Venice: Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Unspooling in Venice prior to a short theatrical run and DVD release in time for Christmas, Blade Runner: The Final Cut isn’t, content wise, that much different from 1993’s Director’s Cut. In terms of additions, I noticed Joanna Cassidy’s face has been CGI’d onto the stuntman/woman who crashes through the shop window after Deckard shots her; the blue sky that Roy Batty released the dove into at the end is now overcast and rainy; a couple of the deaths seemed nastier than I remembered. There are a few more special effects, the backgrounds feel more dense, the colors are richer, Deckard’s eyes didn’t seem to glow as red as they did in the Director’s Cut, and apparently Sean Young’s voice had been tweaked too to make it less metallic and more human. But none of it’s too obvious. Everything’s been integrated seamlessly. This isn’t a Star Wars revision. The film looks better and sounds better than ever before. If you get a chance to see this on the big screen, I recommend you take it.