Blade Runner 2049 review

Right, I promised some new posts with NEW content...well this post will feature new content for sure as I have just seen Blade Runner: 2049 at the cinema (now technically last night!) so this post will be a relatively quick review on it.  So, don't worry I won't go into any great detail and for once I will not quote any dialogue!

Anyway with that all being said, let's get on with the post and see what I think....

And to be fair I will issue the usual warning of spoilers but don't worry as I will not give that much of the plot away.  But for fairness I will issue this warning...

THE STORY SECTION WILL COVER SOME PLOT POINTS BUT NO REAL SPOILERS!!!

STORY

So, the story is set some 30 years after the events of the original film where replicants have now been integrated into society as slaves and servants and the Tyrell corporation has since been bought over by the Wallace Corporation.  And the film's main protagonist is K (Ryan Gosling) who is a replicant working for the LAPD as a "blade runner" who is set out to retire older rogue model replicants.  On retiring a rogue replicant, K finds a buried box that contains the remains of a female Nexus-7 replicant, who died during childbirth.  K takes the evidence to his superior officer, Lt Joshi (Robin Wright) who orders that K destroy the evidence, find the child and retire them to avoid the possibility of a interspecies war between the replicants.

And its from here that K must embark on a dangerous mission that will unveil some dark secrets about his past and also about the truth of who the child is, not to mention he would somewhere along the line reunite with a former blade runner.....

THOUGHTS

Well, I think it has to be said that even though it doesn't come close to the original, Blade Runner: 2049 is still a very credible and solid sequel to first film, which was one of the defining sci-fi films of its time.  However, BR:2049 certainly has its share of moments that are both spectacular and beautiful, especially as the visuals of the film remain absolutely incredible and also pretty faithful to the original too with the future still being a very bleak one with dark, dreary skies and giant skyscrapers with billboards on them.   

What BR:2049 certainly has going for it is its plot is more involved than the original, which was a simple case of hunting down replicants and seeing Deckard fall in love with one (sorry BIG SPOILER FOR THE ORIGINAL THERE!).  But here, we are presented with K as a replicant but what is not certain as the film goes on is K really a replicant???  And in doing this, the film neatly toys with your expectations as it carries on but I will NOT say any more than that for now on the matter!

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section does not contain any real spoilers but it may make reference to a few plot points!)

Right, now onto the performances of the film, which are all excellent and it features a largely unfamiliar cast despite a few exceptions.


Starting with Ryan Gosling, who is excellent as K, the replicant "blade runner" who works for the LAPD and takes down or "retires" rogue replicants, which are older models.  And Gosling gives a pretty thoughtful performance as K, who as a replicant rarely shows much emotion but as the film progresses he does make some discoveries that change him as a person.  So, overall this is a very impressive performance from Gosling and he carries the film pretty well for the most part.

Harrison Ford makes his return as Deckard here and he's as good in the role as you might expect with Ford playing Deckard as an older more bitter man than before but still essentially a good guy in his own way.  Although I will not reveal any spoilers about Ford's part in the role as Deckard, I will say that he only appears in the film for about 30 minutes toward the end, which in a way is a pity that he wasn't used more.

Ana de Armas is also very good in her role as Joi, K's hologramatic girlfriend, who helps him throughout the film and I better not say too much more than that as it might involve revealing more of the plot!

Jared Leto, who appears to have a real penchant for playing psychotic characters, is also pretty good as the primary protagonist, Niander Wallace, who owns the Wallace corporation that bought over the Tyrell corp after they went bankrupt.  Although, Leto doesn't appear too long in the film, he still makes quite an impression in his screen time and appears to relish his role.

Robin Wright is also excellent as ever in her role as Lt Joshi, who is K's superior officer at the LAPD and she plays an integral part later in the film but again because I don't want to give away any spoilers, so nuff said there.

MacKenzie Davis (who appeared in Ridley Scott's The Martian) is good in her role as Mariette, who at first glance is no more than a hooker, who seems to have a thing for K but as the film progresses she is no what she seems and has another agenda.

Sylvia Hoeks is also very good as the ruthless replicant, Luv, who works for Wallace and does his dirty work and Hoeks provides quite an effective creepy presence in the film and its not long before you see what she is capable of.

Carla Jui also provides a good performance as Dr Anna Stelline who (KIND OF SPOILER WARNING!!!) creates artificial memories for replicants and she also plays a key part in the film of which I will say no more about!

Dave Bautista, the ex-wrestler turned actor, while his appearance here is somewhat brief, he is still pretty good in his role as Sapper Morton, who is an older rogue replicant model, which K tracks down and their encounter doesn't turn out too well for one of them.

And last of all, Edward James Olmos makes a welcome return in a brief appearance as Gaff, who was a cop in the original film.  Olmos again though really only makes no more than a cameo appearance, which in a way is a pity but then again Gaff was a secondary character even in the original.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the direction, Denis Villenueve, takes over at the helm here from Ridley Scott and he does a very solid job here and provides some stunning visuals for the audience to look at (also thanks to the incredible photography by the brilliant Roger Deakins, who is criminally enough still yet to be recognised by the Academy Awards for his work!).

Villenueve however does have the film move at a pretty slow, leisurely pace here though, so if you are hoping for a fast paced actioner here, you are going to be disappointed.  However Villenueve still deserves alot of credit for his efforts here and he has still created a film that has the feel of a Blade Runner movie.

As for the music.....well....this for me was easily the weakest aspect of the film as the score by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch is nowhere near as good as the original score by Vangelis as it is frequently VERY LOUD and loud to the point of distraction!  I mean to be fair there are some sections of the score that work well, particularly in the quieter sections and there is also more than just the odd passing nod to the original score that works nicely at times.

However what really bugs me about this score is the ridiculously noisy sequences that feature Hans Zimmer's deeply annoying fetish for using BWAAMMMMM!!!! BWAMMMMMM!!! BWAMMMMMM!!! sounds!  It just adds nothing other than deep irratation and by the end of the film when it came to the titles I was just aching to leave the cinema, so I didn't have to hear it anymore!


Does the score kill the film???  No, definitely not but at the same time I just wish Zimmer knew how to tone things down instead of creating music that is ridiculously bombastic all the time!  So, for that reason alone I just think the score is easily the weakest part of the film for me.

FLAWS

As for flaws....well, yes, Blade Runner: 2049 has some but I can't really go into them without mentioning a few spoilers, so this section will be fairly short.


However what I can mention is that the film is just a bit too long for my liking as its extensive running time of 2 hours and 43 minutes really does at times feel that long and there are certainly some scenes that feel padded out in an excessive way.  If you like a film that takes its time then you are sure to love this one but if not then it may not be for you.

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO HARRISON FORD'S APPEARANCE IN THE FILM!!!

I also felt that further to this point that the film takes a bit too long to actually get to Deckard as what I can mention is that he only appears in the film for the last half hour or so.  And when Deckard does appear, he actually isn't given whole lot to do, which makes me think that they did underwrote his part a bit too much, which is something of a letdown.  However by the end of the film, I felt more satisfied with the ending itself reagrding Deckard than say another sci-fi film involving Harrison Ford in recent years! And that's all I'm going to say on that.

Anyway that's it for the flaws for now!

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Blade Runner: 2049 is a pretty good sequel to the original film and while it doesn't live up to the expectations of the original, it deserves much credit for having a good stab at it and it remains a very solid one in its own right.  The story is also a bit more involved this time round than the original, which is also to the film's credit and by the end of the film, you actually end up feeling quite satisfied that there are no real major loose ends (well OK maybe one but I won't mention it here!).

The film also features some fine performances from its cast, particularly Gosling and Ford in the lead roles and Denis Villenueve has stepped up to the plate very well in his directorial role and provided some amazing visuals not to mention some gorgeous photography by Roger Deakins.  

And after a slew of inferior sequels to great films, its good to see that we finally have a sequel that stands up well on its own feet and Blade Runner: 2049 certainly does that.


Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with yet another post, which should also feature new content and not another revisitation. :-) 

So, until the next the one its bye for now!