A Very Batty Birthday
Friday, January 8, 2016 at 11:10AM Today is the inception date of one of the world's all time most compelling screen characters. It's Replicant, Roy Batty (of Blade Runner fame). Oh the places he'll go...
Or, rather the things he'll see in his short life: Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; C-beams glittering in the darkness at Tannhäuser Gate.
We speak of course of Replicant N6MAA10816 Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) of Blade Runner fame. Who will be incepted at some point... today (gulp). Given how prescient so much of Blade Runner was, particularly in its inarguably genius production design (which hilariously lost the Oscar to Gandhi - okay, Hollywood *rotflmao* you do you!), this shouldn't surprise us.
With Alicia Vikander's gloriously sly Ex Machina performance winning recent honors (BAFTA & Globe nominations) for a brand new potentially classic synthetic antagonist, this is a perfect time for us to honor Rutger Hauer's greatest performance yet again. Hauer's work as Roy Batty has long since become a personal symbol of what heights actors who are in tune with their film's message, their auteur's vision, and their genre's style can soar to... even if awards bodies have historically always had trouble understanding the level of difficulty and the mad genius that shapes the best genre acting, nearly always to their detriment since these performances often become classics examples of great screen acting nearly the very second people are done cordoning of the movies that house them as "sci-fi" or "horror" or "comedy" and have started thinking of them as simply "a classic."
After the jump a slight reworking of a tribute written by yours truly in 2007 on the occasion of his film's then 25th birthday...
Roy with his beloved sister/lover/friend/replicantpartner Pris (Daryl Hannah)
Roy with his "father" who incepted him on January 8th, 2016
Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), the leader of a freethinking band of androids known as "replicants" is the best character in one of the most influential films of all time. He's scary yet soulful and sympathetic, a 21st century Frankenstein monster. His last line in Blade Runner is justifiably famous but he's an articulate wonder from his first scene. Hauer crafts an iconic villain throughout the course of the movie providing yet another reminder that great performances can be given in any genre of film, no matter how rarely those types of star turns garner statuettes of any sort (Hauer wasn't Oscar nominated in 1982, but he towers over most of that year's field)
Despite the frequent narration in Blade Runner by Deckard (Harrison Ford), the "hero" or anti-hero depending on how you view him, isn't actually much of a gabber. The replicants do most of the gabbing. In fact, in the film's final battle, Deckard only grunts and screams while Roy Batty chatters away.
I've lifted the dialogue from an online script (the images are via Movie Screencaps) so it may different slightly from the actual spoken dialogue were you to pop in your BluRay. But this monologue of sorts is interrupted onscreen only by its cat and mouse action as Batty inflicts pain, and tries to stave off his own inevitable death.
Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent. I thought you were supposed to be good. Aren't you the good man? Come on Deckard. Show me what you're made of. Proud of yourself, little man? This is for Zhora. This is for Pris.
Come on, Deckard, I'm right here, but you've got to shoot straight.
Deckard misses on account of his hand being kinda crushed by Batty. That'll throw off your aim any day. Batty is just cruelly taunting him.
Straight doesn't seem to be good enough. Now it's my turn. I'm gonna give you a few seconds before I come.
One, Two. Three, Four.
Pris... [Roy begins howling like a wolf] (singing) I'm coming.
Four, five. How to stay alive. -- I can see you!
Not yet. Not... [puts spike through his hand, screaming]
[puts head through wall.] You better get it up, or I'm gonna have to kill ya! Unless you're alive, you can't play, and if you don't play
Six, seven. Go to hell, go to heaven.
It's easy to forget, given that Batman Returns is iconic in its own right for Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman that she mimics Batty's sing-song dialogue during her awesome final breakdown. The best villian of the 1990s referencing the best villains of the 1980s? That's an orgasmic pop culture collision.
At this point in the battle, Deckard finally gets a blow in. Deckard with the lead pipe on the rooftop.
Good, that's the spirit. That hurt. That was irrational. Not to mention, unsportsman-like. Ha ha ha. Where are you going?
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Deckard falls from the roof but Roy catches him with one hand, saving him and the fight abruptly ends. Rutger Hauer locks Roy's place up in the cinematic rogues gallery hall of fame with his sudden expiration.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the darkness at Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.
Time to die.
Time to watch this again. It's always a thrill to experience Rutger Hauer and science fiction filmmaking hitting their prime together.
Reader Comments (7)
Nathaniel - thanks for this - I loved "Blade Runner" and I own 3 versions of it. It was so ground breaking, and influential. When Rutger Hauer says that final speech, " I have seen things..." his time to die, and I felt tears well up. Love his performance, Love this film.
Alicia Vikander is no Rutger Hauer.
I recently finished off the films from the '82 Oscars in Picture/acting that I hadn't seen, and then rewatched Blade Runner. While they did pretty good that year (the only real duds are Gandhi in BP/Winger in Actress/Durning in S Actor, and maybe Close in S Actress depending on my mood), no one in S Actor could hold a candle to Rutger Hauer. He's a fascinating mix of terrified and confident.
Damn, Hauer didn't receive any awards for this. He was only nominated for a Saturn award, which he lost.
I need to revisit this. Scared for the sequel.
My husband and I watched this for the first time last year. As soon as it was done, we both wanted to watch it again because we both liked it a lot and because we knew we would find more surprises and meaning in a second viewing. This basically never happens to both of us with the same film.
One of my favorite theatrical experiences ever is seeing The Final Cut version in 2007 with a large immersive screen in this art house theater nearby where I used to live. I'd never seen the movie before at all and I was curious but my then-bf swore up and down that I'd love it because it's amazing and apparently this new revised version is brilliant, whatever. I ended up being completely blown away. The level of quality just on craft/design alone is worth the look but it does such a perfect cool noir homage in the best way, the performances are all great, the casting, the music, the smoky rooms, the costumes, THE SETS. Even the revised ending is fantastic (I saw the original some time later and it doesn't do it for me). I go out of my way now to recommend it to people who are shifty about sci-fi/genre films but I also insist on them watching the Final Cut version as it's perfection. I've had very good responses thus far.
Hauer is as every bit incredible as you say. That last scene would've made a KILLER Oscar clip in a perfect world. Perfect genre performances are things to be cherished and get giddy over, not forgotten or written off. Don't people know that they're actually harder to pull off?
BTW this, Thelma & Louise and Alien will forever make me curious about Ridley Scott and what he picks as his projects. When he's on, it's absolutely incredible. We got a nice revival of that this year with The Martian, even if I didn't love anything else about that movie beyond Damon.
Wow, Batty shares the same b-day as Elvis and Bowie. Fucking awesome. If I ever get married, I want it to be on that day.
Mark the First -- i didn't see it in 1982 because i wasn't allowed (rated R) but i saw the first revival which i think came out in 1992? and was just completely mesmerized. I also went to the 2007 restoration and it was heaven for every frame. love this movie so much. it's incredible to think that people couldn't look past whatever issues they had with it in 1982 to realize it's worth at least in the craft fields.
deserved 11 noms and a few wins at least.
PICTURE, DIRECTOR, SUPPORTING ACTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHY, ART DIRECTION, VISUAL FX, SOUND, SOUND EFFECTS, EDITING, MAKEUP, SCORE,
only US based prizes
art directors, visual fx - oscar nominations
best cinematography -lafca win
score - golden globe nomination
scifi film, supporting actor, direcotr, visual fx - saturn awards AND LOST THEM ALL. wtf
the only place it did well was at the BAFTAS back when they were less beholden to predicting Oscar and did their own thing. They were the only kind voting body: it won cinematography, costumes, and production design with editing, makeup, and score, sound, and visual fx nominations