The decision to use the voice over for Blade Runner was something
that I think most involved with the movie could agree that it didn’t go the way
they wanted it to. In my opinion the creators thought they needed the voice
over to help the audience follow the movie better and to also give us insight
of what Fords character what thinking throughout the movie. It takes away from
the movie in a lot of areas and also dumbs down the movie. The story and
writing should have been good enough for the audience to follow the story line
without Ford just telling the story.
Despite his disapproval, Ford was
contractually obligated to record the voiceover, (Pfeiffer, 124). It seems
that even in Ford’s voice you can hear his dissatisfaction with the narration.
He seems very monotonous and literally just seems to be reading lines. Ford’s
unhappiness with the narrative most likely comes from the fact that he believes
the acting from the film was enough to tell the story.
If they had to insert the narrative
it may have been helpful if it actually added to the story. I found it to be
very corny most of the time and it really took away from the movie. The ending
narrative was the worst part of it in my opinion. Whenever Deckard (Harrison
Ford) is voicing his feelings at the end about Rachael being able to live
forever is something that should have been incorporated into dialogue instead
of just a voice telling us.
Adding these unnecessary voice-overs
makes the audience feel as though the creators didn’t think they were smart
enough to figure the film out without literally being told what to think. Many
times mystery and a bit of confusion in films can add to the film. The mystery
keeps us thinking about the film after it has ended, instead the audience is
just flat out told what to think and the movie ends.
It’s unfortunate that they went back
and added the voice over. It adds nothing and like most cases things are better
the first time. When I watched the film without the voice over I didn’t feel
like I was missing anything. Maybe it is Ford’s tone but if there has to be a
voice over it maybe should have just been some unknown voice speaking. I feel
as though an outside voice telling us the story might have added something
instead of just completely taking away from the film, which is what Ford’s
voice over does.
The internal monologue present in novels is always something difficult for film adaptations to deal with, as narration is replaced by visual exposition. However, the voiceover didn’t even cover Rick’s mental struggles and personal thoughts as much as it just over-explained plot points. There are cases when an expositional voiceover does have a place in a film, but only in the rare occasions when it cannot be sufficiently explained by showing the viewer, or if it makes in-world sense in situations like, say, the main character journaling their thoughts. Instead, this was like closed captioning, but instead of being for those unable to hear, it’s just for those unable to think.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ending monologue was the worst part, as well. Revealing something as monumental as removing the life span limitation of a replicant is just a ridiculous continuity alteration, obviously decided upon for convenience rather than plausibility. And waiting until the very end just before the credits roll before such an absurd bombshell is dropped simply adds insult to injury. The decision basically epitomized the problem of the producers’ influence on the project, and mostly reminded me of this scene in The Simpsons: http://youtu.be/YUXjoInekU4