Blade Runner 2049

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Blade Runner 2049

 As reported by Dollyforme.

 

 

I actually liked Blade Runner 2049 better than the original – amazing, no? Blade Runner 2049 is brilliant, beautiful and surprisingly – given its 163-minute running time – not too long. But it's also sprawling and difficult, a sequel that ties in, talks to and expands on the original in a way that means it doesn't work at all as a standalone. For once, the trailers spoil nothing. But don't expect an easy ride.

Set 30 years after the events of Ridley Scott's original, we find Ryan Gosling's Agent K the latest star 'Blade Runner' – an LAPD agent sent to 'retire' older models of replicants built by the Tyrell corporation. Tyrell's models have been superseded with newer and better versions, and his company has been taken over by Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), a creator with a god complex, seeking to evolve synthetic humans.

Managed by Robin Wright's 'Madame', K's latest target leads to a discovery – a tree with an engraving that stirs old memories.

And that's about all we can tell you about the plot without running into spoiler territory. If you've been following the publicity you'll know that Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard is back – he's a bigger part of the film than you might imagine – while Dave Bautista, Ana de Armas and Carla Juri all play significant roles in a narrative that runs in circles, allowing you to guess (and often guess wrong) at where the story will take you.

Blade Runner 2049 iss structured like a crime noir, with K the hard-nosed detective (who frequently gets punched in the (hard too) nose). We, the audience, are as much in the dark as he is when it comes to what is actually going on.

It's fascinating, frustrating, mesmerising and requires full attention at all times. Indeed, the narrative is so strong that for a movie that runs at 163 minutes it doesn't drag one bit – in fact, when the final tantalising image is revealed you'll be crying out for it not to end. Blade Runner 2049 opens up the universe in such a way that in the right hands, sequels – and good ones at that – are entirely possible and to be expected.

A Blade Runner movie wouldn't be true to its roots were it not packed with existential musings, questions of who is and is not a replicant and of course discourse on what it is to be human and what it is to love. Blade Runner 2049 delivers head-spinning philosophical conundrums in spades.

Aesthetically, too, it's faithful to but builds on the original. The iconic cyber skylines remain, but 30 years on this is a world of excess, packed cityscapes are verging on overcrowded shanty towns, bio-engineered farms spiral dizzyingly into the horizon, sky-rise interiors are woven with rusted staircases like a cross between MC Escher and HR Giger.

Performances are across-the-board excellent with standouts from Sylvia Hoeks as 'Luv' – a Terminator-esque assistant to Wallace, while Dave Bautista, though perhaps underused, shows a depth and heart that will hopefully bring him a greater range of roles to come.

Despite all this, it's a strangely unemotional film. This could be in part because, despite some excellent female supporting performances, it's a very male-centric movie focusing on the male experience as creators, fathers, lovers, protectors and consumers. In this world, women have become commodities: it's as if men have attempted to make a world where human women are obsolete.

A frightening and no doubt deliberate choice on the part of Villeneuve and screenwriters Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, it's a side of the narrative that's underexplored.

Fans of the original should be very happy. Don't come expecting solutions, though. Instead Blade Runner 2049 offers a stunning, immersive and fascinating journey through a strange and familiar world that we fully expect to revisit soon.

This movie is worth seeing at any price – get the best seats in an expensive theatre please. IMAX 3D is perfect for this movie.

I must see movie for all science fiction fans.