I'm not a fan of the trailer they cooked up for The Final Cut. It has that stupid modern horror movie trailer rhythm to it, including the standard issue blast of fast edits and sound right at the very end. Anyway, I'll make this fast: The Final Cut is wetter, there's more traffic, it's more violent, there are more sounds, and it looks incredible. Here comes my opinion on the "Han shot first!" moment which people are certainly going to argue about for a long time to come, but I don't want to accidentally spoil the surprise for you, so highlight the space below to read it. START So, Roy now says "I want more life, Father!" instead of "I want more life, fucker!" when he confronts Tyrell. The argument for this change will most likely be that it adds a more complicated psychological dynamic to Roy. True, but just the same, I prefer "fucker." It's scarier, more threatening, and stated in a tone which makes the moment extra tense. And it was an iconic line, so I miss it. "Father" softens Roy a bit and gives him a hint of subservience to "his maker." END UPDATE! I discovered this video of a recent interview with Ridley Scott in which (at the 28:00 mark) he briefly discusses the revision I mentioned above. In short, he simply feels the new version is better.
October 11, 2007
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6 comments:
okay, so I saw the original theatrical run in 1982. Then I was persuaded into buying the VHS tape in 1987 because it was the "international version, with footage not seen in theaters" (this amounted to a few seconds of screen time). Then I saw the 10th anniversary "director's cut" edition, which admittedly was a big improvement, mostly from what was omitted, instead of what was added. Now the "ultimate edition" is in theaters, but it doesn't end there. For the full experience, you can't live without the five-dvd set, in stores this holiday season, which includes the three existing versions along with a previously unreleased "workprint cut"! Does it come with a collectible action figure? Or a poster? Howabout a shiny foil box to hold all this fine merchandise? I'll buy anything if it's shiny. Please take my money, warner brothers, I never want to get off this hamster wheel of consumerism.
I jest. I'll probably end up seeing this version too. It's a brilliant premise with excellent production design, even if the dialogue is clunky and the characters are poorly defined. Or I might just wait for the 35th anniversary edition. More explosions.
Well, aside from the one issue I described, this really is the definitive version. All the complaints & goofs have been addressed. All the kinks have been ironed out, the editing is smoother, the audio mix is tighter, the colors & contrast are ideal. It simply does not look like a film created 25 years ago. If that one word-- just that one word!-- was reinserted, this would be the perfect incarnation of the film in my opinion.
Some of the re-work is too clean. It almost looks digital - but it still better than the bad matte lines previous versions had.
Lance's item was a big jolt for me too and I prefer the previous version. I did not watch the previous versions recently and didn't think the edit here was much different.
I am looking forward to the 5 disc briefcase set though! 12/18.
There were moments when there was (or I imagined there was) a plastic-like perfection to a moment, but I think that's being over critical.
I liked that Pris was a lot harder to take down and Deckard appeared to be more disturbed by what he is doing.
Sorry, I failed first-grade math. The five-disc set contains five versions of the film, not four like I previously said: original, international, director's cut, 'ultimate' cut, workprint cut. There should be a flatulant cut, with fart sounds added for some comic relief, because this movie takes itself way too seriously. I've already seen it at least six times, I'm embarrassed to say, and after watching it again a couple months ago on PBS (only because my girlfriend had never seen it) I realized every moment of it was burned into my memory and there was no reason to revisit it. Besides, that saxophone melody drives me up the wall.
C'mon, five versions? George Lucas must be behind this.
stexe said...
"with fart sounds added for some comic relief"
More human than human....
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