Blade Runner 2049 Review
Sequels, like every other type of movie out there, can
all be broken down into what is good and what is not good. In my opinion, the
worst sequels are those that simply tread water, essentially remaking the first
film because it was so popular. A huge number of sequels fall into this
category, and you get films like “The Hangover: Par II” or “Weekend at Bernie’s
2.” Sometimes, a filmmaker gets lucky and makes an entertaining familiar
sequel, and you get something like “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom” or “Ocean’s
Twelve” or “Desperado.” The best sequels expand the story, characters and
themes of the previous film. They put our characters into new situations, they
illuminate something different in the story arc and basically are anything but
cookie-cutter. There are countless sequels that could fill a list titled “Worst
Sequels” or even “Good Sequels.” But the list for “Great Sequels” is very
small. It’s rare to get a “Empire Strikes Back” or “Godfather Part 2” or “The
Dark Knight.” So, when they arrive, it feels like an out-of-body, enriching
experience.
I think for me, you can add “Blade Runner 2049” to the
list of “Great Sequels.” This is a movie that will only reward fans who have
loved “Blade Runner” since 1982. This is a movie that will only add to that
wonderful film’s already grand legacy. Much like the original “Blade Runner,”
this new film is a visually arresting, it features fantastic performances by
several familiar faces we all love, and there is a rhythmic blend of story and
action. We normally don’t get blockbuster sequels like this, and in that
regard, “Blade Runner 2049” almost feels like a miracle.
It’s always a bonus when you can sit down to a sequel,
without any prior knowledge of the first film. Just to be on the safe side, I
watched the first film last week before seeing “2049” this week and when I
realized I didn’t have to, it was an almost with a sigh of relief. I don’t
think you need to be a fan of the first film to enjoy this. The film opens with
title cards explaining what the replicants are, getting new audience members up
to speed with ease. It also sets up the story for this new adventure. We learn
that the Nexus 6 replicants from the first film became so out of control in the
future that they were outlawed, and the company went bankrupt. Niander Wallace
(Jared Leto) bought up all the Nexus shares and began his construction on a new
line of replicants, types that are programmed to obey orders. Wallace is using
this new line of replicants to search and destroy the old ones, and the force
of new replicants going after the older models are of course, called Blade
Runners.
Ryan Gosling plays Officer K, a new model Blade Runner
and we watch him hunt down one of the older models in opening sequence. There
is no hesitation in K’s action throughout the entire film. At first, you may
think that this is just going to be a new version of the first film. Another
type of sequel we get is one where it’s the same movie as last time, only
bigger! And I kind of groaned at the idea of the movie just being a newer,
brighter replicant going after old replicants. But that’s not what director
Denis Villeneuve was interested in though. K stumbles upon the mystery of the
movie almost by accident. If you are planning to see the movie, I don’t want to
spoil it, because it’s all kinds of awesome and not at all what you are going
to guess it is. It’s not something we usually find in these movies, and I loved
how the film was structured overall.
“Blade Runner 2049” skips the conventions of the
sequel, and mostly the conventions of all blockbusters. Lots of sequels give
un-needed callbacks to the previous movie, just in case we as the audience
forgot what happened. Most sequels will stop cold to remind us that we are
watching a sequel, and it gets mind-numbing after a while. “Blade Runner 2049”
has some minor callbacks to the first film, but not to remind us of what came
before, but to tell a new piece of the overall story. The callbacks help
elevate and reinvigorate the story being told here. Yes, Harrison Ford’s
Deckard does return, but not into the last third of the movie (or so). This I mainly
Officer K’s mystery, the story revolves around him. The movie takes its time to
carefully and constructively set up the film’s story. It’s never in a hurry to
get things going, something I feel most action blockbusters are guilty of.
Think you’ll
find out if Deckard is a replicant here? Sorry, keep on trucking. Deckard’s
birth and heritage barely come into focus here. Director Denis Villeneuve has a
firm grasp on what made “Blade Runner” work all those years ago, and I
absolutely love that he chose to expand on the first film without robbing the
first film of its power. So many times, before, sequels are so quick to answer
all the burning questions of the first film. I love there are is still some
mystery even after the credits start rolling.
Performances are strong across the board. Ryan Gosling
continues to create an ambitious and unique resume of characters. If you stack all
his movies together in one pile, you’d never see a hint of his previous
performances in anything else he does. Gosling seems determined to push himself
with each new film, and that completely shows here. Harrison Ford shines in the
few glimpses of time onscreen he has. The marketing may be selling you on the
idea that this is a Ford-Gosling movie, but it’s mainly a Gosling movie. Ford
is used sparingly, but effectively. Jared Leto gives a haunting vibe as
Wallace, and its uniquely weird in a way that only Leto can pull off. Robin
Wright plays Gosling’s superior here, and she gives another powerful
performance to add to her already impressive list of performances. Ana de Armas
plays Joi a hologram girlfriend of sorts to K. It’s an interesting concept to
introduce in science fiction and Armas really runs with it. She becomes more
than a hologram relationship, and I was engaged in this subplot from beginning
to end. Armas has some unexpected range, and I hope her career only expands
from this point forward. Sylvia Hoeks play a subordinate to Wallace, and she is
equally haunting here. Plus, the brief moments made by Dave Bautista, Lennie
James and even Barkhad Abdi only make this experience better.
I always loved the visions of the future in the first
film, but it was always clear that there was a “old school” feel to the effects
of that future. Here, every single moment of every single set piece is visually
arresting. I could easily watch a documentary just on the world that this story
inhabits. Villeneuve really lets loose on the visual world at play here, and
the way he uses light and camera angels only makes the experience even more
engrossing.
What could have easily been a typical exercise in
genre nostalgia became something more. That’s the hope all us movie lovers have
deep down inside us. It’s nasty business when a classic film we all love gets
the sequel treatment, especially when there is over a three-decade difference
between the two films. “Blade Runner 2049” had nearly everything working
against it, yet it not only works as a sequel, not only does it remind us why
the first film was so great, but it expands on everything we loved about the
first film. I was drunk in love with every square inch of this movie, and I
cannot, cannot wait to watch it again.
FINAL GRADE; A+
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