As the talk of potential sequels to the classic sci-fi picture (click on link to see our original review of Blade Runner) ensue the director Ridley Scott has plenty to talk about. Especially the more people want to talk to him about his anticipated sequel to Prometheus.
Recently he has been quoted as verifying that Deckard is in fact a Replicant and we will get clarification in the sequel. This bothers me because I feel like it is simply catering to the popular myth from the movie. Given more than 30 years have passed without that question actually being answered I am even more certain that this turn in direction is simply to satisfy all those who just really wanted to believe it.
I am a fan of the movie and also read the book by Phillip K. Dick, not that it mattered what happened in the book at all. I do not feel like it was even possible for Deckard to be a Replicant despite Scott’s recent comments or the thirty plus years of speculation.
The main reason being this; if Deckard was a Replicant, he was the worst made robot of all time. Throughout the movie he literally gets his ass handed to him time and time again. He only survives the actual Replicants by the skin of his teeth and in fact gets lucky pretty much every time he faces them.
So my question is, how is a Blade Runner who can barely handle the real Replicants supposed to be one himself? Had Deckard actually been a Replicant wouldn’t he have been able to go toe to toe with these human looking machines with more ease and efficiency? His job is literally to hunt them down and he has so much trouble defeating them. Not only that but had he been a Replicant one of his peers should have been able to spot him. In fact when the Replicants show up on Earth Deckard is actually the second choice to find them as the first was murdered during the Empathy Test (going off memory, I’m pretty sure that’s what it was called).
No, Deckard was much too human with his oh so human attitude of rebellion against authority and lust after the Replicant Rachael. I will be excited over the sequel regardless and look forward to whatever they come up with but I just think this turn in direction is a cheap ploy to get people more invested. They are finally setting the record straight on the matter but I think they are submitting to popular opinion rather than doing what they originally had in mind.
Sound off with comments if you have any thoughts of your own on the matter.
The Movie Snobs 