1982 Film Was Just Ranked the 'Greatest Sci-Fi Crime Thriller of All Time'

Some of the most compelling science fiction movies have elements of other genres, specifically thrillers.

For instance, on June 29, Collider published a list of “the 8 greatest sci-fi crime thrillers of all time” that included beloved movies like 2012’s Looper, A Clockwork Orangefrom 1971, and Strange Days from 1995.

The 1982 Ridley Scott-directed film Blade Runner secured the title of the best sci-fi crime thriller ever released. Collider argued that Blade Runner should be at the top of the list because of its influence within the sci-fi genre and how its cinematography was expertly used to create the film’s equally breathtaking and grimy atmosphere.

Ridley Scott Rejected the Belief that ‘Blade Runner’ Should Be Considered a Sci-Fi Film

In a 1982 interview, Scott explained why he rejected the belief that Blade Runner, an adaptation of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, is a science fiction film. Scott said he would categorize it as a piece of literary fiction, given that it takes place only four decades away from when it was released.

“Well, it touches on a near future, which is only 40 years away, so I don’t really look on it to that extent as being that futuristic. It’s really like doing a film in the ’40s looking at us now in the ’80s. And things really haven’t changed that much, just enough to be a little spooky, so I don’t really regard it as a futuristic film,” said the Alien director in the interview.

He also wanted to clarify that while the film touches on the ideas of the harm overpopulation can do to a society, he didn’t intend for Blade Runner to be a warning of what humanity could become.

“[The audience is] quite clearly watching a fabrication, not necessarily a prediction of the future. I hope it’s not the future,” said Scott in the 1982 interview.