Film Preview: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Page Revisions:

(December 25, 2016) Original
(May 14, 2017) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#2 & #3) / Added Preview Image Gallery
(July 23, 2017) New Trailer (#3)
(October 1, 2017) New Posters (#4-#18)

Release Date:

October 6, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.”

Poster Rating: D / C+ / C+ / C+ / C / C- (2) / C / C (6) / C / C- / C- (2)

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) I’m not a fan of these title placeholder designs and this is no exception. Weak color balance and bland title design do not make for a compelling poster.

(#2) An armored car, a figure walking out of the fog and a whole lot of unnecessary blank space. (#3) This second character poster puts the viewer in a different setting, with a few more details than the other, but the same lack of detail space.

(#4) The fascination with the blue-and-orange color scheme is visually bold, but doesn’t balance well together. (#5) A slightly thinner and differently-located version of design #4. It’s biggest issue is taking the actors and adding the same color scheme to them rather than leaving then natural like the predecessor. (#6 & #7) This character poster pair are nicely inverted from one another, but that doesn’t make them more appealing. (#8) There are no others besides Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, an idea that while puzzling, somewhat makes sense. (#9-#14) These six character posters are a bit bland, but tied together well.

(#15) This character poster seems to be a part of the prior set, but is in a different language. That doesn’t improve or weaken the aesthetic. (#16) The look on Gosling’s face looks painted on, which is a bit distracting. That the rest of the poster is mighty dull doesn’t improve matters. (#17 & #18) This is a take on the six-part character poster series, except with the stars. As a result, it feels somewhat like a cheat.

Trailer Rating: B- / B+ / C+

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Review: (#1) There isn’t quite enough here to make a case for this being a must-see event, but there’s just enough to entice all fans of the original Blade Runner to plop down money sight unseen, and unseen it certainly is. There’s some measure of style here that connects to the original, but not nearly enough.

(#2) The first trailer was a tease and not a great one. This trailer oozes style. It puts us into a future so richly appointed and fascinating that you could get more out of looking through the background than watching the action going on in the foreground.

(#3) The stylishness of previous trailers has made way for plot revelations. While there is some interesting use of style here, it isn’t nearly as evocative as the previous trailer.

Oscar Prospects:

There are a large number of creative categories where this film is likely to play a part, from Best Original Score to Best Production Design down to the sound and visual effects categories.