Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Carson W — 04 Oct 2017

It can be hard to follow up films that prove to be icons in their genre and continue the legacy they built on, especially 35 years after the original. "Blade Runner 2049" manages to do just that under the direction of Dennis Villeneuve.

Headlined by Ryan Gosling as LAPD Officer K, a blade runner, this film continues the journey of the original, reprising some film and voices originally used, as well as that films lead actor, Harrison Ford, as Officer Rick Deckard. Officer K stumbles upon a mystery of the past, something that could change the relationship or humans and replicants, and embarks on a journey of world-changing discovery, leading to his run-in with Deckard. Jared Leto masterfully plays Niander Wallace, a visionary and genius, who has taken over the defunct Tyrell Corp, creators of the original replicants who are hunted down by the blade runners. The blade runners were told to have been shut down for years, with this dystopian world having gone through a worldwide blackout, damaging many memory drives of the past, and an incredible famine.  Wallace finds ways to stop the blackout and famine, leading him and his ego to the top. This allows him to take over for Tyrell Corp, which had gone defunct, and build his new obeying replicants, whom he calls "angels." Ana de Armas, as Joi, an AI holographic girlfriend of Officer K, and Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, Wallace right-hand and also a replicant, add to the powerful characters of this film.

Yet, what makes this film on par with what the original brought to the table, is the entire cinematic experience we are given. Roger Deakins puts together one of the most visually stunning films I have seen in a long time. The visuals of this dystopian future are as spot on as I could imagine, color in the right places and not in others. The memory-making scene is a simple yet visually dramatic production and the radioactive wasteland is perfectly captured. I can't say enough of how visually stunning of a film it is. This is all enhanced by the dramatic score created by Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but the sensations created by notes magnifies the experience in a thrilling way that perfectly hits. It is spot on in how it plays back to the original. .

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this film. It hits all the points you are looking for, acting, sound, visuals, and story, and further enhances the original film. What a shockingly great surprise this was. It may even be better than the original.