Blade Runner 2049 Review

     For some reason, I have never understood the hype associated with Blade Runner.  Though visually striking,  it has never been compelling to me on a story basis. Maybe this is partially due to my half-assed distaste for director Ridley Scott.  Maybe it's due to the fact I have never been the biggest fan of science fiction or film noir.  I can appreciate both genres, but I never go out of my way to see either.  All of that being said, when I heard director Denis Villeneuve was attached to direct the long-awaited Blade Runner sequel, I was overjoyed. Villeneuve is, in my opinion, the best filmmaker on the planet currently, and is the only auteur that can rival the skill of greats such as Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.  He dazzled me with his overturning of the science fiction genre in his masterpiece Arrival. Even though I wasn't a fan of the original, I found myself rewatching it again.  I started to feel some of the warmth and humanity that was so absent in my first viewing.  I saw the moral dilemmas and the ethics of the Replicants.  It started to become clear to me why the American Film Institute named Blade Runner as one of the 100 most important American Films ever made. As soon as the credits rolled, I went to the theater, eager to see Villeneuve's spin on the classic. Every expectation I made for the sequel was not only met but surpassed.

     Blade Runner 2049 takes place 30 years after the seminal original.  Ryan Gosling is now the star, playing K, a new form of Blade Runner that hunts down the remaining ancient replicants.  In his quest, he discovers a mystery revolving around the inception of ancient replicants and the dawn of the Wallace Corporation, which has replaced the long-gone Tyrells from the first film.  The film does what Denis does so well, and that is to slowly unroll a series of events before your eyes.  Just when you as the viewer believe you understand the story, flurries of curveballs are thrown in your face in a barrage that would make Shyamalan blush.  The film is a long one clocking in at 164 minutes. But each one of those minutes is sensory filled bliss.  The film has the most stunning visuals a sci-fi film has ever seen.  It helps that 13-time Oscar nominee Roger Deakins shot the film.  If the film does not get Deakins his 14th nomination and first win, it would be a crime against filmkind.  The film also has some of the most subtly pleasing sound design if you pay attention.  I saw the film with my mother, who is not an avid movie watcher like me.  Yet, she noticed the sounds of rain falling that were beautifully spread throughout the theater's surround sound.  That type of meticulous attention is what separates a masterpiece from a great film.  I have yet to even address any of the acting of the film.  Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford are great as the stoic, Bogartesque leading men. It is refreshing to see Jared Leto not covered in tattoos and goofy green hair and actually performing and not portraying a live-action bowl of Lucky Charms like in Suicide Squad.   However, The real MVPs of the film go to the actresses, in my opinion.  Ana de Armas overwhelms in her sympathetic portrayal of Joi, the AI who is in love with Gosling's K. Sylvia Hoeks also plays one of the best recent cinematic villains at Wallace's top henchman Luv. If flaws in films were marked as black blemishes, then this reel would be as pure as lamb's fleece.  Villeneuve maintains his status as the world's best director, and Blade Runner 2049 becomes one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time.

PS. Before seeing this movie, please watch the original so you are not lost.

Score (10/10)