History Film / BladeRunner

* ShoutOut: In Roy Batty's famous dying "tears in rain" speech, he references having seen something called "Tannhaeuser Gate" while working in space, the name being an obvious reference to the opera ''Theatre/Tannhaeuser'' by Music/RichardWagner.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The story is rife with this. Deckard is kind of a stoic dick, while the replicants are violent murderers but also much more emotional. Roy Batty [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] Deckard's proclivity for shooting unarmed people in the back.

* ConstellationsAsLocations: During his speech at the climax, Roy Batty mentions having seen attack ships on fire "off the shoulder of Orion".

* CrapsackWorld: 2019 Earth is a polluted hellhole where it's always raining and animals are so rare that lifelike robots are cheaper. Humanity has colonized space, but uses a slave race of androids to do it, who are to be summarily executed the second they step foot on Earth.

* CoolGuns: Rick Deckard's iconic two-trigger blaster.

!!'''I've... seen tropes... you people wouldn't believe...''':

!!This film provides examples of:

* ArcSymbol: Eyes are a huge motif in this movie. From the opening shot, to seeing the creation of Replicant eyes, to those eyes having a glow representing their artificialness.

* CrazyWorkplace: Mr. James, a billionaire who has spent the entire day eating food he knows for a fact to be spoiled. Joe, who earns upwards of 11 dollars working as an amateur surveillance expert -- albeit half of it in ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' money. And, of course, Matthew (cut to Matthew peeking from under a desk), who appears to have taken the surveillance into his own hands.

** Gaff's multilingual Cityspeak, which is a mishmash of various languages including Spanish, Japanese, German and Hungarian. "Lófasz! Nehogy már!" is one of the first things he says to Deckard and it translates to "Horse Dick! No way! You are the Blade... [[TitleDrop Blade Runner!]]" Becomes a Trilingual Bonus when you realize the name Philip is derived from the Greek for "lover of horses (philo = love, hippo = horse)". Thus, "Horse Dick" = a bizarre insult/term of endearment as well as a reference to Philip K. Dick. The author himself even inserted an AuthorAvatar named Horselover Fat into some of his works. The deleted scenes feature further bonuses as Gaff's refers to Bryant as a 'UsefulNotes/{{baka}}' (or 'idiot' in Japanese).

** The Director's and Final Cut end with Deckard realizing that the four years expiration date may apply to Rachael, and [[spoiler:he--possibly being a replicant himself--might end with the same fate as well]].

* CripplingTheCompetition: Roy Batty breaks two of Deckard's fingers to hamper his ability to use his gun and as revenge for [[spoiler:killing Zhora and Pris]]. Interestingly, he does not break his trigger finger. Deckard still has to start using his other hand instead.

-> '''Deckard:''' I'm from the, uh, Confidential Committee On Moral Abuses. ... There's been some reports that the management has taken liberties with the artists in this place. Have you felt yourself to be exploited by anyone? [[CastingCouch To get this job ... did you do, or were you asked to do anything that's lewd or unsavory?]] Or otherwise repulsive to your person ...I'd like to check your dressing room, if I may ... for holes. You'd be surprised what a guy would go through to get a glimpse of a beautiful body.
-> '''Zhora:''' No, I wouldn't.

-> '''Leon:''' ''Blows Holden across the room.''