But if you replaced the setting with a mundane one the movie would be a generic film noir.
It only works because of the combination of the setting and the story.
It only works because of the combination of the setting and the story.
Just comparing the two, Deckard's role is to be a witness to Batty's dawning humanity (as well as Rachel's I suppose). I think that's one of the things that gives the movie the feeling of extraordinary redemption at the end. There's no such sense of redemption in Chandler--the Marlowe storylines revolve around the struggle to keep a moral compass in the midst of societal corruption, in line with the common definition of the Noir genre. [0] (I'm thinking particularly of The Long Goodbye but it's common to all the Marlowe stories.)
Just my $0.02. It's definitely fun to think about.