fan of the movie and has an eye for production design. In a perfect world I’d say David Cronenberg, but he’s got his hands tied with Cosompolis I believe.
The Theatrical Cut does not have the Unocorn dream. It was on TV a few weeks ago and my roommate and I were watching it, me having never seen the Cut in full. I was like, “Yep just wait for it, he’s gonna be dreaming of some fucking unicorns…” and it never happened. I did get to experience all the voiceover, which essentially just repeats what’s going on in the movie–for example when Deckard shoots Zhora he’s standing there thinking, “She sure looked human. Hm. That makes me feel… less than human,” or something; it’s like a bad audio commentary from filmmakers who think their audiences are morons. Ahem, George Lucas
November 13, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Jung-ho
*Cosmopolis
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