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Black Rain..........Blade Runner prequel?
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:38 pm    Post subject: Black Rain..........Blade Runner prequel? Reply with quote

Ive rediscovered Black Rain recently and have been amazed at the amount of references to Blade Runner, on many levels Sir Ridley Scott
put in to this last great film of the eighties.

Being cheeky with the title but if the internet was around back in 89 then thats what it would have been labled. What was Scotts thinking at the time?
Was he ever asked about it? I love how he married certain aspects of Blade Runner into Black Rain without detracting from either storyline.

Obviously, the location lends itself straight away to a comparison but it goes beyond. All i can think of is that Scott made Black Rain BRish to counter the hits
he copped over Deckard not doing enough detective work. Any thoughts?








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Art Deckard
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:47 pm    Post subject: Re: Black Rain..........Blade Runner prequel? Reply with quote

offworld66 wrote:
All i can think of is that Scott made Black Rain BRish to counter the hits
he copped over Deckard not doing enough detective work. Any thoughts?


I agree totally. I have always thought this.

Watching Black Rain it's almost as if you are seeing a film motivated entirely by Ridley Scott's disappointment over Blade Runner and a desire to put things 'right'.
It's still the first film I recommend when people ask if I know of anything 'BladeRunneresque'.
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You bet, its strange the press at the time didnt pick up on it. SRS has probably never been asked about it.
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andy
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to watch this film as a kind of Blade Runner fix. I wonder if he just wanted to prove that he could make a film that could be successful and still have the style of BR. Great catch on the lens in front of the TV. never noticed that before.

Andy
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 1:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers Andy, Ive tried to think of another example in the film world but come up short, fascinating.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent Tim...you hit the nail on the head with that one Wink BR (Black Rain) is truly an exercice of putting the "short-comings" of BR (Blade Runner) to rest...to a certain extend. While the look is there for sure, even to use the real Ennis house for principal photography.
The smoky sets, the different type of screens/T.V. sets, etc...love it
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andy
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I forgot to point out the similarity of the initials too. This is a topic we had discussed over at BladeZone many years ago, but all those threads have long been deleted. It does the more you look at it seem like SRS was hung up on 'Blade Runner', and was almost remaking it for a mass audience instead of just the cult Sci-Fi fans. 'Black Rain' is a movie I can watch over and over again and continue to enjoy. It has some very powerful moments in it too. Another movie that had a few "BR moments" in it was Someone to 'Watch Over Me'. I need to go back and watch them both to see if Ridley had put some more figurative "unicorns" in them. Things to jog our memory of 'Blade Runner' perhaps.

Andy
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, ive been calling it the other BR on another forum, no reason to promote it.
The only reason i keep scratchin at it is i think it goes a little deeper than just surface stuff. The two main characters are almost identicle, Rick/Nick are both detectives,
lushes, had a gut full of the job and both of their wives have left them.
What the hell were the "entertainment" writers asking SRS at the time, was it nice in Japan? Geez.
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SKIN JOB 66
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great thoughts guys !

Unfortunately I only saw Black Rain once when it was originally released... this to say I don't remember much of it (industrial landscapes, a cop decapitated by the bad japanese guy, a motorbike chase, an "Akira / Blade Runner" esthetic), excepted there were some papers in french film mags asking "Is Ridley Scott already done ?" because most of the critics thought it was too close to the imagery developed for Blade Runner (but since Blade Runner was in a way a twisted and futuristic vision of Japan I thought it was logical to have similarities between the two). The problem is that they had already underscored the same kind of similarities in Someone to watch over me that was released just before Black Rain iirc.

It was received here as a dull remake of BR and I must admit I didn't like it that much... but this thread definitely tempted me to give it a second chance !

Fred
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andy
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is a period review of the film...

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DE4DA103DF931A1575AC0A96F948260


Andy
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joberg
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, a funny thing happened to me the other day while checking the movie on IMDB...they forgotten to put it on the list of films SRS did Shocked Confused No mention of Black Rain; the list jumps from BR to Someone to watch over me...and then no Black Rain in 1989.

I kinda saw the movie as sequel to BR: a bunch of Replicants come to Earth to kill one of theirs (or another human involved in organized crime) and escape to the Off-World Colonies.
Rick and Nick are sent (with the Rep) back to the O.W. Colonies (completely different world and yet similar) to hand over, to the authorities, the bad guy...and then you take it from there Wink ...at the end of the movie, Rick didn't get the girl (unlike BR).
My 2 cents Wink
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote



Thanks for posting the period review Andy, i think the guy was having a crappy day when he went to the screening, thats how i read it. Wink
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TM
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I have to say that the New York Times review is pretty much the way I remember Black Rain, which I saw in original release. However, memory is difficult and tastes and perceptions change. I'm going to have to see it again.

For another example, I remember seeing the film "The Day of the Jackal" in original release and thought it was badly edited. But I recently ran it and thought it was really good. So was my perception wrong back then? Or has my perception changed? Or is my memory wrong?

So very Blade Runner!

Tony
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TM
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And for comparison, here's The New York Times review of Blade Runner:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DE4D71038F936A15755C0A964948260

Well, they are critics.

Tony
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess i overate Black Rain a little because i saw it in NYC at the time and was a great experience to watch it with a home town audience.
The only other movie i saw on that trip was Star Trek 5, you can see why i rate Black Rain so highly now.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Seeing Mr Creepys excellent snake scale revisit, i was reminded of another reference to both BRs.



Also, i think the Giesha song over the loudspeakers in the background in the first Japanese street scene is the same as the one in the intro to the blimp, just a different voice.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good one Tim!!...I always thought of the character of Sato as our favorite blond head replicant (with the long black leather coat to boot Wink ).
Congrats also are in order for acquiring Sato's glasses Cool
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Mr Webber
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks J, theres soo much goin on between these two movies, would love to ask the great man about it, its clear that the whole thing is quite deliberate.
Cheers on the glasses, still cant believe i got them.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hear you Tim...I believe that nobody asked him about the parallels between those 2 movies. I loved what you did with the props you've made so far...eager to see others being added to your collection
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:36 pm    Post subject: Black Rain & Blade Runner Reply with quote

I just picked up Black Rain on DVD for $5. The scene where Douglas is eating the noodles is almost a shot for shot match to Harrison.
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