Good Guy Deckard

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9.5
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10.0
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Honestly this might well become my definitive version of Blade Runner. Deckard is left a little more of a mystery as his reactions to "retiring" the Replicants grow--it's a dark world and perhaps the reason Deckard retired in the first place. What I truly enjoy about this version (apart from the absence of Harrison Ford's tired narration), is how it refocuses the narrative on choice.

Rachael's arc is perhaps the best shown by this, from her attempt to prove her own humanity to her choice to save Deckard, this edit brings Sean Young's marvelous and nuanced performance to the fore. The bond between her and Deckard is still one forged of desperation, but now it's also a shared vulnerability and kindness. It also makes the parallels between Batty/Pris and Deckard/Rachael more compelling, and Deckard's fear at the end all the more palpable.

This extends to the adjustment of Sebastian's motivation and fate. While elements of manipulation and danger remains, it feels so much more fulfilling leaving that to the background. Instead we get a feel for this lonely man who knows what it is to be dying, who lets his sympathy blind him to the anger and despair that Batty is cycling through. Leaving his fate ambiguous also makes more sense given what we've learned about Batty: namely that beneath the fire is a scared man desperate to be free.

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TLDR: Some Blade Runner fans might not like it, but IMO this is the best version, full stop.

It's been a hot minute since I've seen the original or any fanedit for that matter. It was nice to watch the story with a fresh eye. From a technical/editing standpoint, I always look at it from a "did anything take me out of the film" point of view and I'm happy to say no.

Furthermore and in that regard, it's what is truly great about this fanedit. The tightness and precision really drives the story.
Now all visual and audio cues make you focus on the story in front of you. I actually noticed little things I hadn't before or at least I payed more attention to them. No voice over, no dates, no dream, etc. This is the right way to tell the story. It's a detective story after all and part of what makes it fun is detecting.

It's all there to drive the story, to explain the world and the characters, all without spoon feeding you like the theatrical cut did. It's a less is more approach that this kind of story and film thrive on. You watch it once and are blown away, then you come back and soak up the little things more and more.

Anyway, that's my two cent take on this fanedit. Thank you Wakeupkeo for your great fanedits and looking forward to watching more.

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Overall rating
 
9.4
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9.0
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9.0
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9.0
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10.0
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10.0
Nothing of consequence was cut, in my opinion.

I've always liked the apparent good movie hidden underneath Bladerunner. The general trend in Riddley Scott's movies seems to be to have great aesthetical ideas that COULD mesh well together with the themes if those themes weren't either bogged down by bloat or additions to the movies. I would summarize Scott's achiles' heel as being unfocused.

This edit by Wakeupkeo brings that focus, as fanfixes tend to do, with what in my opinion is thematic clarity. The big selling point of this is the removal of the abuse scene between Deckard and Rachael. Not just a comfortable removal for more modern eyes, editing this out refocuses the narrative on the messaging, and there is a similar editing refocusing on the replicants with regards to their quickly kindled friendship with Sebastian that likewise makes them, if not "good", at least not morally unscrupulous. The original Bladerunner is pretty deep into a noir aesthetic with all characters being more or less assholes, but never not being an asshole. To me it feels oddly gratuitous and indulgent – another way to sum up Scott's general issues, for that matter.

And indulgent is how I would characterize the abuse scene, just to linger on that note a bit more. I don't think the point that comes across is necessarily that Deckard is an abuser, but that this abuse is necessary for Rachael's grasping of freedom, and as such it just feeds into pretty nasty stereotypes rationalizing partner abuse. Being a woman, I'm pretty biased in this reading, but to be clear I'm not against showing abuse in movies itself, but I think the implied idea that abuse leads to liberation is a pretty unhealthy messaging that just detracted from the core narrative about the replicants' struggle for liberation. "He hits you because he cares/likes you" is a trope I'd rather just not make excuses for why they should be included, and therefore I think this edit really has a substantial effect on the movie itself, rather than just being a censoring of uncomfortable content - in the sense of censoring profanity, that is, and not censoring speech. I will say, however, that the abuse scene is historically interesting and a good conversation starter if nothing else.

Bladerunner isn't just a movie about social themes, however, and I think Wakeupkeo has done a good job bringing that ambient, slow and dreamy experience that originally drew me to the movie (and which I thought Bladerunner 2049 did better, in the end) by abstracting elements in the movie. Even small things, like removing the date markings, help this, but I also enjoyed the removal of the unicorn passages, as it puts more focus on the world and the aesthetic. This means that it's a pretty lousy Philip K Dick adaptation, with his recurring themes about identity dissipation, by definition. But then again, Bladerunner never really was an adaptation to begin with.

There are a few editing hiccups that other reviews have made me aware of, but nothing that anything but really keen eyes would notice.

In conclusion, this is pretty much an edit that does EXACTLY what I wanted, and is perfectly in line with my tastes. I actually went hunting for a Bladerunner edit without this scene because I find the replicants relatable to things going on in my own life currently, and was delighted when the editor had also done other editing choices that I was interested in seeing! I fully recommend giving this a watch, whatever your opinion on the abuse scene is.

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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
For a "sacrilegious" edit of Blade Runner, "Good Guy Deckard" is quite possibly the best version of the film to date. Every edit serves to streamline the pacing without sacrificing the atmosphere or story and improve the characters substantially. Deckard still remains a flawed human being (emphasis on human being and not Replicant), but is ultimately a "good guy" and not a rapist, which in turn improves his dynamic with Rachael and his overall character arc. The removal of the mentions of the offscreen murders made the Replicants a lot more sympathetic.

Highly recommended and my go-to version of Blade Runner from now on!

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(Updated: February 06, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This is an interesting edit of the original Blade Runner. Whilst watching I could tell that things have been altered, however outside of any major scene cuts/removals I wasn't able to quite put my finger on what the precise changes were. I think the changes were more noticeable at the start of the film and it gave the film a slightly different feel and pacing to the ordinal. It conjured up in my mind, the feel of 70's US detective/cop films, in term of the edit / cut style earlier in the film.

The editing is well executed and reading the change list (after I had watched the film) I can see that a lot of thought and effort went into this edit. Great work!

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