Ridley Scott’s flawed 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner is a genre-defining epic that spawned a wave of sci-fi imitators in the years following its release, including Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell and the Keanu Reeves-led Cyberpunk 2077. However, before we finally received the highly anticipated Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, Scott released the bleak crime thriller Black Rain – the closest we ever came to getting a Blade Runner sequel in the ’80s.
Starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia as hardened New York detectives, Black Rain follows their descent into Japan’s crime underworld after a high-profile ᴀssignment throws them into the midst of a violent Yakuza conspiracy. With a grim, brutal atmosphere and a high-octane motorcycle chase that’s easily one of Scott’s best-filmed action sequences, Black Rain is an overlooked gem that stands today as one of the grittiest action movies of the ’80s, and an excellent watch for Blade Runner fans seeking more of that sleek neo-noir magic.
Black Rain Was Heavy On Blade Runner Similarities
In Many Ways, Black Rain Feels Like An ’80s Prequel
Although Black Rain was framed as a typical action thriller through promotional material ahead of its release, the moody, near-existential picture holds more similarities to Blade Runner than one might initially anticipate. Most obvious among these is the motif of rain; both films depict dark, urbanized settings overrun with crowds soaked by the near-relentless downpours of the sky above. Furthermore, both Black Rain and Blade Runner deal with the consequences of cultural clashes, with the former following a traditional fish-out-of-water scenario while the latter depicts a hyper-future multiculturalism.
While these similarities are noteworthy, they primarily lie at the surface level. In contrast, the most striking parallel found at the lowest depths of the Blade Runner–Black Rain iceberg is the alienation and moral grayness of protagonists Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas). Simply put, neither man is a conventional hero, and though Deckard proves far more lonesome and emotionally muted than Conklin’s brash, H๏τ-headed persona, there remains a strong throughline of isolation and deep longing within the respective characters.
Why Black Rain Is The Closest We’ll Get To Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner Sequel
Several Factors Contributed To Killing A Blade Runner Follow-Up
The similarities between Black Rain and Blade Runner aren’t the result of Ridley Scott running out of ideas or accidentally plagiarizing his work—it’s a deliberate choice to emulate the film’s themes and aesthetics to create a spiritual sequel. Much like how Stanley Kubrick repurposed several sets and locations for his period drama Barry Lyndon when he couldn’t get MGM to sign off on his magnum opus Napoleon, so too did Scott mirror several ideas and stylistic choices from Blade Runner.
Its sequel possibilities were curbed in the ’80s following its poor critical reception and other outstanding factors including a lackluster box office performance, legal issues surrounding the IP, and the director’s own disinterest in the project in favor of other films like Legend and Someone to Watch Over Me.
Though Black Rain leans far more into the action genre than Blade Runner, it never abandons—or forgets—the aesthetic weight of the latter.
With these elements in mind, it’s honestly a miracle that we got a spiritual successor to Blade Runner in the ’80s at all with Black Rain, whose sleek noir setting in Osaka, Japan provided the best atmospheric translation of the gritty cult classic audiences had until Blade Runner 2049. Though Black Rain leans far more into the action genre than Blade Runner, it never abandons—or forgets—the aesthetic weight of the latter.
Instead, the film modulates its cinematic language to elevate its content above the predictable tropes of the ’80s action thriller. In doing this, Scott was able to create a more refined and mature product in an era defined by muscular heroes and violent, over-the-top shoot-em’-ups.
Why Black Rain Deserves More Attention As A Ridley Scott Movie
Simply Put, It’s High-Octane ’80s Magic
These days, Blade Runner is considered one of Ridley Scott’s finest films, alongside works like Alien, Gladiator, and Thelma and Louise. However, it’s a crying shame that Black Rain is as overlooked a picture as it has become in the past decades, particularly when it bears such a striking thematic resemblance to what many consider Scott’s magnum opus. Yes, some might argue that the film’s aesthetic similarity to Blade Runner decreases its merit as a standalone film. However, these detractors fail to either mention or recognize Black Rain‘s status as a masterclass in emulating and adapting neo-noir aesthetics for a narrative wholly situated in a different time and genre.
Furthermore, Black Rain is also noteworthy for building upon the anxiety and apathy of Blade Runner‘s Rick Deckard through protagonist Nick Conklin, a down-on-his-luck cop torn between alimony payments and an Internal Affairs investigation who’s thrust into the dangerous world of the Yakuza in a frantic search to save his case—and himself—in the process. Morally complex, to say the least, and when combined with Scott’s sleek direction and the optimistic machismo of the late ’80s action genre, it makes for one hell of a viewing, and a must-watch for any die-hard Blade Runner fan.
