History YMMV / BladeRunner

** Hy Pike hamming it up as Taffy Lewis with his ''natural'' thick Southern accent.

** Common Knowledge says the Voight-Kampff test measures how much empathy a person has. Actually, it doesn't. In the future, animals have been driven to the brink of extinction, causing humanity to fetishize them to the point they have more cultural value than actual artificial people, the replicants.[[note]]The book is more explicit about the cultural symbolism behind animals in 21 century [=LA=], whereas it's mostly just for flavor in the film.[[/note]] The Voight-Kampff test measures how well a person has been indoctrinated with the animal-deification ideology that dominates the future society. A person is only deemed human if they have the appropriate cultural response to the sanctity of animal life. In keeping with the book's more explicit Nazi allegory, half the name is literally taken from Adolf Hitler's manifesto, who--as we all know--loved animals but accused the subhumans of trying to infiltrate and destroy German civilization.

* HypeBacklash: With a movie being hailed as a masterpiece of sci-fi, a good many people might walk away feeling disappointed, praising the visuals and some of the acting, but feeling that ''Blade Runner'''s story is hollow and pretentious. Its alleged philosophical value can also easily fall into this, as the plot neither opens so many questions that weren't addressed by earlier, more known sci-fi works (like Creator/IsaacAsimov's work and other Creator/PhilipKDick stories) nor presents them in an overtly [[{{Applicability}} applicable]] way (the theory that Deckard is a replicant is the only major second lecture of the film, and is still a farfetched one as shown in BrokenBase above). Consequently, the viewer might go watch the film expecting to see a straight MindScrew fest and leave dissappointed that it was just a slightly contemplative noir film in a cyberpunk setting.

* BrokenBase: Deckard's true nature is probably the fanbase's biggest debate.
** A camp considers the "Deckard is a Replicant" theory to be an AssPull that is not even properly foreshadowed beyond the unicorn dream/origami. They often point out that, as the film establishes, the Replicants of the Nexus-7 differ from humans by being stronger and more durable than them, just the opposite of Deckard, who clearly doesn't match the Replicants in skills and only wins any fight scene by scraping by, receiving external help or fighting dirty. Moreover, if Deckard is an older Replicant model or a later up-to-date model, it makes no sense why he should be designated for a job that involves fighting down models far more advanced than he is, or what corporate interest could have an experiment based on pitting an unaware, weaker Replicant against stronger and better trained ones. Then again, "more human than human" is Tyrell's goal, and his ultimate goal is to create artificial humans, not soldiers -- and not knowing they're artificial.\\

** On the other hand, defenders of the theory such as Creator/MarkKermode point out that Deckard in the film is often cold, distant, and a little boring, and that it could be explained by Deckard being a Replicant (particularly one less emotionally experienced that Batty and company, who are war veterans, sexbots and assassins instead of grey city cops like him - as well as one whose implanted, default memories are less emotionally rich than Rachael's). This side of the BrokenBase usually theorizes that Deckard is certainly being part of an experiment, in the same way Rachael was implanted fake memories and emotions to test if it would make Replicants more stable, only that in this case we are not told what is being measured. The [[Film/BladeRunner2049 sequel]]'s villain references this theory by speculating Deckard might have been a Replicant programmed to fall in love with Rachael, which suggests love and human relationships would have been the theme of this possible experiment.

** Everybody "knows" that Creator/RutgerHauer came up himself with at least most of Batty's final monologue because he found the original unsatisfactory. In reality, this is a half truth. He did come up with the metaphor of tears in rain and the bit about time to die, but the rest of his monologue is pretty much identical to the one in the script he was given.

* ImprovedByTheReCut: Both the 1992 Director's Cut and the 2007 Final Cut are considered better than the theatrical cut for remastering several scenes that more effectively push the film's FilmNoir atmosphere, removing the theatrical's loathed voice-over narration, and replacing the [[ExecutiveMeddling studio-mandated]] happy ending with a more ambiguous one. Which of the two cuts is better is up for debate.

** The title originated from the 1974 novel by Alan E. Nourse called ''The Bladerunner'' which was given a screenplay treatment by William S. Burroughs himself. The screenwriters adapted the title Blade Runner for their film because Ridley Scott wanted a new take on science fiction lore (hence renaming androids as replicants). In the original context, blade runner meant a black market guy who sold drugs in a futuristic dystopia where medical care had become expensive, and was entirely different from cop who retires replicants.

* DesignatedHero: One of Philip K. Dick's recurring themes was human society unintentionally drifting towards Nazi ideology without being explicitly Nazis. In the original novel, even though Deckard isn't a card-carrying National Socialist, his internal monologue is full of paranoia and fear about the Untermenschen "replacing" authentic humanity. This was toned down in the film, but even so he's still a low-rent cop who hunts down and murders humanoid robots for a living. He (arguably) forces himself on Rachael, and his killing of Replicants is often quite dishonorable (shooting Zhora in the back) and others when they are injured and weak. Likewise the end of the film has [[spoiler:Roy Batty saving his life, not because he respects Deckard but precisely because he has contempt for him and his kind, and his act of rescue is meant to spite Deckard and taunt him about his lack of worth]].

* EvilIsCool: You be surprised just how many viewers tend to root for Roy Batty over Deckard, especially considering he's a complex and sympathetic villain, and one of many replicants created by humanity for slave labor in distant colonies in outer space, who mostly just wanted to gain an extended lifespan from Dr. Tyrell. Not to mention picking up interests in poetry. He also a BenevolentBoss toward his team, as shown when he tries to avenge his fallen comrades. In fact, the only reason he's a villain at all is that he went violent and he and his team killed a number of innocents, and even then, a handful of his victims deserved to die.

* EvilIsSexy: Most of the antagonists are depicted as almost flawless beings, superior in both mind and body to normal humans (who for the most part are portrayed as grizzled and beaten down). This is especially true of Roy, who as the {{Ubermensch}} is built like a Greek god. Both of the female replicants are also quite easy on the eyes and none of them are above using sexual persuasion as a tool to get what they want (both Pris and Roy come onto Sebastian in an attempt to persuade him to help them, and Zhora is designed for political assassinations which probably involve the promise of sex as a way of getting closer to the target and she shamelessly uses her own nude body as a distraction when Deckard comes for her).

---> "You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of a sudden, you look down and you see a tortoise crawling toward you. You reach down; you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?"

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** Giant buildings, neon lights, multicultural cities, film noir aesthetics, and lots and lots of rain? Meh, we've seen it all before. The film's visuals and themes proved to be such an influence on CyberPunk and grittier science fiction works that it's virtually impossible for them not to reference the film in some form or another, and as a consequence, the impact can be somewhat lost on audiences who have already seen the many imitators and their intellectual androids, ugly dystopias, and drunken future cops.
** Much, if not most, of science fiction has not substantially improved upon this film's take on the boundaries and nature of humanity in light of advanced androids. Today, while its take on the topic is still more artful than most, it can seem as thematically uninspired as the works that have failed to use it and its kin as philosophical stepping stones.
** Also unlike other science-fiction before it (''Film/{{Metropolis}}'') and after it (''Franchise/TheMatrix'') which pivots on TheHerosJourney and TheChosenOne motifs, ''Blade Runner'' is essentially a simple genre movie with a cop (Rick Deckard) hunting down a series of bad guys (Roy Batty and his Replicants). The plot by itself is not too complicated, and most of the film works on characterization and mood than the overly baroque plots and schemes later works like ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' and others trafficked in. Creator/PhilipKDick himself {{Lampshaded}} this during pre-production when he noted that the screenplay drafts he read disappointed him for how much it flattened and simplified his original book, but he was far more impressed with the visual design (that he saw during a set visit and was shown an earlier render of the famous opening) which he felt captured the spirit of his ideas.
** Thom Andersen, the director of ''Los Angeles Plays Itself'', a documentary about how UsefulNotes/LosAngeles has been represented in movies noted that ''Blade Runner'' actually feels more nostalgic as time passes rather than dystopic. He notes that the film's neo-futurist look at public spaces more or less reflected the optimistic theories of avant-garde architects and city-planners, whereas by TheNineties and TheOughties, the greater sub-urbanization and compartmentalization, as well as gentrification has seen a closing down of public spaces. The end result is that ''Blade Runner'' feels {{Zeerust}} and retro-futurist and as dated and bygone as the FilmNoir whose aesthetics it was borrowing from.

* CommonKnowledge: Common Knowledge says the Voight-Kampff test measures how much empathy a person has. Actually, it doesn't. In the future, animals have been driven to the brink of extinction, causing humanity to fetishize them to the point they have more cultural value than actual artificial people, the replicants.[[note]]The book is more explicit about the cultural symbolism behind animals in 21 century [=LA=], whereas it's mostly just for flavor in the film.[[/note]] The Voight-Kampff test measures how well a person has been indoctrinated with the animal-deification ideology that dominates the future society. A person is only deemed human if they have the appropriate cultural response to the sanctity of animal life. In keeping with the book's more explicit Nazi allegory, half the name is literally taken from Adolf Hitler's manifesto, who--as we all know--loved animals but accused the subhumans of trying to infiltrate and destroy German civilization.

For the ''VideoGame/BladeRunner'' video game YMMV page see [[YMMV/BladeRunner1997 here]]

** [[VideoGame/BladeRunner Westwood Studios released a lovingly faithful Adventure Game based on this movie in 1997]]. The game featured randomized plot points and the player's actions could lead the game towards thirteen different alternate endings. There's even a remastered version for [=PS4=], Xbox One, Windows, and Switch in the works.

For the ''VideoGame/BladeRunner'' video game YMMV page see [[YMMV/BladeRunnerVideoGame here]]

* TrueArtIsAngsty: The inevitability of death and mortality are both a major focus of the story, as is self-doubt and a feeling of entrapment, plus a good deal of existential angst over what it means to be human. Further emphasized by the Miltonian antagonist Roy Batty, Deckard's apparent alcoholism and depression, and the deliberately and artistically dark neo-noir aesthetic to highlight these themes.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: While not a success on its original North American release, the movie proved to be popular overseas.