Of COURSE Deckard Was A Replicant. Didn't You Pick Up on That Imperceptible Clue?

(#17) Watch 25 Classic Movies

1.   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2.   A Streetcar Named Desire
3.   It's a Wonderful Life
4.   Some Like it Hot
5.   The Terminator
6.   Terminator 2: Judgement Day
7.   The Princess Bride
8.   Ben-Hur
9.   Ferris Bueller's Day Off 
10. Sixteen Candles
11. Blade Runner

I was inspired to watch this movie after I saw Prometheus and then having to do extensive research on the interwebs about what Prometheus actually meant (I guess that should have been my first red flag). Apparently Ridley Scott's M.O. is just to think things in his head and not actually include them in the movie. Just from the extensive scrolling text in the beginning credits I knew I was going to struggle comprehending this one as well.

To demonstrate this point: Ronnie stepped out of the room to get a glass of water, came back, and asked "What'd I miss?" and I said, "We better rewind it." 

Anyway, the basic premise is there are these "replicants" who are the bad guy robots, but you can't tell them apart from humans. "Blade Runners" are special cops who are in charge of keeping replicants off Earth (they all work manual labor jobs on "off-world" colonies in space) and hunting down and terminating any that do try to escape. Which of course is a very difficult job because the replicants were designed to look and act exactly like humans.

Oh and also replicants eventually start to develop human emotions so to combat this their lifespans are limited to four years. But for some reason to make them MORE human they are given false memories so they believe their lives have actually been longer.

Following it so far? Just nod.

So Harrison Ford plays Deckard who is a retired Blade Runner, but apparently he is the best so he is forced to return to deal with an extra-difficult case. So he gets the scoop on these replicants and starts chasing them down through the confusing and crowded underground clubs of the future.

Maybe it would have made more sense if I could have seen what was going on half the time...

It is surprising that Deckard is the best Blade Runner because he is somewhat out of shape and not really a great shot. But (SPOILER ALERT!) he does manage to kill three out of four of the rebel replicants. The fourth one, Roy, saves Deckard from falling off a roof, presumably so Deckard can be witness to his death. Which is actually kind of a touching moment where Roy explains that when you know the time of your death, your whole life is lived in fear of that moment.

Then Deckard goes back to his apartment where he is hiding another fugitive replicant name Rachel whom he is now in love with. Rachel didn't know she was a replicant at first and so challenges Deckard to prove that he isn't one, too. Which really he can't. Other than that there is a brief daydream of a unicorn combined with a clue- an origami unicorn left in front of his apartment- that the unicorn wasn't a daydream but actually a thought implanted there by the police.

A unicorn! I get it. Wait...

Suddenly it is all so clear, right? According to Ridley Scott, Deckard is definitely a replicant.

But like with Prometheus (where the reason the aliens are pissed at us is because Jesus Christ was one of them and when they sent him down to Earth we killed him...both confusing AND blasphemous) movie-goers should not have to look to the words of the director to realize crucial plot points.

While sometimes lost when it comes to physics and futuristic technology, I consider myself an educated watcher, and I think maybe 1% of the population could have picked up on Scott's unicorn clue without any help. And those people include Scott, his mother, his wife, and anyone else who knows how frustratingly ambiguous he can be. And without the catharsis of finding out that Deckard has been a replicant the whole time- which most people do not get- the movies drives toward nothing.

Even realizing that Deckard is a replicant just leaves you with more questions- Why are the police letting him roam around on Earth? Why is he easily overpowered by the strength of the other replicants? Why do the police decide at the end of the movie to let him know that he is a replicant? Does he realize what the unicorn meant, or is just the viewer supposed to know?

Frustrating.

I know that Blade Runner has developed its own cult following (right down to several lines of merchandise) and I can appreciate that the graphics were actually really good for 1982.

All in all, though, I don't get it- literally and figuratively.