Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 ****/ *****

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve.

Written by: Hampton Fancher and Michael Green based on the characters from the novel by Philip K. Dick.

Starring: Ryan Gosling (K), Harrison Ford (Rick Deckard), Ana de Armas (Joi), Sylvia Hoeks (Luv), Robin Wright (Lt. Joshi), Mackenzie Davis (Mariette), Carla Juri (Dr. Ana Stelline), Jared Leto (Niander Wallace), Lennie James (Mister Cotton), Dave Bautista (Sapper Morton), David Dastmalchian (Coco), Barkhad Abdi (Doc Badger), Hiam Abbass (Freysa), Edward James Olmos (Gaff), Sean Young (Rachael).

 

In general, I think it’s better to leave old things alone, rather than to try and reboot or remake them years later. More often than not, what happens with these kinds of decades in the making sequels, is that they end up being just empty nostalgia – trying too hard to capture the same feelings that the originals gave you, which is impossible. This year though has brought two examples of how to do this the right way – on TV, David Lynch and Mark Frost gave us Twin Peaks: The Return – one of the best single seasons in television history – and now comes Denis Villeneuve, with his long gestating Blade Runner sequel. I know I enjoy both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant more than most, but I still think it was a good idea for Ridley Scott not to take on the sequel to his other influential sci-fi masterwork – and instead to pass it off to Villeneuve, who has made a distinctive film in its own right – pone that pays homage to the original film, without being beholden to it. The first film was so influential and groundbreaking because it didn’t do things the same ways as other sci fi films of the 1980s were doing – and the same can be said of this one for our time.

 

The story in a nutshell involves Agent K (Ryan Gosling) – who like Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard in the original film, is a Blade Runner – a police officer tasked with tracking down “replicants” (essentially sentient robots) and “retiring” them – because they are no longer behaving the way humans want them to. In the opening sequence, K confronts Sapper Morton Dave Bautista) – a fugitive replicant trying to make his life as a farmer. What starts as a normal job becomes something great with the discovery of something buried on his property – something that changes everything. I won’t say more about the plot mainly because to do so would require me to get needlessly complex in a hurry – but it’s no secret that eventually K will cross paths with Ford’s Deckard (which happens surprisingly late in this nearly 3 hour movie).

 

In another year – basically any year that didn’t see a major studio make and distribute a film like Darren Aronofsky’s mother! – I would say that Blade Runner 2049 was the riskiest film made by a studio that year. As mentioned, Blade Runner 2049 is nearly three hours long – and must have cost a fortune, considering the special effects. Yet, the film is surprisingly light on action sequences – after the opening sequence, it barely has any at all until well into the final hour of the film – and even then, it’s not the point. Mostly, the film unfolds as a mystery, much like the original – a futuristic noir that takes K from one dark and foreboding place to another – some are fruitful, and some are dead ends.

 

As a technical achievement, Blade Runner 2049 is a masterpiece. This is the type of film that should be seen on the big screen – the images conjured by cinematographer Roger Deakins are truly astonishing. I also appreciated the production design in the film – especially how the film specifically does not update the original films view of the future giving what we now know, but takes that film as its jumping off point, and refining that style (for instance, the same brands that were prominently feature in the original are here as well – even if some have failed in reality in the interim). I didn’t think any film this year would be able to compete with the sound design of Nolan’s Dunkirk – but the work here may well be better.

 

The film also contains some great performances. Too often, Ryan Gosling has coasted on his (immense) charm – but here, he doesn’t have that to fall back on, and ends up delivering a deeper, more complex performance. Harrison Ford may not quite pull on the heartstrings here the way he did as Han Solo in The Force Awakens – but he does something better – deliver a performance that makes complete sense as Deckard in the future. There is fine work by the supporting cast of mainly women – especially Ana de Armas – although Sylvia Hooks, Carla Juri and Robin Wright are in fine form as well. Call me crazy, I even liked Jared Leto here – although part of that could be because he’s basically playing an insufferable egomaniac.

 

These kind of long delayed sequels rarely work – because they almost always feel like someone is trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time – and that just doesn’t work. What the great ones do – and Blade Runner 20149 is a great one – is take inspiration from what came before, to create something entirely new. That’s why this one will be remembered.