Blade Runner: The Final Cut (15)

For aficionados, a fascinating game of spot-the-differences. For newbies, the enviable chance to discover a classic in the most pristine state it’s ever been. Either way, Ridley Scott’s SF masterwork is an essential big-screen experience – nevermind that this restored/revised version’s out on DVD (alongside four other cuts) in a couple of weeks. What’s new? Well, there’s more blood and brutality – Daryl Hannah’s fingers up Harrison Ford’s snout is a particular wince-maker – but unlike some special editions, Scott’s goal is to correct mistakes rather than make new ones. Obvious stuntwoman? Gone. Bad lip-syncing? Remedied. Now the only Gaff is the one played by Edward James Olmos, the cryptic cop dogging Ford’s bounty hunter as he tracks replicants across the most influential urban futurescape of the past three decades. What hasn’t changed is how vivid Scott’s 1982 dystopia remains; the wages of eco-misery and runaway capitalism have never looked so rich. Magnificent. 

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