Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

88% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 220 reviews)

Runtime: 164 minutes

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Jared Leto

From: Warner Brothers/Columbia/Sony

In the review below, I'll do something highly unusual: give massive spoilers for a new movie. I do so at a certain point; the first part of the review is the typical for me. Give it a shot below:

I never do spoiler-filled reviews but this is the rare opportunity where I have to do so as otherwise I can't adequately explain why this did not work for me like it has worked for a lot of people already. Yeah, it's the story which I had issues with. In theory it certainly should work; it was the execution which I am iffy about. First, I'll say some general things then I'll get to the spoilers.

The original Blade Runner I've seen a few times; the first was soon after the Director's Cut came out then the other times were as adults. The initial viewing I was “meh” on but I was a dumb kid. As an adult I realized the movie's great. I could be wrong but I doubt additional viewings of this will drastically change my mind. I won't reveal anything about the story here except for one plot point in the trailers, which is that Ryan Gosling looks for Harrison Ford, and eventually finds him.

I can list positives: the cast does a swell job overall. Ford doesn't always put in a lot of effort in his Old Man movie roles, but he really goes for it here. If you can see this on an IMAX screen or another Premium Large Format screen-Dolby Cinema at AMC, Regal's RPX, Cinemark's XD, etc. then you should; if the auditorium has speakers on the ceiling (like Dolby ATMOS or Barco 11.1), all the better as I did with Dolby Cinema at AMC and aside from sounding/looking amazing, the ceiling speakers were used often. The cinematographer is Roger Deakins so no kidding it's a visual treat. Even with there being plenty of grey, I usually marveled at what I was seeing. The soundtrack... if you loved what Vangelis did back in 1982 then you should love this as that was an extension of that. The world you get to see does look like an evolved and expanded version of the Los Angeles 2019 of the first BR.

There was enough to where I can say this was “fine” but as most rate this a lot higher, I need to explain why I feel this way. Now is the time for SPOILERS. This is the last warning; leave this review now if you haven't already watched the movie and plan on seeing it.

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As previously mentioned, the story was the movie's bugaboo. On the surface it seems fine: the theme is continued of both what it means to be human and being fearful of mortality. Gosling being a Replicant makes sense (and Lord, he acts like his characters in Drive and Only God Forgives, meaning he was perfect as the cop known as K) and you get to spend plenty of time with him struggling with what he is. Him having a VR girlfriend named Joi who also helps him on his case was weird but after the fact, I realize that Replicants need lovin' too... I have no problems with her character, what she did, or especially her physical appearance...

Onto the general story. The idea of there being a new company that makes Replicants (Wallace) and Wallace himself wishes for a way for them to be made faster so new worlds can be conquered faster so there being the discovery of a kid born of a human and a Replicant solves his problem. Replicants wishing for more freedom and the offspring actually not being perfect but instead having a serious disease, all of these ideas are great and a great story can be made.

What was the biggest letdown: the film was so predictable and obvious to me. I presume that in the first act, it was supposed to be obvious those buried bones are those of Rachael; I can't say for certain but I'll make that presumption. You then have to wait at least 10 minutes for the characters to catch up and discover this themselves.

I don't think you're supposed to realize before the big reveal that Gosling isn't the offspring of Deckard and Rachael like what was hammered home for much of the film. That idea was stressed so much I eventually figured out that couldn't be it and there would be a swerve. It wasn't long after he met The Girl in the Plastic Bubble that I started to think it had to be her who was the child. The length of the scene and her reaction at one point seemed odd at the time; I was suddenly struck while watching it that her reaction had to mean something, thus I made the guess. I was disappointed when I was proven right as it was so obvious for me and I am not one who either tries to figure out the movie while watching it or can usually nail the plot twists.

Then, I don't quite buy or get the explanations given for why K and the audience were so convinced via plenty of clues which suggested he was the starchild or whatever you want to call it. To me it seems contrived for the sake of a big twist and I am not sure why a big twist was even needed. It just seemed like a waste of time spending all that time making you think K is special when in actuality... I had various niggles with the story but I explained what my biggest hangups were. I do have to mention the film's length. A few weeks ago I discovered it was 164 minutes long and what a shock that was; I enjoyed being in this world but the runtime did not need to be 164 minutes.

Many people thinking of this as a sterling film experience, a sci-fi masterpiece and comparable to the legendary, influential original. It was nice to see and hear and yet I thought it was a hollow experience and I wish I wouldn't have been able to telegraph such an important plot point. Eh, at least there's the original and that will always hold up.