Blade Runner (1982)
Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner is a stunning mix of noir and dystopia and is broadly considered one of the best science fiction movies ever made. Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a former cop and “blade runner,” who hunts “replicants,” bioengineered humanoids who are on the wrong side of the law. Scott’s eye for detail creates a fully realized world, replete with flying cars and atmospheric urban landscapes. All that said, there’s just one problem: It’s set in 2019. The closest thing to replicants we had at that point was probably Amazon’s Alexa. Helpful as she is, Alexa doesn’t have the verbal talents to pull off Roy Batty’s “tears in the rain” monologue, nor does she have the legs of Joanna Cassidy, who plays Zhora the replicant stripper. And, despite Uber’s best efforts, we did not (and still do not) have flying cars.
