Blade Runner: How the Final Cut is Different | Screen Rant

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The Final Cut of Blade Runner is often called the definitive version of the cyberpunk classic, but what is different in this edition of the Harrison Ford film? Released in 1982, Blade Runner was a sci-fi thriller with a difference. The film was intense, moody, and hard to follow, a complex and thoughtful slice of futuristic mystery that melded elements of the hard-boiled detective story with sci-fi tropes to create a neo-noir like none other. Of course, the studio balked at the film’s complex story, resulting in a battle with its creator that led to multiple hard-to-explain cuts of Blade Runner.

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A tortured production, Blade Runner went through many different edits as it was passed between the frustrated director, Alien‘s Ridley Scott, and a tentative studio. The distributors were worried the film would bomb as audiences might not connect with this adaptation of the cult sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Blade Runner was ambitious and uncompromising in its strange story of Deckard, a possibly robotic cop who is sent to seek out and destroy replicants, rogue robots who can easily pass for humans.

Related: Why Ridley Scott is Sci-Fi’s Most Important Director

In the years since the Final Cut’s 2007 release, fans have understandably wanted to know which is the best version of Blade Runner. It’s a reasonable inquiry as each edit of the movie has its ardent defenders. But for Ridley Scott completists, the differences in the Final Cut – which included restoration to sound and visuals and some digital fixes – are what make it the definitive and best version of this Philip K Dick adaptation. So what are these differences? Well, chief amongst them is the complete re-addition of its more violent moments and the full restoration of the movie’s (in)famous unicorn dream sequence, which was incredibly important alongside the director’s cut’s removal of the studio-mandated happy ending.

The Restored Violence (And Why It Matters)

Now director Ridley Scott was no stranger to the grim specter of some gory sci-fi violence. After all, his most recent release at the time of this film’s production was an iconic 1979 sci-fi horror Alien, leading the director to include a fun Alien easter egg in Blade Runner. But the studio was concerned by the violent content in Blade Runner’s theatrical cut. Thus they opted to cut out a lot of cutting and slicing. This included a re-shot death scene for Zhora that gives her demise more dignity and replaces the stunt performer’s face with that of Lee Pulford, but also some more infamous gore. The scene in which Tyrell is killed at the hands of Roy once again includes his eyes being gouged out, which the director’s cut left out.

The Final Cut also reintegrates more grisly shots of Batty giving himself some bloody stigmata, a fascinating piece of religious symbolism that underlines his god complex. The sequence also contrasts the tragic villain with Deckard’s possible Judas figure, reminding viewers that the hero may be a replicant killing his fellow replicants. But whilst the restored violence is key to understanding this Christian symbolism, it’s a combination of adding in the full unicorn dream and removing the terrible theatrical ending which makes sense of the film’s plot itself.

The Full Unicorn Dream Sequence Explained

Deckard and the Unicorn in Blade Runner

In any edition, Blade Runner is a potentially confusing film. It’s a trippy and complicated story, and even the film’s belated sequel from sci-fi visionary Denis Villeneuve was no less challenging for uninitiated audiences. Like the 1982 original Blade Runner 2049 needed its ending explained and had trouble connecting with audiences at the box office. But at least Blade Runner 2049 didn’t have a vital piece of the puzzle cut out by over-zealous editors. The unicorn dream sequence occurs when Ford’s conflicted anti-hero falls asleep at a piano and dreams of a unicorn running free in the forest. This is an image which most interpret as an implication that Deckard is, unbeknownst to himself, actually a replicant who dreams of freedom from his enforced servitude. The scene is included briefly in the Director’s Cut, but in the Final Cut it has room to breathe and its significance becomes clear.

Related: Every Ridley Scott Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

Why The Final Cut’s Changes Matter To Blade Runner

It’s been so long since Scott’s film first arrived in theatres in its truncated form that Blade Runner is no longer set in the future. In the decades since the movie was released, it’s fair to say that audiences at large appear to have become more open to open-ended endings. For evidence of this phenomenon just look at how many modern movies end on an ambiguous note, then compare this to Blade Runner‘s original audience-approved ending. In this much-maligned version, Deckard and the lone surviving replicant ride off into the sunset over footage recycled from The Shining. Crucially, the viewer learns nothing about whether Deckard is a replicant or anything else.

Instead, all the audience finds out is that test audiences can’t be trusted. One vital difference in the Final Cut from the original film is the removal of this unnecessary and tonally disastrous happy ending, a decision that both Ridley Scott and star Harrison Ford approved. There are so many different versions of Blade Runner that some super-fans have even ranked the many versions, but one thing the director’s cut, workprint, and Final Cut all agree on is that this surreal ending doesn’t work. Thus, in the director’s cut of 1992 and also the Final Cut, the bizarre sunny drive out of LA and into the mountains is removed. It’s replaced by a more ambiguous and intense denouement as Deckard gazes at an origami unicorn. Then, since this callback makes sense in the Final Cut where the full unicorn dream is given more focus, this seemingly triggers his realization that he’s a replicant.

Okay, so that revelation isn’t explicitly stated, even in the Final Cut. And yes, plenty of sci-fi fans will still argue that Deckard isn’t a replicant. But fans are bound to argue a lot of different theories about such a complex movie, which is why the Final Cut’s ambiguity is so vital. In fact, the franchise’s fandom is still arguing over which movie is better, Blade Runner or Blade Runner 2049. But there’s no denying that with its ending restored and the full unicorn dream included, the Final Cut of Blade Runner is the most complete and well-realized iteration of Ridley Scott’s singular sci-fi vision. Some viewers may well still find this influential sci-fi classic too heavy and complex for their taste, but the restoration of its complete story in the Final Cut remains a vital moment in cinema history.

More: Alien Shares A Universe With Blade Runner

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