In 1982, director Ridley Scott released the second big science fiction film of his career, Blade Runner. An adaptation of author Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the film starred Harrison Ford in the role of Rick Deckard, a Los Angeles police officer tasked with hunting down humanoid robots known as Replicants in the year 2019. Upon release, the film didn’t do so well at the box-office and received a generally polarizing response from critics. A few years later, however, it started to attract a cult following that was paired with the release of different cuts of the film, which helped to provide new context to the narrative after the theatrical cut had been severely shuttered by studio-mandated cuts. Thus, this initially polarizing film has gone on to become one of the landmark entries in the sci-fi genre, and now, 35 years after the original, we finally return to the world of humans and Replicants with Blade Runner 2049. And as that long gap in time between these two films’ release dates suggest, this sequel was in development for many, many years. For a while, it seemed unclear if it would ever get made or if Scott and Ford would even be involved with it at all. But, ultimately, both are back for this highly-anticipated sequel, as Ford returns to the role of Deckard while Scott serves as the film’s executive producer. In the director’s chair this time around is Denis Villeneuve, who’s made quite a name for himself these past few years thanks to critically-acclaimed hits like 2015’s Sicario and 2016’s Arrival. And thanks to solid direction from Villeneuve, along with several of the things that made the original such a classic, fans of the original Blade Runner should be extremely satisfied with this long-awaited follow-up.
It’s admittedly rather hard to talk about this film’s plot as some of its elements delve into spoiler territory. Villeneuve even made a request to those who reviewed the film prior to its release to not reveal anything from the plot, and while this ‘embargo’ has technically been lifted now that it’s out, I’m still going to try and keep plot spoilers to a minimum in this synopsis. As the title suggests, this film takes place 30 years after the original Blade Runner in the year 2049. While the development of human-like robots known as Replicants has blossomed in the past few decades, several older models are still on the loose, requiring the continued need of special police officers known as Blade Runners to hunt them down and ‘retire’ them. One such officer is K (Ryan Gosling) who, after retiring a Replicant that’s been hiding out on a farm, stumbles across a fascinating discovery; the remains of a female Replicant who was pregnant despite it being theoretically impossible. Thus, K now finds himself on the search for this elusive child of the Replicant mother, who turns out to be none other than the former assistant of the original Replicant creator Dr. Eldon Tyrell, Rachael. This, of course, then leads to K crossing paths with Rachael’s lover, former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who’s been missing for several years. And soon, the two find themselves hunted by the current leader in Replicant development, manufacturer Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), who seeks to use the child to further advance the process of creating Replicants.
Just like the original Blade Runner, one of the first things to stand out in this film is its impressive visual/production design. While visual effects have obviously come a long way since the original film, which had been made back when the art of CGI wasn’t fully realized yet, this film still manages to maintain the great atmospheric feel of the original while also utilizing its larger effects budget to its full potential. That and the always fantastic cinematography from the legendary Roger Deakins, along with the completely mesmerizing score by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, help as well when it comes to fully immersing you within this futuristic world. As for the main plot of this film, it manages to be a natural follow-up to its predecessor without ever feeling like it’s just a direct carbon copy of it. With that said, though, as was the case with the original Blade Runner, this film does maintain a slow and methodical pace throughout with a sparse amount of action sequences. This may once again prove to be problematic for some audiences, especially given that this film boasts a far heftier runtime compared to its predecessor at nearly three hours long (I think it’s safe to say that we won’t need a Director’s Cut for this one, unlike the original). And while I do think that the film is perhaps just a tad bit overlong, it still benefits from having a generally engaging story based around a solid cast of characters.
While the film does see the return of Harrison Ford in the role of Rick Deckard, it should be noted that he doesn’t actually appear in it until after the halfway point. Still, the character is well-utilized in his limited amount of screen-time and Ford once again does an excellent job as the gruff but emotionally conflicted former police officer. Ultimately, the film mainly belongs to Ryan Gosling in the role of K, who embarks on a very similar emotional journey compared to Deckard’s that yields equally fascinating results. But as for the film’s biggest standouts, that honor goes to its two main female leads. As Joi, K’s loving A.I. companion, Ana de Armas brings much warmth to this generally somber sci-fi story. Plus, she has great chemistry with Gosling and is arguably the most interesting character in the entire film given their relationship, which is ultimately the main source of the film’s emotional depth. Sylvia Hoeks, who plays Niander Wallace’s Replicant assistant Luv, is also great in a role that blurs the line between diligent assistant and a stone-cold killer. But as for Wallace, played by Jared Leto, he’s, unfortunately, one of the weaker parts of the film. And for the record, no, it’s not because of Leto’s trademark eccentric performance which, for many people, would’ve been a situation similar to his recent turn as the Joker in Suicide Squad. Instead, it’s more because he’s not in the film all that much… which, ironically, was also the case with Suicide Squad. While he does get to have a few effectively unsettling moments whenever he’s on-screen, the character feels vastly underdeveloped. I promise that I’m not spoiling anything when I say that there is absolutely no resolution for the character whatsoever.
Well, like the original Blade Runner, there’s not much else that I need to say about this film, and that’s because most of the internet has already done that for me. Also, I’m not going to be delving into any sort of diatribe about mainstream audiences’ apparent rejection of this film given its rather lackluster opening weekend at the box-office. If it just wasn’t their cup of tea, then that’s perfectly fine. And besides, the exact same thing happened to the original back in 1982… and look how that one turned out. At the end of the day, I bet that this film will go on to have the same kind of legacy that its predecessor has when all is said and done, and that is because Blade Runner 2049 is very much one of the best films of the year. Director Denis Villeneuve does an excellent job in giving us a film that serves as a fitting follow-up to its predecessor without losing any of the stuff that made the original such a classic in the first place. And while it is just as much as an undeniably slow burn as its predecessor, it also has its same great sense of visual/production design, strong storytelling, and layered characters that help to make it all worthwhile. In short, if you were a fan of the original Blade Runner, then you’ll be pleased to know that this film did manage to live up to most of the hype surrounding it.
Rating: 5/5!
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