3 ms·

My favorite cut is the original theatrical one. Why? Because otherwise you wouldn’t have any context of anything. It’s great despite Harrison Ford purposely giv

My favorite cut is the original theatrical one. Why? Because otherwise you wouldn’t have any context of anything. It’s great despite Harrison Ford purposely giving a terrible narration. It’s easy to remove it once you gotten all the context, but it’ll be confusing for most new viewers who aren’t familiar with the book. IMO this is the best you can do for a movie around two hours long, unless you turn it into a mini series.

xyzzy_plugh 3y ago
This is a controversial take for certain. I've seen various forms of the director's cut multiple times, but only saw the theatrical cut much much later (and only read the source material much later than that) and the movie is completely comprehendible without narration. The narration is awful. It's unnecessary exposition. The mood and depth of the film without narration is practically unparalleled. I'm curious what context the narration provides for you because I certainly remember none of it.
- chaostheory 3y ago
  Deckard provides context for how replicants are seen by police and the police themselves. He also has a rationale for why he has to take a job that he doesn’t want. He even has background for the weird language being spoken. A lot of knowledge would have been lost, and I wouldn’t have gotten into the universe otherwise. I’m sure if you’ve seen it several times over the years, sure you won’t need it but what about the people watching for the 1st time. The ending is also on a lighter side which matches the sequel. (Yes, I know they just reused The Shining’s intro. Again I don’t care.) Watching the White Dragon edit and they surprisingly kept it! Edit: The narration adds a lot of flavor and world building https://archive.org/details/white-dragon https://archive.org/details/white-dragon
MattPalmer1086 3y ago
Mine is the Directors Cut precisely because I like the ambiguity. Admittedly I saw the theatrical one when it came out in the cinema and loved it then, but I was very young. So the narration probably helped me at that age. Many years later when I saw the Directors Cut I much preferred it. When I watched the theatrical cut again I actively disliked the narration. It didn't leave enough space for the mood and your imagination to develop. But then I tend to like stories that world build through immersion rather than explication.
- chaostheory 3y ago
  Everything you’ve written bolsters my argument. Sure, with your past experience(s) with BladeRunner you find the cut narration versions of BladeRunner to be more enjoyable, but what about people experiencing the film for the first time? Wait, the theatrical cut is still on sale?

xyzzy_plugh 3y ago

This is a controversial take for certain. I've seen various forms of the director's cut multiple times, but only saw the theatrical cut much much later (and only read the source material much later than that) and the movie is completely comprehendible without narration. The narration is awful. It's unnecessary exposition. The mood and depth of the film without narration is practically unparalleled. I'm curious what context the narration provides for you because I certainly remember none of it.

chaostheory 3y ago
Deckard provides context for how replicants are seen by police and the police themselves. He also has a rationale for why he has to take a job that he doesn’t want. He even has background for the weird language being spoken. A lot of knowledge would have been lost, and I wouldn’t have gotten into the universe otherwise. I’m sure if you’ve seen it several times over the years, sure you won’t need it but what about the people watching for the 1st time. The ending is also on a lighter side which matches the sequel. (Yes, I know they just reused The Shining’s intro. Again I don’t care.) Watching the White Dragon edit and they surprisingly kept it! Edit: The narration adds a lot of flavor and world building https://archive.org/details/white-dragon https://archive.org/details/white-dragon

MattPalmer1086 3y ago

Mine is the Directors Cut precisely because I like the ambiguity. Admittedly I saw the theatrical one when it came out in the cinema and loved it then, but I was very young. So the narration probably helped me at that age. Many years later when I saw the Directors Cut I much preferred it. When I watched the theatrical cut again I actively disliked the narration. It didn't leave enough space for the mood and your imagination to develop. But then I tend to like stories that world build through immersion rather than explication.

chaostheory 3y ago
Everything you’ve written bolsters my argument. Sure, with your past experience(s) with BladeRunner you find the cut narration versions of BladeRunner to be more enjoyable, but what about people experiencing the film for the first time? Wait, the theatrical cut is still on sale?