There was a recent interview with Harrison Ford as part of the promotional tour for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Ford was asked about quite a few topics related to his career and the characters he played.

One of the questions had to do with his performance as Rick Deckard in 1982’s Blade Runner. He was asked if he thought Deckard was a “replicant”; one of the androids constructed by the Tyrell Corporation.

It’s one of those movie questions that fans love to talk about, expending a not inconsiderable amount of time and effort in pointing out all the little hints in the movie to support their contention.

You know, I’d have thought the matter would have been settled by now. In fact, I maintain that it should have been settled within days after the movie’s initial release – indeed, within a few minutes after the question was first asked.

Deckard cannot possibly be a replicant.

Yes, I know that in the “Director’s Cut”, Ridley Scott stuck in a bunch of extra bits and dropped hints all over the place that Deckard just might be one of the replicants. I’m not talking about that version; I’m sticking with the original release. A part of me suspects that Scott had no intention of releasing a Special Super Bonus Edition of the movie until he heard about the debate, and puckishly decided to deliberately muddy the waters.

The major argument in favor of Deckard being a replicant has to do with his cold, emotionless personality. Being created objects, replicants aren’t supposed to have “souls” (or whatever), a complete range of emotions hasn’t been programmed into them. That’s the point of the Voight-Kampff test; to check for any reflexive emotional response; the subtle unconscious reactions that cannot be faked. It’s pointedly noted (as one of the arguments in favor of the “Deckard is a replicant” idea) that Deckard has never taken that test.

The movie is basically a science fiction film noir. A tough, hard-boiled cop poking around in the underbelly of society, on the hunt for escaped criminals. OF COURSE Deckard is going to come across as cold and emotionally distant; it comes with the territory.

Look at the story from the perspective of the replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). He and his fellows are rebelling against their artificially imposed restraints – both societal and biological – and are fighting to be recognized or at least treated as human. The story of the movie is not about the hunt for the replicants; it’s about what it means to be a “human”.

Think back to the climax of the movie – Deckard and Batty on the roof of that building; the former about to fall off while the latter starts to break down…. Batty finds the compassion in him to save Deckard as his final act, thereby proving to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that these replicants are worthy of being treated as humans.

Now keep in mind that at no point in the movie do we find out that the replicants have some secret way of communicating with each other, or some telltale mark of recognition. Batty has know way of knowing if Deckard is a replicant or not; all he knows is what he sees and has been told: this person who has been trying to destroy you will die if you do not act.

The entire point of the scene, the emotional core of the movie, the real climax, is for Deckard to see that Batty (at least) is better at being “human” than he is. If Deckard is a replicant, none of that scene matters.

Deckard CANNOT POSSIBLY be a replicant; if he is, then the entire movie is pointless – and no amount of origami unicorns can change that.