10 Director's Cuts That Seriously Improve Movies

Apart from George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy, no other movie than Blade Runner has been as infamous for its many iterations.

Three versions exist which are generally available to the public, with a total of seven actually being cut. This was the movie that established Scott as something of a hothead when it came to studio interference.

The most significant difference between the widely released theatrical cut and Scott's Director's Cut (1992) is the removal of the polarising voiceover narrations. Scott was pressured to add the crime-noir style voiceover due to the studio finding the long sequences of silence, confusing and ambiguous. Harrison Ford's monologues essentially explained the whole plot, going against that old adage of filming making "show, don't tell".

The absence of the voiceover leaves the film feeling far darker. Deckard seems more isolated, more lonely and more mysterious, adding to the bleak depiction of a dystopian future. There's also far more emphasis put on the fact that Deckard is a replicant, with the famous unicorn dream-sequence. Finally the ending finishes far more abruptly, leaving it unclear what happened to Rachel and Deckard, as opposed to the theatrical release, which shows them escaping to the countryside.

When the Final Cut dropped in the late 2000s, Scott altered little of the narrative, instead, enhancing the aesthetics. Boy, is it good.