A young Blade Runner discovers a life-changing secret about
Replicants that only Rick Deckard can help him figure out. ACTION/SCI-FI
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Blade Runner 2049 (2017)Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green Starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Sean Young Sequel to 1982's Blade Runner Based on characters created by Philip K. Dick Oscar Wins - Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects Oscar Nominations - Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design |
I've never been a big fan of Blade Runner, so I was never in any hurry to watch the nearly three-hour-long belated sequel. I just think this world is boring and a bit pretentious. But hey, if you love Blade Runner, go for it. Enjoy it. Just don't ask me to watch it with you on movie night. That being said, I did finally sit down for Blade Runner 2049 so I could better understand why Denis Villeneuve was given the greenlight on his Dune remake. I figured since he had already played in the dramatic sci-fi sandbox, I should see the results. And overall, it's not a bad film. A bit too long, sure. A little hard to follow sometimes as well. But not terrible.
In the year 2049 (obviously), a young Blade Runner named K (Gosling) is tasked with hunting down older model Replicants made by the Tyrell Corporation. K is a Replicant himself, but a new, obedient model made by the Wallace Corporation. In the line of duty, K uncovers the impossible: A pregnant Replicant that died in childbirth. Since Replicants are artificially designed humans, it's widely believed they can't reproduce. If they can create life, then they have souls, which means humanity has been using sentient, living beings as slave labor for decades. K tracks down the only living person who has the answers to all this, former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Ford), who has been missing for decades since he ran away with Rachael (Young) at the end of the first movie. Honestly, the story is fine, but I know it doesn't need to take two hours and forty minutes to get there. A lot of the establishing shots linger for far too long. I want to take a minute to praise Harrison Ford's performance particularly. Few people despise reliving the past more than he does, but for the right price, he'll play Rick Deckard, Han Solo, and Indiana Jones again. But he really does bring it to this one. I was surprised. I didn't care for the fact that literally nothing happens to our villain, Niander Wallace (Leto). But maybe there was supposed to be a sequel that we never got. Overall, I didn't despise the film, and it is visually stunning. I just think that any film over two and a half hours better be incredible to justify a runtime that long. |