Its mostly hailed as a great artsy movie, that general audiences find super boring. I think its asethetic & art design is what its hailed for. Nobody hails bladerunner for its pacing.
Its hard to be good at everything. Being really good at one aspect is enough to get people to fawn.
I disagree on the contemplative bit. I think both are quite contemplative but in very different ways.
>Its mostly hailed as a great artsy movie, that general audiences find super boring
You make it sound like some obscure arthouse. It's one of the most influence movies of all time, art design and worldbuilding wise.
It just didn't catch on at the box office in its time. Way more serious and slower paced movies have been big hits, so it's not being "artsy" that's the problem.
Sci-fi wasn't much of a win with adults at the time, and unlike Star Wars this was an adult oriented movie.
>Nobody hails bladerunner for its pacing.
You'd be surpised.
I can't speak to what audiences find boring now -- I know that I watched it as a kid when my attention span was not at its peak, and I found the pacing to be just fine. (I did see the much-panned version with the narration first.)
I've re-watched it quite a few times and find new things to enjoy each time. The aesthetic is hugely influential, but it also has a fantastic cast and superb acting. The soundtrack is also perfect.
The love story between Deckard and Rachel is ham-fisted, I will grant that, and if I were giving notes I'd say we need to see more of the backstory for the replicants. But IMO it succeeds far better than the book.
Blade Runner passed the test of not making my children pick up the phone while watching it.
Very few movies do that.
We should make an hn movie list like that. Movies our kids watched to the end....