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Comment by nickstinemates | Hacker News Reader

I have never watched the directors cut of any movie. This will be my first.

Director’s cuts and Director’s (and actor’s) commentaries are a good reason to still buy physical media.

These are also available on the high seas as I found after posting this comment.

it's too bad so much goes missing from the original DVD / Blu-ray - not even sure if the streaming releases are cut further or not.

Probably there's also less effort in collecting and making this content available.

Also check out the one for Bladerunner.

Arguably, the theatrical version of Blade Runner is better for first-time viewers, because the voiceover explains a lot of stuff they don't understand.

Fans almost always say they prefer the DC (or actually the "Final Cut"), but my theory is that their opinion isn't really valid because they all saw the theatrical version first, so upon viewing the later cuts, they had the benefit of already knowing the story and background, and of course they can't just forget that when watching a voiceover-less cut.

I'm not one of those who saw the theatrical version. I didn't see the movie until much later in my life. I think actually read an article about how the "Final Cut" is Ridley Scott's "true vision" for the film before I actually saw it. That prompted me to go track it down and watch it for the first time with that version.

So, I've never actually seen the theatrical version with the voiceover. However, I don't believe there's anything in the film that I don't understand. I understood the symbolism and the message that was being conveyed. I'm being deliberately vague here because I don't want to spoil it for any random reader who might see this.

I don't think there's anything particularly difficult to understand about the film. Perhaps you think I am giving people too much credit? I don't think I am. There are lots of films out there with deeper meanings and hidden ideas/messages. There are lots of very critical viewers out there who pay attention and don't need everything spelled out for them. These are also the people most likely to get annoyed when a voiceover spoils it for them.

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