Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Phil S — 11 Oct 2017

Given the current Hollywood climate of endless reboots, sequels, and soft remakes, Blade Runner 2049 is refreshing in that it neither attempts to merely repeat the story of the first film with flashier effects, nor does it compromise its vision with obligatory action set pieces, dumbed down dialogue, and brisk pacing.

Of course there is still action and flash in this film, but it takes as much time as it wants to build up to it. What we end up with is a film that offers a new experience while still largely remaining true to the feel of its predecessor, which is possibly one of the biggest compliments you could say about a sequel.

However, 2049 was a bit of a give and take situation for me. On the one hand, I feel that the story was a marginal improvement over the first film with a greater sense of mystery, more dramatic moments, and characters having more personal stakes in the narrative.

On the other, the soundtrack was a bit of a downgrade from Vangelis' serene atmospheric compositions. Harmonic synth is instead replaced with oppressive percussion, which I get is part of Hans Zimmer's signature style, but god dammit, if there was ever a time for him to break out of his shell and just do a classic franchise justice, this would be it.

Daft Punk would have been much better suited for this job, having already done the soundtrack for Tron Legacy and sharing a similar style to Vangelis. Visually, 2049 also doesn't quite achieve the same level of immersion as the first film due to there being a few too many scenes shot in broad daylight and outside the bounds of the beautiful muddied metropolis of LA.

When it does actually spend its time there though, it is some top notch cinematography to behold. Nonetheless, all of this adds up to a downgrade in atmosphere from the first film, which for me is one of the biggest draws to this universe.

In spite of the story overall being an improvement, it still carries shortcomings. The most dramatically impressive moment happens fairly early on in the film, when Ryan Gosling's character, Agent K, investigates an old factory that may have a connection to his memories.

I got literal chills feeling the suspense of this scene, but unfortunately it never quite reaches the same dramatic heights after that, and the final climax essentially amounts to a fairly brief fight scene, but this time without a thought-provoking replicant speech at the end.

Don't be too discouraged by these criticisms though. Blade Runner 2049 is still a worthy successor to the original film, and one that will likely be discussed and appreciated for just as many decades after its release.