Blade Runner: The Penultimate Cut

Damn, this has to be the absolute best version of Blade Runner I have ever seen! Watch in my big screen and got up close to see so many aspects, this edit is GOURGEOUS.

Thanks for the chance to watch this movie.

Blade Runner has never looked better, and kudos to TM2YC for the obviously intense labour of love on display here. With 30 (!) different audio tracks to choose from, I'll be revisiting this edition for years to come, but for my first go-round I watched one of the voiceover tracks and the narration clicked with me much more than it has in the past. Whether that's due to the striking visuals being given new life complementing the voiceover, or Scott's Final Cut editing choices wedded to the hard boiled inner monologue, I'm not sure, but this is a tremendous achievement, well deserving of its Best-of-2020 award.

Put simply, The Penultimate Cut looks and feels like The Final Cut without the heavy handed impregnation of teal fog, as though it had been extracted from the actual FC itself chemically. Like the FC it manages to unify a wide variety of exposure latitudes and grain within a darker, contrasting style - though here the contrast carries more clarity from the highlights by teasing out more detail rather than simply fogging an area to avoid burn out. This is also expertly assisted by the application of an almost universally warm skin tone in most scenes quite seamlessly - It is here where TM2YC has succeeded with flying colours in their aims to render a high definition 1980's analog video aesthetic, very reminiscent of the early VHS and laser discs of this title and indeed typical of the era. By using the latest elements it now looks crisp and sharp throughout and is possibly the most consistent quality of grading I've seen for this film from beginning to end. It is a professional looking job.

Having worked on the same source material previously myself, it is possibly academic to note that my preferences for the 2007 'Archival' Directors Cut grading do still remain. It's tonal depth, shadow detail, varied skin tones, exposures and environmental hues also add to my preference for an alternative narrative than is presented here - But TM2YC has pulled out and crafted many tonal elements that I openly envied as I watched it - There were details and concise colours drawn out from some tricky highlight areas that had me skipping back to double check. Very nice work. It gets full marks from me for visual editing for some excellent grading changes.

Also, any viewer need only look to the comprehensive list of available audio tracks accompanying this seamless presentation to realize it is a must in any Blade Runner collection. A lot of hard work and passion for the source material has gone into this and it shows.

Does exactly what it sets out to do - it's the Director's Cut of Blade Runner with Final Cut fixes. The visual overhaul is stupendous, as is the video quality and the seamless editing. This edit made me see I actually prefer the tinted lighting of the Final Cut, but if it really bothered you, this edit will cover it nicely. Mandatory viewing for BR fanatics.

Straight out of the gate this is the best-regraded Blade Runner fan edit I ever watched. Simply stunning work. The amount of time and technical details put in the visual is unbelievable. I feel like watching my LD but with higher resolution.

The only problem with the LD is the low analog quality, especially if you combine it with 4k screens. Also not a fan of the official heavily teal-tinted new look so I can fully understand why TM2YC took it upon himself to have the LD experience in higher quality. No wonder TM2YC took 5 years to release this :)

Speaking about the cut itself. Well, I might be not a fan of the unicorn cut but this fan edit is simply well put together and there are no issues with the overall viewing experience.

The audio mix is perfectly mixed with the cut. Never was the Vangelis soundtrack so beautiful in synch with the visual experience.

One of the best edits I watched this year and what a viewing experience. Thx TM2YC for the early Xmas gift.