frothystout
Member
Replicants arent being hunted because they are evil; they were being hunted because they went rogue and tried to blend into the human population.
They were essentially being hunted because they were intended to be lifelike automatons and instead developed a sense of free will, which was entirely unacceptable to their slavers.
But thats just the surface narrative.
Mine the film and you discover a myriad of deeper philosophical questions and issues, including existentialism, the inevitable progression of life into death, what it means to be human, and how much responsibility and control we as a species should have over our sentient creations.
Then you have the relationship between Deckard who may or may not be a Replicant and a woman who most assuredly is. That relationship alone is a soft but poignant deliberation on love, attraction, and the notion that we are all, ultimately, just a collection of impulses, responses and electrical stimulations.
Not to mention the larger ambiguity that Deckards unknown origins brings to the table, which is a broader suggestion that ANYONE could be a Replicant and not realize it, again shaking if not outright obliterating the presumptions of what actually makes up human.
That isnt to say T2 doesnt possess some interesting philosophical underpinnings but those are mostly placed in between action sequences. By contrast, Blade Runners deeper themes are the crux of the narrative and are only occasionally interrupted by small moments of action.
Also, I would be shocked if Blade Runner didn't inspire Cameron on at least some level when making both Terminator films.
You bring up some good points about the content, but much of that is severely understated within the film (I don't think I generally need to be beaten over the head with themes, maybe I do) that I think it's more fair to say that the film perhaps lightly touches those ideas or introduces them without really examining them...regardless of the depth of exploration however, I think those all pretty much surround the topic of, "what does it mean to be human?" as we already brought up. Perhaps it's one of those "if you see it at a certain time in your life, it will resonate" type of movies. I'd already seen 2001, Terminator, the Matrix, District 9, and countless other movies about humanity, identity, mortality, etc. before watching Blade Runner. I have no doubt it influenced many, if not most, of my favorite films...I just don't think it holds up well at all unfortunately.
Honestly I think it sucks that I don't like it much, as I said, I really wanted to. I think maybe I just put it off too long and now I just don't appreciate what it's trying to do.