*Directed by Denis Villineuve
*Starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, Jared Leto, Sylvia Hoeks, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Dave Bautista, Barkhad Abdi, Lennie James, David Dastmalchain
The Plot:
I think it's best to go into this not knowing any of the main plot, so to REALLY sum things up, the film takes 30 years after the events of the original film in futuristic Los Angeles focusing on a new Blade Runner named Agent K (Ryan Gosling) who's investigating a case that leads him to find a former Blade Runner named Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who spent years out in hiding regarding this mystery.
I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Blade Runner fan in the sense that it's never been one of my favorites I watched over and over again. However, that isn't to say that it won't become one of those favorites because I watched it for the first time in five years in preparation to see this movie and it is truly one of the greatest science fiction films ever made. I remember really enjoying it five years ago, but really watching the film again I was just so amazed by how Ridley Scott directed it and that there was a great level ambiguity in its story.
Of course, I was excited to see its successor and that it was directed by Denis Villeneuve, who is becoming one of my new favorite directors. His directing style is so unique, so visceral and intense that he's on the similar caliber of modern directors I love like Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Heck, he's maybe even on the caliber of Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott himself. I basically really loved all the films that he's directed and safe to say Blade Runner 2049 ended up being another excellent addition to his filmography as well as a wonderful companion to the 1982 masterpiece. It. Was. Brilliant.
The visual presentation of this film was absolute perfection from the framing of every shot to the stellar visual effects and production design seen on screen. Roger Deakins is the best cinematographer of all time in my opinion and to see the imagery he captured on screen in the best possible quality was friggin mind blowing. I was completely immersed in every shot of this film and also because of the vision that was in place in Villeneuve's incredible filmmaking mind, which made for one of the best looking films of the year and probably even of all time. Yet to make the visuals of this film so strong there had be a strong story and characters in place to have these visuals evoke such emotion. Let's just say both aspects of story and characters are pretty damn strong!
I don't want to dive too deep discussing the story, but all I'll say is that I loved how there was so much mystery in place and that the lead characters had a reason to be there and had reasons for their motivations. In some ways it was also a very interesting character piece when it came to the main characters we followed especially Agent K portrayed by Ryan Gosling, who does a truly remarkable job portraying this character. I was so enticed by this character and had this desire to know where this journey would take him. All I'll say is that I was not disappointed at all. Harrison Ford was also fantastic returning as Deckard and brings about an amazing emotional performance that really made me feel for his character on top of such great writing.
I also want to point out that if you're going into this movie expecting it to be all this non-stop sci-fi action and incredible visuals you will be disappointed. This is a very slow paced movie much like its predecessor and it even took me back to watching something like 2001 A Space Odyssey. I realized how slow paced it was while I was watching it, but I never felt I was checking out or thinking it dragged. I was still engrossed in it with its slow pace because I was following a very gripping story and was very much attached to these characters.
It was a brilliant move for the film to take its time because it called for some really excellent build up that lead to great intensity and very riveting scenes that I will not stop thinking about for years. I will remember this movie and continue to revisit it because it truly is something special. I could see this going down as one of the classics in the science fiction genre and as one of the best movie sequels of all time.
Villeneuve was able to make a great companion piece to the original film that was able to tell its own story and not feel too fan service-y to the point where you couldn't enjoy this new story. It respected the original and was able to capture the same spirit of it perfectly. I cannot wait to watch this film multiple times and I'm sure there were details here and there that I didn't catch in certain shots of a scene or maybe something in certain lines of dialogue. I loved how multi-layered it all was and that it was an emotionally resonating experience.
Fans of the original will love this movie. Fans of Denis Villnueve will love it. Fans of science fiction or just a fan of films and filmmaking in general will find themselves really enjoying the experience. Blade Runner 2049 might not work for some audiences because of its slow pace and spread out action, but for it to take its time and bring about an emotionally resonating story and characters, it makes the experience equate to the merits of the original while still achieving on being a magnificent film on its own.
Verdict: A+
As I'm writing this, the film is currently underperforming at the box office, which I'm kind of shocked by, but not really because the original had more of a following after it bombed in 1982. Since it was more of a cult film after the fact that probably says something for the release of this film now. Maybe it will do okay in the next month or so or do better internationally, but if you're a lover of films and you love the original please go and support this film. And if you do love the original why wouldn't you go see it?! Support directors like Villinueve!
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