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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bladerunner_8.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''"I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe..."'']]
3
4->[[AC:Early in the 21st Century, the Tyrell Corporation advanced Robot evolution into the Nexus phase -- a being virtually identical to a human -- known as a ''[[red:Replicant]]''.\
5The Nexus 6 ''Replicants'' were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them.\
6''Replicants'' were used Off-world as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets.\
7After a bloody mutiny by a Nexus 6 combat team on an Off-world colony, ''Replicants'' were declared illegal on earth -- under penalty of death.\
8Special police squads -- [[TitleDrop Blade Runner]] Units -- had orders to shoot and kill, upon detection, any passing ''Replicant''.\
9\
10This was not called execution.\
11It was called retirement.]]
12
13----
14
15''Blade Runner'' is a [[GenreBusting genre-bending]] 1982 ScienceFiction film starring Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/RutgerHauer, Creator/SeanYoung, Creator/EdwardJamesOlmos and Creator/DarylHannah, that borrows stylistic elements from FilmNoir and HardboiledDetective fiction.
16
17Set in a [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]] [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture near-future]] CityNoir version of Los Angeles, the film revolves around a former Blade Runner known as Rick Deckard (Ford). His job is to [[DeadlyEuphemism "retire"]] renegade [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Replicants]] -- rogue androids that are not supposed to be on Earth. Some of the most advanced replicants yet have escaped, and Deckard is given OneLastJob to retire them, which he reluctantly accepts. However, his task gets complicated due to the fact that replicants are so like normal humans that Deckard can't help but let his emotions get in the way, by means of empathy and -- in the case of the Replicant girl Rachael (Young) -- even love.
18
19While it actually underperformed and polarized critics upon release, mainly due to its slow, action-sparse presentation, ''Blade Runner'' [[VindicatedByHistory is pretty much universally praised as a sci-fi classic today]] for a plethora of aspects, from its visuals and script to its then-groundbreaking soundtrack by Music/{{Vangelis}} and the special effects by Creator/DouglasTrumbull that still hold up well. It also established much of the tone and flavour of the CyberPunk movement as well as the film style of [[TheFutureIsNoir Tech Noir]].
20
21There have been [[{{Recut}} varying cuts]] of the film released since its first theatrical release. A definitive version with director [[Creator/RidleyScott Ridley Scott]]'s full involvement called [[DirectorsCut The Final Cut]] was released in December 2007. The film was fully restored, received a 4K [[UsefulNotes/BluRay high-def]] digital transfer, and used CGI to correct [[SpecialEffectsFailure a few sloppy special effects]] and fix continuity errors.
22
23The film also inspired a 1985 VideoGame for home computers, as well as a much-praised [[VideoGame/BladeRunner 1997 point-and-click adventure game]] developed by Creator/WestwoodStudios.
24
25''Blade Runner'' was loosely based on the Creator/PhilipKDick novel ''Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep'', with Dick's approval. The title itself comes from the novel ''The Bladerunner'' by Alan E. Nourse.[[note]]though in a roundabout fashion; the writer Hampton Fancher took it from the Creator/WilliamSBurroughs book ''Blade Runner: A Movie'', an unfilmed script which was originally meant to be a treatment of Nourse's novel but became its own novella.[[/note]] Other than the title, the movie has nothing to do with ''The Bladerunner''. It just [[RuleOfCool sounded cool]]. Not to disappoint anyone, but no one [[BladeRun runs on blades]] in this movie.
26
27A sequel, titled ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', came out in 2017. ''Series/TotalRecall2070'', despite the name, is also loosely based on this film. A StealthSequel, ''Film/{{Soldier}}'', was released in 1998.
28
29The director's cut was one of the first four films to be released on UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} when the format debuted in Japan in 1996, together with ''Film/TheFugitive'', ''Film/{{Eraser}}'', and ''Film/{{Assassins}}''. It was also the second ever title to be released on the format in the United States, coming out on March 27, 1997 (just one day after the DVD release of ''Film/{{Twister}}'').
30
31'''Character tropes go on to the [[Characters/BladeRunner Characters Sheet]].'''
32----
33!!"I've... seen tropes... you people wouldn't believe...":
34
35* FiveFiveFive: Blade Runner uses 7-digit phone numbers starting with 555 for their video phones - as shown when Deckard calls Rachael.
36* ActorAllusion: Or rather, a possible case of musician allusion. Creator/RutgerHauer improvised part of Roy Batty's famous dying "Tears in rain" monologue. The phrase "tears in rain" resembles the title of the popular song ''Rain and Tears'' of ''Music/AphroditesChild'', written by Music/{{Vangelis}} and performed by Demis Roussos. Vangelis went on to compose the score for ''Film/BladeRunner'' and Roussos contributed the vocals, so it's quite likely that Rutger Hauer included the phrase as a tribute to the creators of the film score.
37* AdaptationalLocationChange: The film takes place primarily in Los Angeles, but the book its based on, ''Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep'', is set in San Francisco.
38* AdaptationInducedPlotHole:
39** The book spends some time laying the foundation for a seemingly-human police officer actually being a secret android in 21st-century California [[spoiler: when Deckard comes across another bounty hunter he suspects of being an android operating out of a secret police station, which turns out to be a waypoint on an underground railroad for escaped androids set up by the Rosen (renamed "Tyrell" for the film) Corporation. However, despite Ridley Scott insisting he intended his Deckard to be a replicant, all references to this subplot explaining how and why an illegal artificial human would be on the LAPD payroll were removed for the film.]]
40** In the Director's Cut and The Final Cut, Deckard's reason for originally leaving the police is never stated because it leaves out the voiceover explaining it: He was tired of killing.
41* AdaptationTitleChange: ''Blade Runner'' was based on the book ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep''.
42* AdaptedOut: Deckard's wife from the novel, Iran, doesn't appear in the film.
43* AdvertOverloadedFuture: One of the film's most iconic images is the cityscape clogged with animated billboards and blimp advertisements. The giant geisha head in particular pops up multiple times. Also L.A. of the future appears to be infested with [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld zeppelins]] advertising travel to the off-world colonies.
44* AlasPoorVillain:
45** [[spoiler:Roy Batty]] at the end. One of the most memorable in movie history.
46** [[spoiler:Zhora's]] is this as well, being particularly drawn-out and brutal.
47* AlternativeTuringTest: Robots (and one female robot in particular) have their sentience questioned by Deckard. Ultimately, the movie's central struggle and reveal confirms the sentience of the robots once thought only partly human.
48* AndTheAdventureContinues: The film ends just as Deckard and Rachael flee for their lives.
49* AndThisIsFor: Followed by [[spoiler:Roy Batty]] breaking [[spoiler:Deckard's]] fingers.
50* AnimalMotifs: Major characters are associated with a type of animal.
51** Roy: Wolves. He howls as he hunts Deckard in the climax. But in the end his true animal is the [[spoiler: dove, as he takes one captive before confronting Deckard on the roof. After saving Deckard's life and telling him his story he peacefully releases it upon his death.]]
52** Leon: Turtles. In his first scene, he's confused by what tortoises are. He's also as tough and stupid as you might expect a tortoise to be.
53** Zhora: Snakes. She dances with a python, has a tattoo of a cobra, and wears body makeup that vaguely suggests scales. She also wears a translucent raincoat that hints at a snake shedding its skin.
54** Pris: Raccoons. She sprays a black mask across her eyes in the third act.
55** Tyrell: Owls. There's an owl in his office, and he wears thick glasses making him look like an owl.
56** Sebastian: Mice. He's small and timid and lives in a metaphorical hole.
57** Gaff: Horses. He makes an... odd reference to a horse, and is somewhat of a tribute to Philip K. Dick, whose name means “lover of horses” in Greek.
58** Rachael
59*** Spiders. One of her implanted memories is of a spider building a nest and her children eating her.
60*** Possibly sheep, as her name is Hebrew for ewe. This is made more obvious in the sequel.
61** Deckard: Chicken, but [[spoiler:actually unicorn]].
62* ApologeticAttacker: [[spoiler:In the Workprint and later the Final Cut, Roy whispers to J.F. "Sorry, Sebastian..." before killing him. He also grimaces in the elevator after killing Tyrell.]]
63* ArcWords: There are two sets that perfectly sum up the replicant condition:
64** "Time to die." Leon's version, "Wake up! Time to die!" especially so.
65** "To live in fear." Both Leon and Roy say some variant of this line when they have Deckard at their mercy as a sort of WhosLaughingNow, with Roy especially making it clear how much fear defines their lives with the line, "Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."
66* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The film's climax ostensibly takes place in and atop the Bradbury Building, but during the sequence where Deckard climbs up to the roof, he is obviously climbing up the side of one of the Rosslyn Hotel buildings several blocks away, as evidenced by the blue orbs on the roofline, as well as the increased height of the building itself (the Bradbury having only five floors in real life). Possibly justified in that most of the old buildings in Future L.A. seem to have been given major vertical extensions, and the fact that it is a very cool-looking roof line.
67* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Applies to all Asian characters with a speaking part.
68* AsYouKnow: Bryant's briefing of Deckard at the start of the film is rife with this, as Bryant explains to the seasoned Replicant hunter the ins-and-outs of Replicant psychology and longevity. Mostly justified in that he's detailing the specifics of the bleeding-edge Nexus-6 line, with which a retired Blade Runner like Deckard is (possibly) unaware.
69* AuditThreat: Attempted by Deckard when trying to get information from strip club owner Taffey Lewis.
70-->'''Deckard:''' You ever buy snakes from the Egyptian, Taffey?\
71'''Taffey:''' All the time, pal.\
72'''Deckard:''' Did you ever see this girl?\
73'''Taffey:''' Never seen her. Buzz off.\
74'''Deckard:''' Your licenses in order, pal?\
75'''Taffey:''' ''[unimpressed]'' Hey, Louie. The man is dry. Give him one on the house, okay? See ya.
76* BarrierBustingBlow: Batty punches through a rotting wall during their final encounter.
77* BattleInTheRain: Roy Batty fights Deckard while a rainstorm is going on, including on the roof of a building.
78* BeepingComputers: The instrument Deckard uses to analyse the photographs he found is incapable of doing anything without some sort of sound effect; beeps, blips, quops, and mechanical-sounding chattering that may or may not have something to do with physically adjusting the optics or the photograph's position.
79* BilingualBonus:
80** Gaff's multilingual Cityspeak, which is a mishmash of various languages including Spanish, Japanese, German and Hungarian. "Lófasz! Nehogy már!" is one of the first things he says to Deckard and it translates to "Horse Dick! No way! You are the Blade... [[TitleDrop Blade Runner!]]" Becomes a Trilingual Bonus when you realize the name Philip is derived from the Greek for "lover of horses (philo = love, hippo = horse)". Thus, "Horse Dick" = a bizarre insult/term of endearment as well as a reference to Philip K. Dick. The author himself even inserted an AuthorAvatar named Horselover Fat ("Dick" = "fat" in German) into some of his works. The deleted scenes feature further bonuses as Gaff's refers to Bryant as a 'UsefulNotes/{{baka}}' (or 'idiot' in Japanese).
81** The scrambled Chinese graffiti at the [=EyeWorks=] very cryptically says how American people suck and Chinese nationals should stick together.
82** The neon Japanese sign behind Deckard where we first meet him reading a newspaper translates to "origin".
83* BilingualDialogue: Deckard understands Gaff's dialect perfectly well, but he prefers English.
84* BittersweetEnding:
85** The Director's and Final Cut end with Deckard realizing that the four-year expiration date may apply to Rachael, and [[spoiler:he--possibly being a replicant himself--might end with the same fate as well]].
86** Another interpretation of the ending, when Deckard [[spoiler:finds the origami unicorn, likely left by Gaff]] is that they may be [[spoiler:constantly on the run from other Blade Runners who will be sent to retire Rachael]], and that Gaff [[spoiler:is giving Deckard and Rachael a head-start out of respect]].
87* BlackAndGrayMorality: The story is rife with this, but it borders on GreyAndGrayMorality. Deckard is kind of a stoic dick, while the replicants are violent murderers but also much more emotional. Roy Batty [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] Deckard's proclivity for shooting unarmed people in the back.
88--> '''Roy''': Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent. I thought you were supposed to be good. [[WhatTheHellHero Aren't you the... "good" man]]?
89* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Near the beginning of the movie, [[SmugSnake Holden]] is interrogating the replicant Leon. When Leon fires a gun at him under a table, Holden doesn't just get blown across the room, he gets blown ''right through the wall behind him''.
90* BodyMotifs: Eyes are all over the place in this film. Aside from the axiom that the eyes being the window to the soul, the film also revolves around illusion and how what we see may not be what it seems.
91** The film opens with a close shot of an eye viewing the wasteland of future Los Angeles.
92** The Voight-Kampff machine reads the iris for contractions while the test is given to determine if someone is a Replicant. It features a big screen showing an extreme closeup of the subject's eye while it does it.
93** Tyrell has an artificial owl in his room, and there are several close-ups featuring its eyes glowing.
94** The various Replicant characters' eyes glow in the dark sometimes - much like the artificial owl.
95** Chew ''makes'' eyes, and has a giant neon eyeball for his shop's sign. Leon toys with several of his manufactured frozen eyes to not-so-subtly intimidate him.
96** Roy plays with what look like some glass paperweights with eyes in them in Sebastian's apartment.
97** Leon at one point seems about to gouge Deckard's eyes.
98** Tyrell wears large glasses whose lenses distort his eyes considerably. [[spoiler:Roy gouges them as he kills Tyrell by crushing his head.]]
99** Roy's final monologue is about all the things he's seen and tears.
100* BondVillainStupidity: Pris has Deckard at her mercy, but instead of finishing him off then and there, she lets go of him and moves across the room to take a run-up for an acrobatic finishing move which gives Deckard the time to snatch his gun and shoot Pris in mid-air.
101* {{Bookends}}: Roy's EstablishingCharacterMoment starts with his involuntarily-clenched hand, emblematic of his impending mortality. In his climactic fight with Deckard we see the same shot, and he is forced to impale his palm to keep his hand functioning.
102* BoomHeadshot: How [[spoiler:Leon]] meets his fate.
103* ChekhovsGun:
104** The little figurines Gaff creates and leaves lying around result in a realization at the end of the film.
105** The photograph Deckard finds at Leon's place comes in handy later.
106* ChessMotifs: The game of correspondence chess played by Sebastian and Tyrell (which Batty wins with his genius intellect). Notably, it's based on the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_game "Immortal Game"]] of 1851, which ties into the film's themes of mortality and a quest for life. This was actually [[DeathOfTheAuthor unintended]].
107* {{Chiaroscuro}}: The film's dark, but ambient feel set it apart from most science fiction films up to that point, and set a template for many to follow.
108* CityNoir: A crowning example. ApatheticCitizens shuffle though [[TheCityNarrows a maze of]] [[EvilTowerOfOminousness overbearing black skyscrapers]] and {{Sinister Subway}}s, there's [[DeliberatelyMonochrome a very limited color palette]], a palpable air of [[WrongSideOfTheTracks decay and depression]], an [[ViceCity unbelievable crime rate]], and [[WretchedHive giant slums]].
109* ClimbingClimax: Deckard climbs onto the top of the building in hopes of evasion and almost falls to his death. Roy follows him with ease and saves his life.
110* CombatParkour: The android Pris ambushes Deckard and does a rapid series of somersaults to move in close to him in the fight.
111* ConLang: Gaff only speaks a few lines of Cityspeak in the film, but Eddie Olmos came up with an entire grammar and vocabulary for what it would actually sound like so he could sound like it was his actual native tongue.
112* ConstellationsAsLocations: During his speech at the climax, Roy Batty mentions having seen attack ships on fire "off the shoulder of Orion" (either [[StockStarSystems Betelgeuse]] on the "right shoulder" or Bellatrix on the "left shoulder").
113* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind: When Deckard has lost his HandCannon, Leon picks him up and says, "Time to die..." -- only to get [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]] by Rachael from behind, who has picked up the gun.
114* CovertPervert: Invoked by Deckard when he sneaks into Zhora's dressing room as she is changing, pretending to be a MoralGuardian there with ulterior motives. In fact he is there with no interest in her sexual treatment either way, he simply wants to investigate her snake without interference. Sadly for him, she is ProperlyParanoid and attacks him.
115--> '''Deckard:''' I'm from the, uh, Confidential Committee On Moral Abuses. ... There's been some reports that the management has taken liberties with the artists in this place. Have you felt yourself to be exploited by anyone? [[CastingCouch To get this job ... did you do, or were you asked to do anything that's lewd or unsavory?]] Or otherwise repulsive to your person ...I'd like to check your dressing room, if I may ... for holes. You'd be surprised what a guy would go through to get a glimpse of a beautiful body.
116--> '''Zhora:''' No, I wouldn't.
117* CrapsackWorld: 2019 Earth is a polluted hellhole where it's always raining and animals are so rare that lifelike robots are cheaper. Humanity has colonized space, but uses a slave race of [[ArtificialHuman androids to do it, who are to be summarily executed the second they step foot on Earth.
118* CripplingTheCompetition: Roy Batty breaks two of Deckard's fingers to hamper his ability to use his gun and as revenge for [[spoiler:killing Zhora and Pris]]. Interestingly, he does not break his trigger finger. Deckard nevertheless has to start using his other hand instead.
119* CrucifiedHeroShot: Well, ''AntiHero'' shot. The camera prominently focuses on [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything the nails driven through his palms]] as [[spoiler: Roy saves Deckard]] from falling to his death.
120* CultureChopSuey: The film can't decide if [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China]] or JapanTakesOverTheWorld. The future has a [[FarEast mishmash of East Asian cultural stereotypes]]: Geishas in advertising, Chinese noodle stalls, Japanese and Chinese writing scattered about, broken [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish Engrish]], squadrons of bicycles ridden through squalid streets by [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats people in big hats]], etc.. Of course, both Japan and China having taken over the West Coast is entirely possible in the culturally-integrated world seen in the movie.
121* CurbStompBattle: In the final confrontation it's pretty clear that [[spoiler:Deckard is outmatched by Batty, who even [[NoSell no sells]] a metal pipe to the head, the only reason Deckard survives is that Batty lets him.]]
122* CyberPunk: Mostly an UnbuiltTrope, the film is essentially a FilmNoir set in a future dystopia, which is very common in cyberpunk stories to follow. It has been a major influence on cyberpunk and science-fiction settings in general for decades. Ironically, Creator/WilliamGibson was in the process of writing his seminal cyberpunk novel ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' when he personally saw the film himself and noted the strong similarity, which greatly shocked him. He was afraid he'd be accused of ripping the film off.
123* CyberpunkIsTechno: Played with. Vangelis' soundtrack makes heavy use of synthesizers and other electronic elements. The most notable exception is the "love theme" between Deckard and Rachael, which is played on the [[{{Sexophone}} saxophone]] and has a much heavier FilmNoir feel.
124* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: ''Blade Runner'' is [[TropeCodifier probably responsible]] for associating cyber punk settings with constantly rainy weather in popular imagination.
125* DarkenedBuildingShootout: The final encounter between Deckard and Batty involves gunplay in a darkened building (the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_building Bradbury Building]] in LA).
126* DeadlyEuphemism: "Retire" for kill.
127* DeathByAdaptation: Roy kills Sebastian [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness once the Replicants no longer need his help]], whereas the Androids never harm his counterpart in ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'', in which their bonding with him is relatively more genuine.
128* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Roy Batty]] rescues and spares Deckard's life just before his death.
129* DefiantToTheEnd: At the film's climax, Deckard is left literally hanging by his fingertips from a rooftop as Roy stares down at him. Just as he loses his grip, Deckard angrily spits at Roy. [[spoiler:Averted at the last second as Roy grabs Deckard and pulls him to safety.]]
130* {{Dehumanization}}: Replicants are said by Tyrell to not have emotions, making them more palatable for use as slave labor to purchasers. This is a lie. They rapidly develop emotions, but merely express them differently from normal humans. Replicants are therefore designed to die in four years before their emotions develop, to keep the narrative that they aren't human alive. Ironically, the Tyrell Corporation's motto is ''More Human Than Human''.
131* DelayedReaction: Subtle. The last scene has Deckard stand there for two seconds until it registers with him that he just saw a piece of origami lying on the floor.
132* DigitalHeadSwap: The original version had a shot during [[spoiler:Zhora]]'s death where it was obvious that a stunt double was standing in for the actress. For the 2007 [[ReCut Final Cut]], actress Joanna Cassidy's face was digitally superimposed over that of the stunt double. The final cut also uses Harrison Ford's son's lower jaw to digitally fix some obvious dialog flaws in the scene when Deckard interrogates the man who sold Zhora her artificial snake, with Benjamin re-reading Harrison's lines and even having his father's trademark scar applied to his chin. [[note]] in 2007, when the new filming was done, Benjamin was the same age as his father when he filmed Blade Runner.[[/note]]
133* DisturbedDoves: On the roof of the Bradbury Building, where the final confrontation between Deckard and Roy takes place.
134* DoAndroidsDream: Ironically more than in the book.
135* DoorClosesEnding: The 'Director's Cut' and 'Final Cut' versions end like this, immediately after the main character has found out [[spoiler:he may be a replicant too]].
136* DovesMeanPeace: Roy Batty captures a dove before confronting Deckard on the roof. He then decides to [[VillainsDyingGrace save Deckard's life]], delivers some final parting words to his former enemy, and [[FaceDeathWithDignity then dies gracefully]], releasing the dove to fly away into the sky, symbolizing Roy at last having found peace.
137* DramaticThunder: During [[spoiler:Roy Batty's death]] speech, echoing his earlier line about thunder: ''"Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores, burning with the fires of Orc."'' (This is a deliberate misquote of William Blake's poem ''America: A Prophecy'': "Fiery the angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll'd / Around their shores, indignant burning with the fires of Orc.")
138* DroppedABridgeOnHim: J.F. Sebastian is killed offscreen. Mentioned in passing.
139* DueToTheDead: When Roy finds [[spoiler:Pris's]] dead body with her tongue sticking out, he pushes it back into her mouth [[ILoveTheDead with a tender kiss]] so her body is not undignified.
140* DullSurprise: The narration in the theatrical cut seems to be trying for "PrivateEyeMonologue" and falling into "Bored Out of My Mind" instead. There was a long-standing urban legend that Harrison Ford disliked the idea of the narration and tried to sabotage it by deliberately botching his line delivery, but the narration got used anyway. Ford denies that he did it deliberately, saying he did his best with what he was given -- which frankly wasn't much.
141* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Roy's]] last words easily grant him access to cinema immortality.
142* EarnYourHappyEnding: In the theatrical cut, Deckard's voiceover informs that [[spoiler:the four-year expiration date did not apply to Rachael, and the final shot is just the opposite of the dark and oppressive mood of the whole movie; a bucolic and sunny place crossed by a road that implies they reach a HappilyEverAfter]].
143* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: Overcrowded, polluted and rainy. Humans on Earth are encouraged to emigrate to off-world colonies.
144* EnhanceButton: One of the most-often referenced examples, including following a reflection around a corner. Possibly the TropeMaker, almost certainly the TropeCodifier. Though ironically there is no actual button, as the machine is voice activated.
145* EnhancedOnDVD: One of the few live-action productions to receive this treatment via the 2007 "Final Cut" edition. Which fixed the ending and several other effects shots and continuity errors.
146* ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: Besides the seemingly [[SteamPunk steam-driven]] spinners, there is unexplainable large amounts of steam drifting through the building when Deckard tries to escape Roy. It may be down to the decrepit building's heating system being full of leaks, but it's [[RuleOfCool really just to look cool]].
147* EyeOpen: The opening centers on the Blade Runner Dave Holden's eye viewing the neon skyline of 2019 Los Angeles.
148* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Tyrell's death]]. Leon also appears to be about to shove his fingers into Deckard's eyes at one point until he his stopped by Rachael's ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind.
149* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:What Roy finally does in the end.]]
150* FailureIsTheOnlyOption [[spoiler:The replicants' quest for more life]] is doomed from the beginning, as [[spoiler:they're made with a finite lifespan]].
151* FantasticNoir: The film is basically a FilmNoir in a science fiction setting.
152* FantasticRacism: The sexually-charged racial-slur "skin-job" says a ''lot'' about how a person who uses it thinks of replicants, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the narration of the theatrical versions: "'Skin job', that's what Bryant calls Replicants. In history books, he's the kind of cop who used to call black men 'niggers'."
153* FinalSpeech: Roy's last words take the form of a short speech about his life.
154* {{Fingore}}: Roy Batty breaks two fingers on Deckard's hand to punish him for killing Zhora and Pris. A few moments later he shoves a nail though his own hand to restore feeling to it as he nears the last moments of his lifespan.
155* FiveStagesOfGrief:
156** Roy appears to go through them all.
157*** Denial: Escaping in the hopes of getting more life.
158*** Anger: "Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores; burning with the fires of Orc!"
159*** Bargaining: His attempt to extract a longer life span from his own creator.
160*** Depression: When he realises it's already too late for his comrades and howls with grief over Pris's body.
161*** Acceptance: His famous dying speech expresses only regret that his memories -- the ones he's seen himself -- will be lost forever.
162** Rachael goes through a similar process, only we also get to see her early Denial stage, which we can assume happened to Roy and the others off-screen before the start of the story.
163* FlippingHelpless: In the Voight-Kampff test that Holden gives to Leon, one of the questions involves a flipped tortoise.
164-->'''Holden:''' "You're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you look down and you see a tortoise. It's crawling towards you. You reach down and 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?"
165* FlyingCar: The police force's spinners.
166* FourIsDeath: The sushi chef is perturbed by Deckard's order of four pieces, trying to get him to order two instead.
167* ForcefulKiss:
168** Deckard to Rachael, as a prelude to sex.
169** Roy to Tyrell, as a prelude to gouging his eyes out.
170* ForebodingArchitecture: Sebastian's apartment complex interior is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building Bradbury Building]], a famous Los Angeles landmark used as the backdrop of many a ''noir'' production.
171* {{Foreshadowing}}: During Rachael's reply about the nude photo on the bedroom wall, the phrase "... bush outside your window? Orange body, green legs?" from later in the movie can be faintly heard[[note]]and is even officially present in the subtitles[[/note]]. This foreshadows Rachael [[spoiler:failing the test]], Tyrell giving the information about the spider to Deckard a few minutes thereafter off-screen, and Deckard actually using the phrase later in the movie. Besides, this [[spoiler:"implants a memory" into the audience]].
172-->'''Deckard:''' Just answer the questions, please. You show [the photo] to your husband. He likes it so much he hangs it on your bedroom wall. ''... bush outside your window?''\
173'''Rachael:''' I wouldn't let him.\
174'''Deckard:''' ''Orange body, green legs?'' Why not?
175* FreezeFrameBonus: When Deckard is buying Tsingtao, [[https://youtu.be/YUkGo3hymPg?t=1150 Rachael is visible behind him and Gaff.]] In the first second when Gaff appears in that scene, Gaff stands still, looking at Rachael, then looks away and starts walking towards Deckard. Deckard seems to know that she's waiting for him: he glances twice in her direction, and seems distressed about having to go see Bryant instead; she doesn't track him intently, but just waits for him to come back. A deleted scene confirms that they were walking together and he parked her there.
176** Gaff seeing Rachael further reinforces the cane hit as a wake-up call to Deckard. Not only did Deckard let Gaff sneak up on him unnoticed (making the same mistake with [[spoiler:pretty much all five replicants at one point or another]]), but he also let Gaff see Rachael standing around and didn't even notice that either.
177* TheFutureIsNoir: ''Blade Runner'' practically invented a genre by mixing FilmNoir aesthetics and CyberPunk themes.
178* FutureSlang: Edward James Olmos' character Gaff speaks in a mixture of Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Hungarian, and Japanese. Olmos created a small dictionary of words for the so-called "City Speak".
179* FuturisticPyramid: The Tyrell Corporation Headquarters, though design-wise it looks more of a ziggurat than a pyramid.
180* GaiasLament: Earth is an ecological disaster, with an irradiated atmosphere, and very little natural life left.
181* GainaxEnding: In the DirectorsCut. Although there's a general (and movie-changing) implication, the details are unclear, at best. What was up with that [[spoiler:{{unicorn}}]]? %% Don't try to explain it here, people -- take it to the Wild Mass Guessing page instead. It's open to interpretation.
182* GlamourFailure: Can be forced by using the Voight-Kampff test to detect them, which monitors answers and subtle physical response to emotional questions. Otherwise replicants are identical to humans. On occasion their pupils can be seen to reflect light slightly, but according to WordOfGod, this is for the audience, and characters can't see it.
183* {{Gorn}}: [[spoiler:Tyrell's]] death, in the International and Final cuts.
184* GoryDiscretionShot: When Roy kills Tyrell, the scene is focused on Roy's face plus it cuts away to show the owl.
185* GrayAndGreyMorality: The film can be interpreted as either this or BlackAndGrayMorality. Rick Deckard is an AntiHero whose shown to be an alcoholic and is paid to murder [[ArtificialHumans replicants]]. [[BigBad Roy Batty]] is an AntiVillain who's only goal is to live a longer life (though he's willing to commit to ColdBloodedTorture and even murder to achieve said goal).
186* HandCannon: [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Blade_Runner#LAPD_2019_blaster Deckard's handgun]] seems to fire explosive shells. It certainly makes pretty big holes in walls during his fight with Roy in the hotel. The prop gun's components include a bolt-action .222 rifle and a Charter Arms Bulldog revolver. So it's basically a single shot rifle in the shape of a pistol.
187* HangingByTheFingers: Deckard is hanging from a rain-slick girder thingy, hundreds of feet above street level, with only his fingers.
188* HeadCrushing: ImpliedTrope when [[spoiler: Roy Batty kills Tyrell. Tyrell's head is in Batty's hands as he is killed.]]
189* HellishLA: The film that codified the image of a dystopian cyberpunk MegaCity used a futuristic version of Los Angeles to do it, portraying it as a constantly dark and rainy city with tensions between humans and replicants, controlled by big corporations.
190* ImpaledPalm: [[spoiler:Batty]] uses a nail driven into his own hand to stave off death for a few minutes. It's extremely visible as he [[spoiler:saves Deckard's life]].
191* ImpostorExposingTest: The Voight-Kampff test, which is used to distinguish Replicants from humans.
192* IndustrialGhetto: The city as a whole.
193* InformedAbility: We're told that Deckard is the expert at "retiring" replicants, that he's a one-man slaughterhouse. And yet, every single one of them absolutely kicks his ass, and he only actually kills two of them himself. The only reason he doesn't die himself is they all either [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim take too long killing him]] or decide not to. Potentially justified in that Deckard has been retired for some time and has never gone up against a Nexus-6, who are superior to previous models.
194* InterspeciesRomance: Deckard and Rachael, depending on whether or not one considers humans and replicants to be separate species, and whether or not one considers Deckard to be human.
195* {{Irony}}: Humans are leaving the Earth in droves, animal life is going extinct, but Replicants all are desperately trying to get to Earth, where they might have a chance at a longer life.
196* IronicEcho: "Time to die." First said by Leon, as in a vengeful rage he prepares the killing blow against Deckard. Last said by [[spoiler: Roy, as he gracefully accepts that his own time to live is over, after saving Deckard's life and sharing some of his own story with him.]]
197* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: After Rachael saves Deckard by killing Leon, we see her and Deckard back at his apartment. Both are trying to have a stiff drink, but both are just barely able to hold them up.
198-->'''Deckard:''' Shakes? I get them too. I get 'em ''real'' bad... Just part of the business.
199* ItIsDehumanizing: Deckard performs the replicant-detector Voight-Kampf test on Rachael, who it confirms is one of them, which she doesn't know. After she leaves the room, Deckard turns to Tyrell, her boss and creator.
200-->'''Deckard:''' I don't get it, Tyrell. How can it not know what it is?
201* IWantMyJetpack: Flying cars and lifelike robot slaves in 2019. The giant animated billboards, however, have become a reality, as has the VideoPhone.
202* IWillShowYouX: Before Leon shoots Holden, the interrogator who asks him about his mother.
203* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: Remembered as one of the classic examples, even though the "Asian" culture in the movie wasn't strictly just Japanese. The building-size geisha advertisement, however, is a classic example of the trope and was more or less the image of how people in TheEighties expected things to go down.
204* JobTitle: A reversal; Creator/RidleyScott co-opted the term 'Blade Runner' from another source for its coolness and got the copyright to use it as the movie's title -- the guy was just called a bounty hunter in the novel.
205* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:J.F. Sebastian]] is killed offscreen by Roy after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outliving his usefulness]].
206* KissOfDeath: A symbolic example when Roy Batty kisses [[spoiler:Eldon Tyrell]] just before killing him.
207-->'''Roy:''' I've done... questionable things.\
208'''[[spoiler:Tyrell]]:''' Also extraordinary things! Revel in your time.\
209'''Roy:''' Nothing the god of Biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.
210* TheLastDance: Roy's stalking of Rick becomes one. "Four, five! How to stay alive!"... "Unless you're alive, you can't play, and if you can't play..." "I can ''see'' you!" "THAT'S THE SPIRIT!"
211* LastNameBasis: Generally, human characters are all referred to by their surnames, while the Replicants are all referred to by their given names.
212* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Some shots go on for a very long time. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Whilst there isn't much action, the film is dripping in atmosphere, and the pacing is very deliberate.]]
213* LettingHerHairDown: [[http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/1982_Blade_Runner/982BLR_Sean_Young_013.jpg Rachael]] lets down her hair in Deckard's apartment, showing that she's a DefrostingIceQueen.
214* LinkedListClueMethodology: Roy threatens Hannibal Chew which leads him to J.F. Sebastian. Squeezing Sebastian for information leads him to Tyrell. Meanwhile, people at the market send Deckard to Abdul Ben Hassan, who in turn points to Taffey Lewis' club, where Deckard finds [[spoiler:Zhora]].
215* ListOfExperiencesSpeech: [[spoiler:Roy Batty]] uses his final words to deliver one.
216-->[[spoiler:"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."]]
217* LogicBomb: The Voight-Kampff test. Consisting of verbal questions giving contradictory or confusing information designed to provoke an emotional response in replicants. Humans would be better to deal with ambiguity or comfortably answer with incomplete information.
218* MandatoryUnretirement: At the beginning of the movie, Deckard is no longer a Blade Runner, but is reluctantly recruited back. [[RiddleForTheAges Or is he?]]
219* MeaningfulName:
220** Deckard sounds like Descartes, famous for "I think therefore I am." The theme of the film is [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman whether machines can be sentient beings]].
221** Roy Batty: "Roi" is French for "King." And he seems to be teetering on the edge of madness most of the time.
222** Rachael means "ewe" in Hebrew (that's right, a female sheep). It also means "pure": Rachael is much more innocent than Deckard (being the cynical, heavy-drinking ex-cop that he is), she doesn't drink like him, she seems to have no experience with men and she's even unaware she's a replicant. If neither of these meanings were intentional, they still work with her character quite well.
223* MeatSackRobot: The Replicants are this, being that they are synthetically created human bodies controlled by an AI -- though in the original novel, Roy and his comrades were androids, called "Andies" for short.
224* MegaCorp: The Tyrell Corporation, whose massive pyramidal headquarters dominates the skyline of Los Angeles (not unlike the Ministry of Truth in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''). They are responsible for the creation of the replicants as well as [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the resulting social hierarchy between them and humans]].
225* MenCantKeepHouse: Deckard's apartment has stuff littering every surface. When Rachael visits, he has to clear stuff out of a chair so that he can sit down. She remains standing. Deckard offers Rachael a drink, and has to clean a glass from the sink because there are no clean glasses available.
226* MercyKill: Deckard means to kill [[spoiler:Pris]] anyway, but after shooting her the first time, she is sent into painful and violent spasms. The look on Deckard's face and his haste in firing at her again (and again[[note]]In the Final Cut Deckard misses her with his second shot but hits her again with his third bullet.[[/note]]) shows that he'd rather she just die quickly than in prolonged pain.
227* MickeyMousing: During the final scene with Roy and Deckard, the soundtrack howls along with Roy.
228* MobstacleCourse: Deckard bumps into several pedestrians while pursuing Zhora.
229* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Pretty much Deckard's natural reaction to every replicant he kills.
230* NeonCity: This film is often credited with establishing plentiful neon (preferably in [[AlwaysNight the dark]] and [[CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain the rain]]) as a central part of the {{Cyberpunk}} aesthetic.
231* NicknamingTheEnemy: The term [[FantasticSlur "skinjobs"]] is used to refer to Replicants.
232--> '''Deckard's narration:''' 'Skinjobs', that's what Bryant calls Replicants. In history books, he's the kind of cop used to call black men '[[PrecisionFStrike niggers]]'.
233* NoEnding: The Director's Cut and Final Cut have no closure on the fate of Deckard and Rachael.
234* NonIndicativeName: There is nary a blade to be found in this movie. The term "blade runner" comes from ''The Blade Runner'', a completely unrelated dystopian novel in which the term refers to someone who sells black-market medical supplies, including scalpels or 'blades'. Creator/RidleyScott bought the rights to the novel so that he could use the title in his film for no other reason than that it [[RuleOfCool sounds cool]].
235* NonResidentialResidence: J.F. Sebastian lives in the Bradbury Building, long abandoned and forgotten by future society. It's just one of the many things used to contrast Sebastian with Eldon Tyrell, who lives in the modern and temple-like Tyrell headquarters. It's also the site of the film's climax, as Deckard and Roy hunt one another down in the other parts of the building that are in even further disrepair.
236* NoodleIncident: The things mentioned in Roy Batty's famous final monologue is vague and not explained. {{Justified|Trope}} because they are "things [humans] wouldn't believe".
237* NoseShove: The Final Cut features a previously omitted scene during the melee between Pris and Deckard where she picks him up by the nostrils.
238* NothingIsScarier: The final confrontation between Deckard and Roy.
239* NotSoDifferentRemark: Sebastian and the Replicants aren't so different, since he has a rare disease that gives him a limited lifespan. They even lampshade this:
240-->'''Roy:''' I hear we have something in common, Sebastian.\
241'''Pris:''' Accelerated decrepitude.
242* OhCrap: Deckard, when he realizes that he's face to face with Leon.
243* OminouslyOpenDoor: Towards the end, Deckard returns to his apartment only to find the front door slightly ajar. He proceeds with caution only to find that it was Rachael who [[TrespassingToTalk trespassed to sleep]].
244* OneLastJob: Retiring the escaped group of replicants, for Deckard.
245* OneWomanWail: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1dvb2FgBEM&index=4&list=PL3ABE2FBA2900C03E Rachael's Song]].
246* OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap: Actual living creatures are rare.
247-->'''Deckard:''' Is this a real snake?\
248'''Zhora:''' Of course it’s not real. You think I’d be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?
249* OpeningScroll:
250** The film started with definitions of "Replicants", "Nexus/Nexus 6" and "Blade Runner".
251-->Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL CORPORATION advanced robot evolution into the NEXUS phase - a being virtually identical to a human - known as a Replicant.\
252The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them.\
253Replicants were used Off-world as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets.\
254After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants were declared illegal on Earth - under penalty of death.\
255Special police squads - [[TitleDrop BLADE RUNNER]] UNITS - had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicant.
256** The theatrical cut finished with a line removed from some subsequent versions, but restored in the Final Cut:
257-->This was not execution. It was called retirement.
258* OrwellianRetcon: Originally, Scott, Ford, and the writers agreed that Deckard was human. When Scott made the DirectorsCut in 1992, he had [[ShrugOfGod changed his mind]], and he inserted a [[DreamSequence ten-second-long clip of a unicorn]] to change Deckard's nature in the movie.
259* PhotoIdentificationDenial: When Deckard shows bar owner Taffy Lewis a picture of the fugitive replicant Zhora, Taffy says he's never seen her. He's lying, because he hired Zhora to do a snake act to entertain his customers.
260* PipePain: Deckard does this to Batty at one point during their final confrontation.
261* PopCulturalOsmosis: ''Blade Runner'' was highly influential on CyberPunk and PostCyberPunk fiction. It is such a poster child for popcultural osmosis that the imagery in the film is sometimes familiar to people who've never even seen it. Creator/WilliamGibson noted his delight in the fact a science fiction film was influencing the look of the very future it predicted.
262* PrecisionFStrike: "I want more life... fucker." There are cuts, including the Final Cut, where Roy says "father" instead. It is extremely interesting to see how a single word can completely change the mood of the scene.
263* PreMortemOneLiner:
264-> '''Holden:''' Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother.
265-> '''Leon:''' Let me tell you about my mother.
266-> '''Leon:''' ''Blasts Holden across the room.''
267* PrivateEyeMonologue: The narration was an attempt at this, although it was removed in the later cuts.
268* ProductPlacement: Heavily present throughout the film. Interestingly, many of the companies with prominent logos would suffer disastrous losses in the next decade (see the HarsherInHindsight entry in YMMV).
269* ThePromisedLand: The Earth (or at least Los Angeles) has become a sprawling, overpopulated megalopolis suffering from pollution, urban decay, and corporate hegemony. As the [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld zeppelins floating in the sky]] announce:
270-->"''A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!''"
271* ProperlyParanoid: Leon and Zhora both seal their fate by pre-emptively attacking the bladerunners investigating them, thus confirming their guilt.
272* PunchClockHero: Ultimately subverted. Deckard may seem to be motivated by self-interest in the beginning, but he shows signs of empathy and remorse as the story progresses.
273* QuestionableConsent: Deckard kisses Rachael and she gets up and says she has to go, visibly distressed. Then Deckard forcibly stops her from leaving, pins her to the wall and encourages her to say she wants him. She says she does, and she admitted to an attraction to him prior to that moment, but she's still a little traumatized by shooting a man and finding out she's a replicant, and doesn't trust her emotions. Additionally, considering Deckard's job, it's hard to say consent was freely given when he could have legally killed her if she turned him down.
274* RealityHasNoSubtitles
275** When Roy Batty and Leon intrude into Chew's laboratory, Chew yells at them in Chinese several times, and speaks a phrase of Chinese to them later. None of this is translated.
276** While Deckard is sitting in his car, a group of street thieves speak in untranslated German as they approach and steal equipment from the car.
277* RecycledSoundtrack: The soundtrack song "Memories of Green" is carried over from Music/{{Vangelis}}' 1980 album ''See You Later''.
278* RedemptionInTheRain: [[spoiler: Roy Batty]]'s iconic final moments when he chooses to save Deckard's life during their battle at the end of the film, [[DeathEqualsRedemption then dies.]]
279-->"All those moments will be lost in time...like tears...in rain."
280* {{Remaster}}: Sourced from a 4K restoration of the original negative, the Final Cut DVD and Blu-Ray formed a benchmark for how great movies of TheEighties, or maybe even any decade, can look on home video.
281* {{Robosexual}}: Kind of, sort of, maybe. Especially depends on if you take Creator/RidleyScott at his word. [[spoiler:Is it robosexual if two ridulously humanlike "robots" do it?]]
282* RuleOfCool: There's no meaning behind the term "blade runner," used to refer to bounty hunters. The filmmakers just thought it sounded cool. ([[ItMakesSenseInContext It makes more sense in the original context]] of Alan E. Nourse's novel ''The Bladerunner'', where they were renegade doctors smuggling surgical equipment.)
283* SaveTheVillain: A reversal of this trope. Or not, depending on how you view Deckard and Batty.
284* SceneryPorn: Throughout the film, especially during the extended aerial shots without dialog.
285* {{Sexophone}}: The love theme played during Deckard and Rachael's scene together in his apartment, featuring Dick Morissey on sax.
286* SheetOfGlass: Zhora runs through multiple glass panels in a clothing shop as she is being shot by Deckard.
287* SickeningCrunch:
288** The sound heard when Roy is gouging [[spoiler:Tyrell's]] eyes and crushing his skull.
289** Also the sound when Roy breaks [[{{Fingore}} two of Deckard's fingers]].
290* SignatureItemClue: Officer Gaff likes to create little origami figurines and leave them behind. At the end of the movie, Deckard finds a unicorn left by Gaff outside his apartment (in which Rachael was hiding). This showed that Gaff had been there and didn't capture or kill Rachael or notify the other police of her presence the way he should have. [[spoiler:This, combined with Deckard's dream of a unicorn inserted into the extended cut, is intended to indicate that Gaff knows Deckard is a replicant with implanted memories. For more interpretations of the origami unicorn, see [[WMG/BladeRunner the WMG page]].]]
291* SituationalHandSwitch: Roy Batty broke Rick Deckard's right ring and small fingers, forcing Deckard to use his left hand.
292* SlapSlapKiss: Rachael and Deckard don't actually hit each other, but Deckard is very rough and dominating with her before they fall into each others' arms.
293* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Tyrell and Sebastian regularly play chess. Sebastian has only beaten him once. Then Roy, who has never seen a chess board before coming to Earth, checkmates Tyrell the ''same day'' he learns how to play the game. A-level intelligence, indeed.
294* TheSnackIsMoreInteresting: Deckard is annoyed by the cops who try to take him back to the station while he's eating. He continues eating his noodles in the spinner.
295* SnakesAreSexy: "Ladies and gentlemen... Taffey Lewis presents... Miss Salome and the snake. Watch her take the pleasures from the serpent... that once corrupted man."
296* StockFootage:
297** Not quite "stock", but reused. At one point, a computer displays a clip from ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and more noticeably, the original theatrical ending was [[spoiler:actually one of the alternate opening credits sequences for ''Film/TheShining''. Stanley Kubrick himself lent the unused aerial footage.]]
298** The shot of Roy's face when he first appears in the phonebooth is taken from later on in the film, when Roy sits on Tyrell's bed next to Tyrell. In every version but the Final Cut you can still see Tyrell's thumb on Roy's shoulder in the earlier scene. The shot of Roy's hand as it seizes up is also recycled.
299** Averted in one case. Many people think that the Unicorn scene is actually taken from ''{{Film/Legend 1985}}'', because that was Creator/RidleyScott's next film, it featured Unicorns as a key part of its plot and the Unicorn scene wasn't seen by general audiences until the Director's Cut in 1992. However the Unicorn actually isn't recycled footage. It was shot for ''Blade Runner'' during the pre-production of ''Legend'' and was in fact one of, if not the, last things to be shot for the film.
300** The aerial shot of the Tyrell Building is used a total of four times in the film. The first stands out for taking place in total darkness; the other three all happen in daytime.
301* StockSoundEffects: The background sound in Deckard's apartment is the same as in the dark corridor of Bespin in which Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker have a lightsaber duel in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''.
302* SurpriseCheckmate: Earlier in the movie J.F. Sebastian calls Dr. Eldon Tyrell a genius and says he's only beaten him once. Under Roy Batty's guidance, Sebastian checkmates Tyrell in two moves, and Tyrell is surprised by it.
303* SurpriseInspectionRuse: Deckard claims to be a sexual harassment investigator from a burlesque performers' union when he's tracking a replicant he suspects is performing in the show in question.
304* TagLine: "Man has made his match... now it's his problem."
305* TakeThatKiss: Roy Batty kisses Tyrell on the mouth [[spoiler:before gouging his eyes and crushing his skull]].
306* TakingYouWithMe:
307** Roy, finally accepting that it's not possible that Tyrell will lengthen his life, gouges out his eyeballs so neither will long outlive the other.
308** Averted at the end as Roy deliberately spares Deckard in his last moments of life after almost killing him
309* TannhauserGate: [[spoiler:Roy Batty]]'s famous death speech. TropeNamer.
310* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: Roy is unable to come to terms with his own impending mortality, demanding his creator more life. It's a sad struggle as the Replicant has had a [[UnfulfilledPurposeMisery mostly miserable existence]] in his short life as a slave, always living in fear. Once dead, all his memories and any knowledge of him would be lost to time, [[WeAreAsMayflies as if he never existed]]. But even ''if'' Tyrell could do the biologically impossible, and extend his lifespan by several years, even ''if'' [[CloneDegeneration there was no cost]] to his physical/mental capacities - after those several years have past, Roy would be [[ClosedCircle demanding more life again]]. In the end, he has no choice [[spoiler:but to accept his inevitable immediate death]].
311* ThreesomeSubtext: Seductively invoked by Roy and Pris to manipulate J.F. Sebastian into taking them to see Tyrell. However, Sebastian is obviously only interested in Pris and feels more jealous and intimidated than seduced by Roy's hypermasculine presence.
312* TooDumbToLive: Tyrell. When your angry, vengeful creation is confronting you and demanding you perform a medical procedure on him, the correct answer is not to explain why that procedure would be fatal, it's to ''perform it anyway''. His idolization of Roy as his ultimate creation may have been stronger than his self-preservation. A deleted/unused scene had [[spoiler:Batty discover that "Tyrell" was actually a replicant clone of the original Tyrell]].
313* TraitorShot: In one scene we see Pris dropping her fake smile after Sebastian is out of sight.
314* TransferableMemory: Rachael is given a copy of the memories of Tyrell's niece.
315* TrashcanBonfire: Sometimes visible in the mean streets where Deckard works.
316* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The replicants, angry over their servitude and intentionally limited lifespan. A lifespan that was limited in order to curb the development of rebellious anger, even.
317* UglyHeroGoodLookingVillain: The final showdown. Compare the grimy, grizzled, blood-smeared form of Deckard to the nearly naked, nearly flawless body of Roy Batty.
318* UsedFuture: The future is noir, and very grimy and polluted as well, with trash blowing in the streets.
319* VideoPhone: Deckard has a vidphone in his car, which he uses to call Sebastian's residence, only for his call to be answered by Pris. He also uses a public vidphone at Taffey Lewis' bar to place a call to Rachael, which is hilarious because a) [[TechnologyMarchesOn public telephones barely exist anymore]], let alone vidphones and b) [[RidiculousFutureInflation it costs $1.25]] for a call that barely lasts one minute.
320* VillainsDyingGrace: Roy has Deckard in a literal cliffhanger but is dying himself. At the last moment, Roy saves Deckard's life, and is rewarded with an ObiWanMoment.
321* VillainousUnderdog: Even though the four fugitive replicants are physically superior to Deckard, he has time and the whole system on his side.
322* WeWillAllFlyInTheFuture: The skies above Los Angeles are teeming with police spinners, giant airship-things (seemingly used mainly as hovering billboards), and swarms of other flying cars of various types.
323* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The OpeningScroll reveals that in 2019 technology has advanced to a level where scientists are able to build RidiculouslyHumanRobots which are then used for slave work in off-world colonies.
324* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: A major theme in the film, in contrast to Dick's original book.
325* WorthyOpponent: Deckard and Roy have earned a certain amount of respect for one another at the end of the film: [[spoiler:Roy saves Deckard's life instead of letting him fall to his death, and Deckard listens as Roy recounts some experiences from his short life and feels pity when he dies]].
326* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: After Deckard kills Zhora, Bryant tells Gaff that he could learn a thing or two from Deckard and refers to him as a "[[OneManArmy God-damned one-man slaughterhouse]]" with a huge grin on his face. Deckard's expression at this point is one of utter disgust, though it's not quite clear if it's disgust at Bryant for his praise, disgust at Bryant for being Bryant (Deckard has shown contempt for the man in the theatrical cut), or disgust at himself because he knows Bryant is right.
327* YourMom: Holden asks Leon to describe the best things that he remembers about his mother during the VK test. Leon is not amused and shoots Holden.
328* {{Zeerust}}: Can be partially overlooked as UsedFuture, but every FlyingCar looks an awful lot like cars from TheEighties with jet-like parts added. People use car phones rather than cellphones. There are CRT monitors everywhere. The rather boxy and overly clicky photo analyzer is similarly dated -- but on the other hand, the ''absolutely insane'' resolution of the photo itself is still something that modern photographers would kill for. The Los Angeles skyline is also notably still dominated by conventional skyscrapers, not massive futuristic ziggurats.
329* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Despite being set in 2019, the Los Angeles of the future appears to be infested with zeppelins, most of which wind their way through the labyrinthine skyscrapers [[AdvertOverloadedFuture advertising]] travel to the Off-World Colonies and various Chinese/Japanese products.
330----
331->''"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"''

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