Blade Runner – The Deep Cut
by Deepstructure
This creates a more focused and streamlined version of BLADE RUNNER by removing any extraneous material. For all those, who always felt the original(s) ran far too long and moved far too slowly.
member ratings:
(5 votes, average: 7.80 out of 10, rated)
Loading ...
Original film name: Blade Runner – The Final Cut
New film name: Blade Runner – The Deep Cut
Film studio name: Warner Bros
Edit crew name: deepstructure
Date original film was released: 1982
Date edit was released: November 2009
Original runtime: 117 minutes
New runtime: 74 minutes
Amount of time cut/added: 43 minutes cut
Changes:
Highlights:
- – Cut opening and changed score music (substituted End Titles score that has some rhythm and pace) in order to create a more exciting opening that more quickly kick-starts the film.
- – Fun frankenstein shot: Leon’s VK scene; created a new shot with picture from Leon standing in front of Holden (that part of opening boom shot cut), using wildline dialog of Leon saying “Sure,” in response to Holden saying, “Reaction time is a factor…” Needed a cutaway from Holden to be able to skip the opening non-VK preamble and cut right to the testing. You can’t tell that Leon isn’t sitting down. And in the original shot he never says anything, but does slightly nod his head and move his mouth, so dropping in the dialog worked like a charm.
- – Re-arranged sequences in order to show the parallel actions within the film. For example, Deckard brings Rachel up an elevator into his apartment while Sebastian does the same with Pris. Also, Deckard and Batty both deal with hand issues and pain in parallel in the end sequence. Also re-arranged sequences to make more narrative sense/flow. So now when Roy interrogates Chu and finds out about Sebastian, the next scene is Sebastian arriving at his house and discovering Pris.
- – Removed the entire photo-enhancement scene. I never understood the motivation for this. It’s interminably long and not very pertinent. Deckard already knows what Zhora looks like (from the video in his meeting with Bryant). He should have copious photos and documentation on all the replicants. The tattoo is no disguise and even when he finds her he verifies using the snake scale. The detective work that enables him to find her is the snake scale, not the photo. When he interviews the snake merchant, it’s impossible to really hear who he says bought the snake – so one could easily assume he said Zhora. So cutting right to him staking out her room backstage makes sense.
- – Removed Deckard calling Rachel and seeing her after the Zhora kill. None of this made sense to me and the reveal of her shooting Leon seems far more shocking if we haven’t seen her, but only heard from Bryant that she’s gone awol. Why would Deckard call her to come to a bar while he’s in the middle of hunting dangerous replicants that have slaughtered 23 people? And it’s the future, but no one has a cell-phone? He uses a video payphone!
- – Added chase music score to the Zhora chase, and repeated the same music when Roy chases Deckard in the end game. I liked the poetry of the same motif that originally represented him as the hunter being turned around. Plus I felt both scenes could use more energy.
- – Occasionally added extra thunder sound fx to help underscore a scene or sell a transition.
- – Removed the repeated voice-over of Gaff saying “To bad she won’t live,” when Deckard stares at the origami unicorn at the end.
Intention for this fanedit: To remove any extraneous material and create a more focused and streamlined narrative. I’ve always felt the original(s) ran far to long and moved far too slowly.
Software used:
- - Final Cut 7
- - MacTheRipper
- - MPEG Streamclip
Release info:
- NTSC SL DVD
- H.264 Quicktime movie
- 854×480
- 1.7GB
also:
- 700mb avi (created from the quicktime movie) and 1.4GB avi (original size) (created from quicktime movie)
Intro sequence:
Buy the original DVD and support Fanedit.org by shopping through one of the Amazon widgets:
IMAGES:
cover art by boon23 (download here):
Disclaimer: You must own the original movie before acquiring any FanEdited movie. We here at FanEdit.org respect the company’s copyrights, and don’t want to infringe on any company’s rights. Thank you, FE!
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info through Rapidshare and Megaupload(enter and download at your own risk and responsibility)
Review by White43
NOTE : Personal Opinion. Not intended to offend.
I’m a huge Blade Runner fan – always have been. I rate it as my favourite film of all time. This cut is interesting in that it is a cut, rather than an extension and usually – people are looking to add more to BR, than to take away.
For me, BR is made up of three invaluable things – plot, video and audio. All three elements make up the BR experience, take away any one of those and IMPO, you’re taking away from the overall experience. In terms of the plot, it’s pretty straightforward – but it’s derived from a wonderful PKD novel and the concepts presented are far from low brow. The visual experience is wonderful. This was made in the early 80’s and it stands up to the test of time. All those gorgeous shots of the city, the spinners give us a sense of where we are, it doesn’t feel ’small’ – it feels massive and sprawling. Finally, Vangelis’ score is timeless. Spooky, unique and vital.
So how does a BR cut that removes some of these elements stand up?
AVI version watched, so cannot comment on DVD presentation.
Plot
The core plot remains intact. The editor has trimmed the fat off and gotten straight to the point.
Video and Audio
Video, no problems whatsoever. 10/10
Audio. Initially I was concerned at cutting from the opening titles (with end BR music) to the start of the scene with Leon and Holden. On rewatch this seems to be OK. I do hear a few bars of the original opening score at the start. Largely, your audio edits are seemless. I think I noted something when Rachel leaves Deckards apartment. The score is a little jumpy. 9/10.
Entertainment and thoughts.
You didn’t say 2019 in the opening credits. I take it that you’ve done this to make it more ambiguous as to when this is set?
Leon’s ‘Sure’ is well intergrated. Liked that.
Likewise, Deckard killing Zhora and then being attacked by Leon before seeing Rachel is better.
You also removed Roy’s ‘comedy moment’, which always felt a little out of place, but made Roy all the more psycho. Not sure on that one.
You added some music to Zhora’s escape and later used this in the Leon/Deckard confrontation. Not sure it worked – it doesn’t mesh well with the Vangelis score, feels too TV series(I’m sure I heard it in Dexter last night?). Using it in the final confrontation also seems to take away the spookiness of the situation.
Rachel playing the piano. You removed the first part and Deckard comes on in and says he dreamed music. Well, no, he heard Rachel playing and woke. Here it feels a little off that he comes straight on over. It works, but not as well.
No unicorn scene. OK, but what does the end unicorn now mean?
As I initially stated, BR is an experience in three bits. You’ve made a faster paced BR, but at the expense of the wonderful visuals. You’ve trimmed some scenes which add depth to the characters – especially Deckard, which is why most people opt for extended version of BR. We want more visuals, more character development to enrich this fantastic world. Adding the incidental music in the first chase scene was OK, but didn’t work for me in the final scenes.
This edit may work for some people and technically, I can’t really fault it. Some people prefer a more straight to the point story – but I’m one of the other ones who like that this film takes it’s time. I prefer the sombre music at the start, the cityscapes, BR blues etc. I could waffle on for ages, so to the point – I’m going to give 6/10 for the entertainment value. I’m unlikely to watch this version again – but might recommend it to someone who needs to get BR watched in about an hour!
Overall rating 7/10 (as I won’t add more than one point over entertainment.
Review by white43 — November 21, 2009 @ 4:29 am
Last time I saw Blade Runner it was the Director’s Cut, and I was probably 10 or 11. At the time I thought it was long, kind of confusing, and mostly boring. Of course I was pretty young, so there is no telling how tastes change, but I still never had a desire to watch the movie again. This edit, being so drastic, seemed perfect for me.
PLOT
I remember the movie well enough that I recognized every scene in your edit, but not well enough that I could remember the scenes you cut. So I never felt like I was missing out on anything, and I didn’t have any behind-the-scenes knowledge that might help me fill in the blanks in case you created a confusing plot or plot holes. I’m happy to say that the you have done an amazing job of cutting so much, without confusing a new viewer or creating any plot holes. Really fantastic. Whatever that photo enhancement scene was, it was not necessary at all, I completely bought the detective work that led Decker to Zhora. Also, unlike White43 I thought it worked really well when Deckard went over to Rachel on the piano and said “I dreamed music.” It really felt the mood of the movie for me, and required no additional explanation (who hasn’t heard music while they are asleep and had it incorporated into their dreams?).
Your ordering of parrallel scenes worked flawlessly, and was much appreciated. I especially loved after Roy is told to seek our Sebastian how I was left wondering why Darryl Hannah was hiding in the trash of an ally… and then when Sebastian introduces himself, it all falls into place.
When I saw the origami unicorn I didn’t know what it meant, although I figured maybe it was from the other detective guy, but it didn’t really matter to me what the meaning was. It just seemed mysterious, and that was fine by me. Of course your meaning is completely right, and would have been obvious had I been paying better attention, that the other detective had been there and spared Rachel’s life.
EDITING
For me the editing was flawless. There was no single part where I felt like I was watching a fanedit, instead of a professionally released film. Your addition of the new scoring for the Zhora chase and the finale were great in my opinion. You said you wanted a more frenzied feeling for Roy chasing Deckard, and that is exactly how it came off.
SOUND / VIDEO
I saw the MOV file, not the DVD, but I had no complaints about either audio or video.
ENTERTAINMENT
Well… here’s the problem. Even at just over an hour, I was still bored. I know it must be something wrong with me, but I’m not a fan of Blade Runner. Your edit got to the point so much faster, and was really focused on actually progressing the plot, but it still couldn’t fix it for me. How can a 74 minute movie still feel slow paced to me? I don’t know, but it really dragged for me. Still, it was entirely watchable, and for me it was entertaining in the sense that I love seeing good editing, especially when it is so drastic. I must impress on anyone reading this review, that this is my own opinion only, and a minority one at that.
I figure 7 stars is fair for a flawlessly edited film, that I would probably only give about a 5 for personal enjoyment.
Review by CasmirRadon — November 25, 2009 @ 1:38 am
VERY well done, but like most of the BR fans I want more, not less!
White43 already said more or less what I think (exept that I like the new score over the Zhora’s scene.)
7/10, could have been 8 but this cut did not surprised me a lot, it’s still BR, but shorter.
From this point of view it’s a good edit.
It’s just that in the case of BR I like more, or else it should change the vision of the movie and plot in a more radical way.
That said I did enjoy this edit. Good job.
Review by TMBTM — December 9, 2009 @ 11:57 pm