Blade Runner is a great movie. Nothing about the film feels dated; for the most part the special effects still look incredible. In terms of thematic elements, Blade Runner still eerily depicts a world where society has let technology take precedent over morality and humanity itself. We see this not only in the pollution choked cityscape of a future L.A., but also in the degraded humanity of Rick Deckard.  Yet for all its great aspects there are major flaws that keep Blade Runner from being the movie it could have been.

Firstly, it is a very slow moving film. There are several scenes that just seem to go on and on with very little of substance/importance happening. All of the symbolic references (ex: the eyes) had me trying to comprehend/gather meaning from every single little detail (relevant or not); which was distracting at times. The dialog could feel a bit dull, and I had a hard time identifying an emotional connection with any of the characters. We obliviously are not supposed to connect to Deckard at the beginning, but even at the end, when he regains his humanity I had a hard time developing a real connection. I understand that Deckard is supposed to be a bit wooden at first so the audience sees his transformation, but his monotone narration needed a little voice inflection in order for me to connect with him on some level.

In terms of the Replicants I had a really hard time developing an emotional connection with any of them, since, from the beginning of the movie we are told (a) they have killed a lot of innocent people and (b) they are going to die very soon. There are attempts to get the audience to empathize with their struggle to prolong life, and understand their motives; however, tricking/using innocent humans and then killing their creator did not make me emphatic/sympathetic.

If I was able to grow an attachment to any of the Replicants it would be their leader Roy Batty. At the end of the movie Roy shows he has some humanity by showing grief and rage over the death of his lover and then by saving Deckard. These things endeared me to him more than the others, but not enough to really care that he died (especially since he was already at death's doorstep).