1. Why Did Holden Need to VK Leon If The Police Knew What He Looked Like?/Why Not Test Replicants With A Tissue Sample Instead? - Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner is, without a doubt, one of the greatest (if not "the" greatest) science-fiction movies of all time. The level of its influence is not worth considering, given that pretty much every sci-fi movie made nowadays owes part of its make-up to Ridley Scott's classic. That said, the relatively complex nature of
Blade Runner's plot means it's far from free of a few plot holes, one of which involves the now-infamous Voight-Kampff test. In the movie, the Voight-Kampff test is used by "Blade Runners" (detectives who hunt down artificially-created humans) to identify replicants. Basically a series of bizarre questions, the process is relatively arduous and can take hours and hours to get results (as witnessed when Deckard does the test of Rachel - it takes "over a 100" questions for him to learn she's a replicant). But given that we know that replicants can withstand (at least) extremely cold conditions (during one scene, Roy Batty dips his hand into freezing liquid to show that he's a replicant), why can't the police design a test that exposes this characteristic, or take a tissue sample instead? That said, why does Holden feel the need to use the VK test on Leon in the film's opening scene, anyway? We know from the scene that follows that the police knew what Leon looked like, and that Holden was sent to Tyrell's building specifically to try to find one of the Off-World escapees. The fact that Holden got put in the hospital isn't surprising, given that he was staring right into the eyes of a replicant (one he
knew he was after) and couldn't match Leon to his photograph. Kind of dumb, huh?
Which sci-fi movie plot holes have we missed? Let us know in the comments section below.