Blade Runner 2049

Rating

Director

Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay

Hampton Francher, Michael Green

Length

2h 44m

Starring

Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Sylvia Hoeks, Hiam Abbass, Mackenzie Davis, Jared Leto, Dave Bautista, Edward James Olmos, Sean Young

MPAA Rating

R for violence, some sexuality, nudity and language

Original Preview

Click Here

Review

Great science fiction is contemplative. For some audiences, that means a lot of action in a fast-paced adventure where information is presented quickly and obviously. Others prefer the slow-boil method of storytelling where an engrossing story is developed over the course of the film; twisting, turning, and ultimately thrilling the viewer. Blade Runner 2049 unabashedly falls into this latter category.

In 1982, Ridley Scott brought to the screen an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Titled Blade Runner after the android hunters of the novel, the film was a modest success with audiences, but didn’t enamor critics. Over time, Blade Runner has become one of the most celebrated science fiction films of the 20th century, a compelling effort that, through numerous edits and adjustments, has come to symbolize ponderous sci-fi. Critics now recognize the film as a singular achievement and after Scott’s 1979 sci-fi/horror masterpiece Alien, a case could easily be made that he built modern sci-fi off the backs of these two films.

Set 29 years after the original, Blade Runner 2049 follows a Replicant bounty hunter named “K” (Ryan Gosling) whose assignment is to destroy all older Replicant models. These models, which were designed before the “crash” had been given too much autonomy, up to and including the ability to disobey their owners. As the last remnants of this Replicant model are slowly being eradicated, K uncovers a mystery that suggests that Replicants had developed other quirks that, if they became known, would threaten to upend society and plunge it into another devastating conflict, one which turned most of the areas surrounding major cities like Los Angeles into slag heaps and irradiated wastelands.

Under the orders of his police captain (Robin Wright), K begins to unravel the threads that put him on a collision course with destiny as well as with Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who was featured so prominently in the original film. Other cameos exist in the film, but none of them are as nostalgia-filled as the late-film arrival of Ford’s sci-fi icon.

Director Denis Villeneuve who also turned in the highly contemplative Arrival last year, has begun to develop his own name as a brilliant purveyor of pensive sci-fi. A bit slower than his Amy Adams starrer, Blade Runner 2049 is far more sumptuous visually than that film. Here, the warm orange glows, the snowy whites, and the dim and dark blues and blacks create a resplendent environment in which our story can flourish. These are realized perfectly by cinematographer Roger Deakins (can he have an Oscar now?), production designer Dennis Gassner, and costume designer Renee April.

The visual effects are seamless, keeping the film as firmly rooted in reality as sci-fi needs to be in order for the audience to positively relate to it. Not far removed is this film from our present society where corporations seek ways to increase productivity without the pesky need for live humans, where technology has begun to replace intimacy, and humanity is being homogenized and commodified. This is a futuristic world as bleak and pressing as any created and wonderfully embodies the fear of futurism evoked in Dick’s myriad science fiction works.

And while Vangelis is irreplaceable, Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch ably build on his work in the original film. Although this is an original score, the evolution from the 1982 masterwork to this minimalist work is mesmerizing and the setting and place of this film would be nothing without that.

Blade Runner is evolved marvelously into this thought-provoking sequel. Blade Runner 2049 reveals information at its own pace giving the audience visual flourish while it metes out tantalizing background details that help create a visual and narrative mosaic that inspires the mind in countless ways. This film, though set 29 years after the original has released a mere 25 after Scott’s original. That enabled Ford to slide back into our lives as Deckard and evolve our perceptions of this man and the odyssey he originally undertook.

Modern science fiction has entered a new era. Blade Runner 2049 is an extension of and improvement on what has come out in the last decade. It is both a brutal and a gentle film that demands audience attention while providing them with a rich story and unrivaled visuals to enhance the journey. As sci-fi grows and expands over the next few years, Blade Runner 2049 could easily be considered an instruction manual on how to infuse such material with an abundance of style and an understanding of what makes sci-fi a great genre.

Oscar Prospects

Guarantees: Cinematography, Visual Effects
Probables: Original Score, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing
Potentials: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Makeup & Hairstyling
Unlikelies: Actor (Ryan Gosling), Supporting Actor (Harrison Ford), Costume Design

Review Written

October 24, 2017

Image Gallery