Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Rich M — 14 Oct 2017

2049 felt like the running time in minutes. Wanted to like this much more than I did. I didn't hate it, but I was bored, which may be worse. The set-piece for set-piece matching with the original worked sometimes, and sometimes seemed cloying.

There was zero plot drive, no building of anticipation from one scene to the next, no paying off anything from earlier in the story later in the story. I have no ax to grind about Gosling, I just don't find him charismatic, so there's that.

Harrison Ford fairly sizzled by comparison in their shared scenes. I could go on: yes, lots of stunning CG futurescapes, but the street level scenes echoed the retro-futurist look I thought was so amazing in the first one, without imagining much new 30 years before that, except now some of the scantily clad Asian bimbo billboards are now giant holograms.

One part of living in 2049 the film definitely takes a stance on: by then, the male gaze will be mostly fully hijacked by robot hos. Wish I liked it more.