Popular Mechanics has an an great article in which Adam Savage whom worked on movies such as Star Wars (ep 1&2), The Matrix and can be seen on Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters show tells us why Blade Runner still is the #1 movie when it comes to the special effects. It’s a very good article and Adam Savage goes deep on some of the more technical things that makes Blade Runner into the Sci-Fi masterpiece that holds up better than most movies. You can find the article here.
You have to remember, Blade Runner was made years before digital effects became common. Today, CGI [computer-generated imagery] is becoming a mature art form, but even now there are times you just can’t beat doing some effects like these “in camera.” – Adam Savage