40 Years Of “Blade Runner”: 5 Movies To Watch If You Liked It

1982 was a breakout year for science fiction cinema. On the one hand, Ridley Scott launched a different proposal, quite dark -to the point that the tech noir subgenre was created- with Blade Runner ; on the other hand, Steven Spielberg made ET the biggest box office hit of the year.

Blade Runner entails a neon future in 2019 in Los Angeles with the Tyrell Corporation, a company that worked fully on genetics and from there created the Nexus 6 robot in the image and likeness of the human with much more agility and strength to enslave them in colonies. Eventually, there was a collective rebellion of the robots that forced the authorities to expel them from Earth. After an incident, Rick Deckard is called in by the Police to assassinate a handful of remaining rogue replicants.

This film has the peculiarity of creating a gloomy, rainy and gray environment that managed to anticipate time with more obvious problems today such as pollution and climate change. In addition, it worked as a love letter to the film noir stage of the 40s. From the acting point of view, Blade Runner was the film that took Harrison Ford to absolute stardom; without counting the multiplicity of ethical and moral questions that the film leaves as it progresses. However, the film's empathy is implicit in the melodrama between Deckard and Rachel, one of the replicants he must eliminate.

From Guillermo del Toro to James Cameron, this film has been crucial in a whole generation of directors. Here is a list of movies that were influenced by Blade Runner and how it impacted them.

The Terminators

Like Blade Runner, The Terminator poses the threat that there may be gaps left by artificial intelligence through robots. The film was released two years after Ridley's. Additionally, it is located close to the cyberpunk setting of Blade Runner and takes place in Los Angeles.

Ex Machina

This British film by Alex Garland has several similarities to Blade Runner in terms of the ethical and philosophical depth of the themes. However, both films are similar in the melodramatic way in which a human can get to feel strong emotions for a robot.

Also read: 40 Years Of E.T: What To See If It Changed Your Life?

The Fifth Element

It could be said that this classic by Luc Besson mixes a universe based on the influence of Star Wars with the importance of Asian culture given to it by Blade Runner, but in a 23rd century setting in New York.

The Matrix

Moving away a little from the film noir that Blade Runner implanted, The Matrix adopted in its trilogy an aesthetic that was too close to that of Blade Runner. Also, the Wachowski sisters hint at how the machines are out of human control and Neo has to be the messiah of the situation.

Dark Knight

Said by Christopher Nolan himself, his Batman trilogy is closely linked to Blade Runner. Nolan's idea was to create a story with a dark aesthetic and a lot of mystery, just like Ridley's film. In fact, Christopher Nolan put his cast to see this eighties classic so they could have it as a guide.

Unsurprisingly, the sequel to Blader Runner 2049 also turned out to be a critical success. On this occasion, 30 years after the first film, there is a new discovery with the Nexus 8 that forces the new blade runner, K -played by Ryan Gosling- to look for the old Deckard.

40 years later the possibilities of how many more filmmakers have referenced Blade Runner are endless and surely many more references to come.