I decided to watch it before watching the sequel. It was my first time watching it and really, it deserves the praise it got. It was truly ahead of its time not just in scenery and special effects. It was also ahead of its time in story telling.

Just like the protagonist, you take pity of the robots despite some of the things they do especially when you see that to the maker, they were either experiments or trophies. I mean, they don't need to be human to deserve the right to live or be mistreated. Or to have expiry dates attached to them for our own convenience. It's cruel to do that even to an animal. You don't just play with life like that just because you can or worse yet, exterminate it because it cannot be controlled.

It was also why I liked the protagonist. He did not hate or resent the robots nor did he have any prejudice towards them. Heck, he quit because he felt sick harming them.

I am really looking forward to the sequel now.

Roy Baty's ‘Tears in the Rain’ speech is my fave monologue of all time!!!!

Yeah, I think that the movie does have its faults, but when I look past those it's a story that I really like. It has understandable villains and a deeper meaning you can think about. Plus I really loved the visual design.

And I hear the sequel actually improves on some of those faults, so I'm looking forward to it, too.

I've must of rented Blade Runner once a year It by far my favorite SciFi movie. And now Blade Runner 2049 is another favorite. Which I plan head to theater watch it again.

I found the storytelling in the director's cut version to be lacking- Scott is an amazing visual film maker but when left to his devices he's lacking with storytelling ability. He tends to create gorgeous scene set pieces, roughly stitches them together and hopes it makes sense.

That said the original cinema release was great!
And your description Mary is spot on.

It's an important film, it basically created the whole cyberpunk genre. The look, the feel was all there, the emotion, lighting, philosophy… That movie really defines it.
Scott had some amazing collaborators and he used his own skill and style aesthetic at the cutting edge of advertising to create it.