"Tears in the Rain"

This is my favourite scene from my favourite movie and I had the fortune of seeing it (again) at the Bloor Cinema last Saturday. Just a little background, Blade Runner wasn’t initially well received by critics when it came out in 1982. However, opinions about this film have almost universally changed and just last year the American Film Institute ranked it the 97th greatest film of all time. Time magazine has it in the top 100 and the British film magazine Empire has called it the best sci-fi film ever made.

Personally, I just love it. The story, the music and sound, and the futuristic take of Los Angles in 2019 all make for an unparalleled movie experience. Having lived in Tokyo, I’m also one of the few people I know who has experienced such a similar environment. Noodle shops, dodgy back-ally merchants, and miles upon miles of concrete and steel all compose the cityscape of Japan’s largest city.

My favourite scene is the one I’ve posted. The overall plot revolves around “Bladerunner” Rick Deckard and his mission to 'retire' renegade androids or 'Replicants'. He manages to kill four of the five and finally corners their leader Roy Batty, a “Nexus-6” combat model, before Roy gets the better of his human antagonist.

In this climatic scene, Roy avenges the deaths of his fellow replicants by showing Deckard what it truly means to FEAR. Then, in a metamorphosis of sorts, he takes mercy on his foe and saves him with his superhuman strength. Finally, as he dies, he takes the last moments of his amazing existence to demonstrate the mistake of killing fellow sentients: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe" he says. ‘You people’ not ‘you humans’. The Nexus-6 has become human and addressed Deckard as an equal.

This is, quite simply, masterful acting, directing and writing. I'm not sure when it's playing next or where, but you must go see it.