The characters are based in archetypes- the hard-boiled detective, the femme fatale (three in this picture, if one also includes Joanna Cassidy’s exotic Zhora and Daryl Hannah’s childlike Pris), the thug (Brion James as Leon), the cynical police chief (M. Emmet Walsh), the sleazy cop (Edward James Olmos in an amazing turn), and of course, the villain. Brought to life with ferocious energy, Rutger Hauer’s Batty is a man dedicated to getting as much out of life as possible. He is passionate and moody, given to tenderness as well as murderous rage, and there’s a hint of Milton’s Satan in him as well, as he rises to confront his own God- Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), the head of the Tyrell corporation. Hauer is utterly captivating and almost steals the show entirely, despite Ford being as well cast as he is. Though Roy does some plainly awful things, he and his comrades are in a life or death struggle, and a key question is whether they deserve life any less than the humans who dispassionately wander this hellish realm they’ve created for themselves. But of course, everyone dies, it’s just a matter of when, and everyone- including Deckard, as a dealer of death- must acknowledge that they’re mortal. (William Sanderson gives an endearing performance as J. F. Sebastian, a Tyrell corporation engineer suffering from premature aging.) Whether they are even alive or not, human or not, is up for debate; Deckard of course makes himself a little less human with everyone he executes (there’s a nicely callous scene where he tells Rachel memories that only she should know, tearing down her illusion of humanity forever.) The question seems to be, is humanity something we’re born with, something innate, or do we have to earn it and fight to hang on to it? This is the same ethical debate that formed the central thesis of Dick’s novel, and though he was more hard-nosed on some elements (his replicants are decidedly sub-human, incapable of empathy towards others), the essential idea that...