Cinematic Review – “Blade Runner” starring Harrison Ford

July 24, 2009 rrnorton

For my cinematic review, I chose the movie Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, and Daryl Hannah (just to name a few), on the advice of my boyfriend.  Actually, I was (or should I say “we were”?!) going to review A Clockwork Orange but the local video store did not have a copy.  Thus, he brought home Blade Runner and Easy Rider and told me to choose.  Easy decision as Blade Runner stars Harrison Ford.  Thus, I digress…

Back to my review…Blade Runner is a futurist movie starring Harrison Ford as a “blade runner”, a person who seeks out and “retires” humanoid androids, known as replicants.  As written in Yahoo! Movies, the story line of Blade Runner is as follows:   “In the year 2019, ex-detective Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to track down and eliminate a team of humanoid androids that have escaped from an outer space mining colony and have taken refuge here on Earth. During his search for the fugitives, he discovers some disturbing secrets about the future plans of the androids’ manufacturer, the Tyrell Corporation.”  (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800037822/details)
           

Given that we were asked to review the “photography” of the movie, I cannot tell you much of the storyline.  While viewing the video, I paid more attention to the placement of persons, places, and background items.  I chose three scenes to discuss in detail, as well as general observations to include in this review.

The first scene I would like to review is the opening scene.  I found the opening scene to be “Star Wars-esque” in that the opening scene was not a visual of pictures, but a visual of scrolling written text.  The opening scene provides a outline, so to speak, to explain blade runners, replicants, and the like.  I found this interesting as Harrison Ford also starred in the three ORIGINAL Star Wars movies.

The next scene I would like to discuss is the first scene that is visual.  The movie begins with a dark skyline, very futuristic, with its share of flying vehicles.  In addition, the foreground shows multiple flaming towers, which appear to be placed roughly using the rule of thirds, as well has the occasional lightening bolt.  I found this scene to give the impression that the future is a dark, dreary place.

During the film, it became apparent that the rule of thirds was frequently used.  There are many conversational scenes throughout the movie.  Each of these scenes frequently applied the rule where one participant was on the left third of the scene while speaking and the other participant would be on the right third of the scene while speaking.  During the conversation scenes, I noticed there was very little visual background, although there was almost always background noise.

Another observation, one pointed out by my boyfriend, was the style or fashion of dress.  Although the movie is set in the future, the dress or fashion of the characters seemed to be “retro” or Dick Tracy-ish.  It is obvious the film is set in the future, and frankly the computer graphics for the time are very good.  But the style of dress/fashion of the characters struck me as odd for the time frame the movie is to take place.

The last scene to review is one with Harrison Ford.  In this scene, he is leaning on a piano, tinkling the keys.  He is located in the left third of the scene, while the piano keys cut across the bottom third.  I found this to be another good example of the rule of thirds.

Upon reviewing my notes, I noticed that I had written that the movie was a good mix of conversational scenes and action scenes.  In the conversation scenes, it is obvious the person speaking is the focal point.  There seems to be very little to no visual background as to not detract from what the individual is saying.  In fact, I wrote that the background in these scenes appear to be “plain”.  In contrast, the “action” scenes were just the opposite.  In those scenes, you see a lot of background, buildings, people, vehicles, etc.  These scenes, although almost always having the appearance of dark and dreary, were rarely “plain”.

In conclusion, I had never sat and watched a movie in this way before.  Like most of us, I choose a movie based on interest and the storyline, not for its cinematography.  Definitely a very unique experience.  I enjoyed it.

 

~R

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