“Harrison Ford starring as Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter tracking rogue humaniod replicants through neo-noir Los Angeles? How could it lose? Well, pitting a dark-as-night noir against the warm-hearted ET: The Extraterrestrial was probably the first mistake. Scott’s film grossed a million under its $28 million budget.
But all was not lost: VHS developed as a technology just in time for audiences to realize that the film is very rewatchable, particularly after the director released two alternate cuts, each with a higher concentration of creative freedom than the last.”