Okay, yeah, the replicants aren’t bad, that’s the whole point of Blade Runner. But, throwing that little subtextual wrinkle out the window, let’s consider the fact that Blade Runner is now set in the present. It’s November 2019, the same timeframe as the original film. It’s happening, out there, in the streets. And if it’s happening, maybe it’s happening like this.
In a very of-the-moment parody, the creators at YouTube channel Back to the 2015 Future decide to take Blade Runner’s setup into the present, replacing replicants with the modern world’s most pernicious technological menace: Amazon. Which is to say: there are a lot of people talking to Alexas in this video.
Can an Alexa feel? Can it experience emotion? Can an Alexa pass the Voight Kampff test? Those are the sort of questions this version of Blade Runner is interested in, and it quickly devolves into various forms of slapstick as Deckard and his compatriots try to interrogate and interact with a group of rogue Alexa units. With mustaches. They’re great at disguises.
It’s a funny, entertaining little thing, just precise enough to be a delight when it falls apart. Is Deckard an Alexa? I mean. Probably not.
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