REVIEW #188 Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Set over 30 years since the original film, Blade Runner 2049 follows a new LAPD officer who unearths a secret that could cause chaos on planet earth and the outer worlds. On his pursuit of the truth, he must now find a retired Blade Runner who has been missing for three decades. 

Dennis Villeneuve has taken the core themes of the Blade Runner universe, expanded them further and improved them in every possible way. BR 2049 maintains the slow paced style of the original, yet unlike the first, it’s incredibly captivating. This is achieved through the amazing musical score, composed by Hans Zimmer, the beautiful cinematography created by Roger Deakins and the fantastic acting from the incredibly talented cast, that includes the likes of Ryan Gosling, Ana De Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Jared Leto, Davie Bautista, Robin Wright and many more. The central protagonist, officer K, was a very intriguing and multilayered character! A replicant tasked with being a Blade Runner, to hunt down and ‘retire’ his own kind, the old nexus 8 models. This provided such an interesting character arc that takes the audience on such a journey, it builds a vast amount of sympathy for the character, which is amplified by his love interest. He is essentially in love with a hologram, denied the opportunity of physical love. There is also the fact we were almost convinced that he was in fact the replicant he was hunting the whole time. I really enjoyed that plot twist, it provided a sense of tragedy for the lead character of course but on the other hand it created such a heartwarming ending for Deckard. To say the film is a visual masterpiece would probably be selling it short, the array of colour used by Deakins is impeccable! There is a colour pallet for everyone at some point in the 2hour 43 minute run time. The world created looks so realistic and that immediately transports the audience inside the film, creating that sense of realism that helps us form attachment to the characters. Now was there any negatives that really stood out to me? Looking back, probably not to be honest. There’s a few little nit picks here and there, I would have liked to have seen a little more of Jared Leto’s antagonist because I thought he was really good playing Wallace. Finally I want to mention Ana De Armas’s character Joi, who I really loved! She brought so much to the story and played such a vital role in Officer K’s character Arc. As you can probably tell, I loved this film and I would probably consider it one of the best sequels ever made, purely because of the vast improvement on the original which was boring at best. What I will say though, for the people who have only watched BR 2049 and not the original, definitely go back and watch it because it plays such an important role in the sequel. 

Overall (9.3/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan