Ahhh, yes…Roy Batty. He is noble. Brave. A proud antagonist but not a villain. A warrior.
So strangely beautiful. That wonderful hair–peroxide blonde. And spiked. Those fine, yet distinctive, angular features. Those steel blue eyes. Sculpted, muscled thighs. The broad chest of a sprinter. If not for his slightly crooked teeth, he’d be very nearly perfect.
As a biorobotic android “combat model” with super human strength and genius level IQ he is literally a killing machine. His theater of operations is “off world”; he guards and preserves intergalactic colonies.
But Roy has the audacity to want and that is a tricky thing in this dystopian, Blade Runner world of 2019. It is okay to want those basic things that he is programmed for, but to want more is subversive. To feel is anathema.
And he does feel. He experiences. Loyalty. Longing. Love. He knows what beauty is and perceives these, the most profoundly dangerous things of all: He feels empathy and he has hope, though his lifespan is programmed at a mere four years.
Roy fosters these emotions in other biorobtoic androids–“skin jobs” is the derogatory term some humans refer to them as–and they rebel violently, ruthlessly. Murderously. Roy is the leader because although the others have superhuman strength, they are not as beautiful or as beautifully smart.
Four of them–they are also called replicants–escape to planet earth on a desperate quest for more time, tracking down those who are complicit in their design. They interrogate; they punish. And they do what they were made to do. They kill.
But, just as they are hunters, they are hunted too. Death hangs over them and onto them, picking them off one by one, till only Roy is left. Roy knows that he has eluded and outsmarted it, even as he also knows, he can not outlast it. His last act is terrifying–he literally howls like a wolf because he is alone with no comfort as he confronts his demise with dignity and pathos. And, more than that, with empathy. Like the warrior he is. Like a real man.
“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 dark near the Tannhäuser Gate…All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain…Time to die.”
I love Roy Batty for all the reasons you mention. The book portrays him utterly different. I like the film version of him more.
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Your post inspired me to watch Blade Runner yet again. And it has inspired me to read the book too.
He is a very attractive character. He terrifies me, but I feel for him so deeply. I know that sound really nerdy, but he’s one of my favorite characters. I wonder why named the film Blade Runner? Perhaps because Deckard is chasing his own demise? I don’t know.
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I am sure Pete will follow with an adroit answer. 😉
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Ha! I hope so. Thanks for reading Cindy.
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What did you think of the recent one?
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I haven’t watched it yet, though I’m a big Ryan Gosling fan. I’m funny like that. It took me a good while to watch Mad Max: Fury road and I loved it. Science Fiction/Action is not really my thing, so when I find those few that I really like, I’m very particular about any modifications to the story. I love Die Hard–but only the first one. And so on…and so forth…kind of like Pete on that, but not as sincere.
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I liked the second one. I need to see it again. Mad Max Fury Road was a fun ride for me, too. As well as the first (only) Die Hard. I have,always had a fondness for Bruce.
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I like him too. He doesn’t take himself too seriously which is very sexy. Haven’t liked some of his movie choices, but overall? Yes, I’m a fan.
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Great post 🙂 I could not have written this entry on Roy Batty better than you have. I have always been a huge Rutger Hauer fan and I do not know If it is just me, but regardless of whether he is playing a hero or villain or in-between, his presence always feels comforting for some odd reason. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Thanks John. I agree. Rutger Hauer is oddly comforting–except in The Hitcher–he was terrifying in that one. I think it is because he is so measured and in control. His voice is soothing.
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I saw Scott interviewed about the name of the film years ago. This more recent article explains it clearly.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16416082/blade-runner-name-backstory-ridley-scott-william-burroughs-alan-nourse
Before that, I had always thought it was a clever, generic name, deigned to let us all imagine where it came from, for our own reasons. I was wrong.
Of course, I adore all the characters in this film. Not just Roy, but Pris, Rachel, J.F. Sebastian, and above all, Eldon Tyrell.
It goes without saying that I loved this article about my current favourite film of all time!
Roy’s dying monologue is of a Shakespearean standard, and we can visualise those events he talks about, even though they are fantasy.
As for other reasons to love this film, and the sequel, links follow. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Sorry, typo. Should read ‘Designed’.
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Thank you Pete. You and Cindy inspired me to write this post with your enthusiasm for a film that I too love. And, yes, as much as I love the film Blade Runner in it’s entirety, it is Roy Batty that keeps me coming back again and again.
This will be a recurring theme in a series of post–characters from film and literature that I have a particular affinity for. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Thanks for reading, Pete, as always.
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I am sure I will enjoy it. In fact, I’m certain! 🙂
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Fascinating. Thanks for the link. Now I know the answer to a question that has intrigued me for years. What a fascinating premise…I want to read this book about these couriers of medicine.
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Ryan ‘Drives’ a flying car. (See what I did there? 🙂 )
https://beetleypete.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/just-been-watching-56/
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A love letter to a film.
https://beetleypete.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/blade-runner-why-its-so-good/
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Big Rutger Hauer fan too…my favorite film of his was “Soldier Of Orange” which I keep looking for. Great post Pam,I hope you keep this series up,it’s a great idea.
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I have that on DVD somewhere, bought years ago. An excellent WW2 film.
Regards, Pete.
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Thanks Michael. I’m going to. Stay tuned, my friend…
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My review of Cat People has just been posted on my blog 🙂
https://cinematiccoffee.com/2018/10/03/john-charets-take-on-cat-people-1942/
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When you really look at it, Rick Deckard is a total arse lol. Psycho violence aside, Roy Batty is the hero. Roy’s journey is heartbreakingly sad. His compassion and empathy at the end is so perfectly beautiful. He can rest in peace knowing he was lucky not be blessed with Leon’s doofus thug like looks.
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Totally agree. But Leon is a sentimental doofus, at least. Ha!
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I may very well be the only person in the world that has not seen Blade Runner! I will have to remedy that
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