Still, even if Roy Batty does kill Sebastian this time around as well, at least this time he says "sorry." )
) ) )
Whenever I see a newspaper or hear a broadcast that refers a "brutal slaying," I always try to imagine what a "gentle" slaying might look like. Now I know: it's apologizing before you strangle the life out of your victim.
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,652MI6 Agent
I got my hi-def BluRay version of the briefcase set yesterday and watched The Final Cut. Overall, it is pretty much the same as The Director's Cut but they really cleaned up the picture. The effects shots - which usually stand out the most with these remasters - look absolutely crisp and beautiful. Ridley Scott also saw fit to clean up a few details which always bugged me: Bryant's speech about how many replicants were on the loose, Zhora's death, and the shot of the dove flying off as Roy dies (the new version is perfect) are all now fixed. Overall, the new edition gets a mammoth thumbs up.
I also saw some of the deleted scenes - really amazing stuff. You could almost make an entirely different version of the movie using those scenes. Also of interest is Ford's narration, which is totally different from the theatrical cut, and the scenes with Holden in the hospital room, which introduce a subplot about the Voit Kampff machine not working on Nexus 6 models.
I haven't even checked out the documentaries or other features yet, but for fans of the movie it just doesn't get any better than this.
I'm working my way through disc 4, I believe, and I've never seen deleted scenes having such high quality considering that's 25 year old footage they've used, and yes, they can pretty much make up a whole new version of the film, demonstrated by the way you practically have a cliff-notes of the story by going the "play all" route; even the segues go smoothly to create unity for the sequences.
With that said, as edifying the additional information in the "lost" footage, I can see why much of that stayed on the cutting room floor, since the few iterations that made it to screen more or less restrict the experience to that taut, somber and mood provoking BR that made it wat it was. For example, Deckard's hokey nightclub inspector voice bothered me enough, but to see him in his affable, sometime chummy side took away from his soul(essness), just as the frequent future jargon words and whiney Holden sequences would have reduced BR to the Jean Claude Van Damme or Roger Corman genre of SciFi. As poingnant though Batty's alternate death scene, the final version was more excellent, and similar dynamics can be said for other deleted scenes compared to their "print" counterparts.
One scene though, that admittedly appealed to my adolescent interests but which I think has validity that should have warranted its retention, is the Deckard/Rachel sex scene, quivering thighs, heaving mammaries and all. It conveyed more effectively the uninitiated/virginal aspect of the replicant Rachel who in essence is a breathing and feeling human being. Without it, personally, the effect on my all these years is feeling how Deckard was carrying on with an animated love doll.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the special features as well as the workprint and final cut.
Lastly, I'm very pleased with the tinfoil unicorn, which pleasantly and actually chromed plastic and not an actual origami foil gum wrapper that I expected it to be; as authentic as that would have been, it would be a cheesy "bonus" item. Mostly though, mostly, I love the Corgi style Spinner, which is the first, relatively accurate, mass produced miniature of this iconic vehicle...but would it have killed them to include Deckard and Gaff figures!?! ) ...just kidding, the current James Bond Car Collection of miniature vehicles/dioramas from Europe has been spoiling me on that front, raising the standard and throwing down the gauntlet for Corgi.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Comments
Whenever I see a newspaper or hear a broadcast that refers a "brutal slaying," I always try to imagine what a "gentle" slaying might look like. Now I know: it's apologizing before you strangle the life out of your victim.
I'm working my way through disc 4, I believe, and I've never seen deleted scenes having such high quality considering that's 25 year old footage they've used, and yes, they can pretty much make up a whole new version of the film, demonstrated by the way you practically have a cliff-notes of the story by going the "play all" route; even the segues go smoothly to create unity for the sequences.
With that said, as edifying the additional information in the "lost" footage, I can see why much of that stayed on the cutting room floor, since the few iterations that made it to screen more or less restrict the experience to that taut, somber and mood provoking BR that made it wat it was. For example, Deckard's hokey nightclub inspector voice bothered me enough, but to see him in his affable, sometime chummy side took away from his soul(essness), just as the frequent future jargon words and whiney Holden sequences would have reduced BR to the Jean Claude Van Damme or Roger Corman genre of SciFi. As poingnant though Batty's alternate death scene, the final version was more excellent, and similar dynamics can be said for other deleted scenes compared to their "print" counterparts.
One scene though, that admittedly appealed to my adolescent interests but which I think has validity that should have warranted its retention, is the Deckard/Rachel sex scene, quivering thighs, heaving mammaries and all. It conveyed more effectively the uninitiated/virginal aspect of the replicant Rachel who in essence is a breathing and feeling human being. Without it, personally, the effect on my all these years is feeling how Deckard was carrying on with an animated love doll.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the special features as well as the workprint and final cut.
Lastly, I'm very pleased with the tinfoil unicorn, which pleasantly and actually chromed plastic and not an actual origami foil gum wrapper that I expected it to be; as authentic as that would have been, it would be a cheesy "bonus" item. Mostly though, mostly, I love the Corgi style Spinner, which is the first, relatively accurate, mass produced miniature of this iconic vehicle...but would it have killed them to include Deckard and Gaff figures!?!