Blade Runner: Danse Macabre

I'm not a big fan of Blade Runner, but I do like it, and although I'm interested in seeing alternative takes on the narrative and pacing, the soundtrack is probably something I've always considered untouchable. However, I went into this with an open mind after seeing the trailer.

The result? Well, I felt that some alternate music choices worked really well, particularly towards the beginning of the edit. However, there were times where it just plain didn't work, and really altered the tone of the film in a bad way. Some examples being during the club scene, Snake Lady scene (as well as her chase and demise) and the final battle with Roy.

Visual and audio editing is generally pretty good, and for the most part, music choice is preferential. There were a couple of occasions where the original Vangelis soundtrack comes through, only to quickly disappear again, but they are easily overlooked. Occasionally, I felt the music was either too loud or too quiet, but this didn't have a huge bearing on my enjoyment of the edit.
Some visual cuts were a bit quick, but these are infrequent.

Visual/audio quality was good, but I believe the blu ray is superior visually, and although minor I could tell a difference. The audio in terms of balance between dialogue and other audio seemed to me to have improved though.

But my chief concern was the way in which the narrative had been altered. The pacing was improved, but some bizarre choices of scenes were cut... Some examples:

- Because of the cut scenes, Rachel has no motivation to save deckard.
- Deckard not answering Rachel when she says "Would you come after me?" creates tension and leaves it ambiguous whether he would kill her, which is fine, but then Rachel pokes around the apartment, let's her hair down and starts playing piano - something you absolutely would NOT do after being left wondering whether someone is about to kill you or not.
- Deckard is much more of a jerk, which I'm not a fan of. I probably wouldn't mind too much, except that the borderline rape scene is now just plain rape - It's also made much darker, particularly due to the lack of a romantic element.
- Priss's character is generally underdeveloped.
- The sudden jump to Roy in Sebastian's apartment is jarring and there's no explanation for why or how he came to be there.
- In the elevator, Sebastian calls a check-mate move, but now only says "check" - why?
- The "Its too bad she won't live, but then again who does?" line makes absolutely no sense in the context of this edit. Deckard isn't a replicant, and he clearly doesn't care about Rachel - the last time we see her is when he rapes her.

Overall, well edited for the most part, but I can't say I'm a fan. Some of this is preference, but the narrative in particular made it very difficult for me to enjoy the edit.