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NOTE: The following introduction was omitted from the video for the sake of time. The text for it follows. While it's not necessary to read, it might provide a greater appreciation for what remains in the video.

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I have only seen Blade Runner twice in my life: the first time was about a year ago, and the second time was a week prior to the publication of this video. To all the sci-fi nerds and fanboys out there who cherish this film as the holy grail of the genre, you might feel some… admittedly… rational trepidation about how in-depth my analysis of this film can be, given the fact that I have only seen it twice. However, I propose that there may be some unique, valuable wisdom to be shared by somebody who has only seen this movie… this specific movie… twice. Before you laugh, give my explanation a chance.

The first time I watched this movie, my expectations were impossible to meet. All my friends and fellow film fans sang the same chorus line: oh, it’s the greatest sci-fi film ever made! Oh, it’s one of the greatest films ever made! Make sure you don’t watch the theatrical cut! Watch the “Final Cut.”

Well, I watched it… and I thought it was… good. It was good! Not great! I didn’t see what the big deal was, though. So, I thought that maybe I just didn’t get it, but that didn’t seem right. I got the metaphors about prejudice and objectification, and all that. So, I figured… eh… maybe I’d just have to be one of those weird people who doesn’t think this movie is a timeless masterpiece.

Fast-forward to a year later… The Blade Runner sequel is coming out. Seeing that my audience enjoys my analysis of film and video games… so why not give the original a second shot and do a video on it? I popped the disc in, sat through the film’s entire run time… and my god… my experience with it was so much more profound.

Blade Runner’s themes and messages about the value of human life and how little respect some of us give it… hit me like an emotional tidal wave. The experience was so different the second time around I was hit with this deleterious feeling which… I can only describe as guilt. I felt guilty... for not understanding the film’s true value the first time around, and I think the reason for that dovetails into the character of Deckard’s existential crisis, particularly his growing inability to objectify replicants.

I think the reason why I didn’t appreciate this film the first time around is the same reason Deckard didn’t appreciate the replicants: he and I were expecting a particularly utility from our respective objects. I was expecting a sci-fi epic that welded action and intelligent sci-fi concepts into a harmony of mathematical precision. Deckard was expecting replicants to act like – to use his own words – “any other machine. They’re either a benefit or a hazard.”

It is only through time and experience do we both learn the true value of our respective objects and, by proxy, what those objects teach us about the sacredness of life. I hope you will join me for the next few minutes as I describe how every piece of Blade Runner’s composition… from its cinematography and music… to its scripting and performances… communicates how human beings SHOULD perceive the value of life and how… horrifyingly… the majority of human beings may never, for as long as we live, comprehend that value. Needless to say… there are spoilers ahead.