THE BLADE RUNNER SET IS WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Quick review:

This thing rocks. There’s just no other way to put it. 5 versions of the film: The 1982 US theatrical cut which was last seen in 1982, the 1982 international theatrical cut which was released on VHS throughout the 80’s, the 1992 director’s cut which replaced the latter in subsequent releases, the “Final Cut” which is the Ridley Scott made and approved last ever version (the 1992 version was approved but not made by him it seems), and finally the 1982 workprint version. However, technically there’s a SIXTH version of the film on it. Just go to “Deleted and Alternate Scenes” on the 4th disc and press play all, and you’ll get a choppy, not-quite-all-there version of the film composed entirely of material you’ve never seen before. This is blowing me away and I haven’t even started watching the OTHER gajillion extras yet. The set is so monumentally complete that I doubt this could ever be topped in a future release.

Even if Blade Runner wasn’t one of my favorite films in the world, the box set would still be impressive. In my mind it sets a standard for future releases of older, influential films that were made by directors who shot tons of material and kept most of this footage afterwards. More than once I was thinking that this is what they should do with Kubrick films. Can you imagine getting a box set of The Shining with the original version, the international version, the first released version (with alternate ending) and a completely new version compiled with all the most interesting alternate footage he shot? Add to that a full lenght version of Vivian Kubrick’s documentary, other archival material, trailers, interviews, commentaries with Vivian Kubrick (who’s really fun to listen to) and Stephen King (who’d be a hoot to hear rant) and any other stuff you could find in the vaults; then package it in a miniature hedge maze and I’d buy the f*****g thing no matter how expensive it was.