Any great film overlooked upon release is going to look overwhelmingly popular compared to how Blade Runner was initially recevied. Ridley Scott's sci-fi noir masterpiece hit in the summer of 1982, mere weeks after Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Going completely against the bright and friendly view of science fiction, the film failed to capture an audience and bemused critics. The adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? didn't wallow in obscurity for long, over the course of the eighties becoming a cult hit on VHS. By the tenth anniversary it was so well regarded there was large scale rerelease and now, over thirty since it was first released, it is rightly regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Boasting cutting edge special effects that presented a future grimier than we'd ever seen before and bringing some incredibly complex ideas to light, it has been described as the first sci-fi art film. With that, naturally, comes some audience confusion. Although the film employs many of the genre tropes of film noir, it can still prove an impenetrable beast for first time watchers, with a finale that takes time to fully unlock. Today we're going to explain what exactly is happening in the ending on a narrative and subtextual level, as well as try to give some closure to the film's most enduring mystery; is Deckard a replicant?
