Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Mysticdingo — 31 Oct 2017

10/10. Way underseen movie that made much less money than it should have. This is a true successor to the original Blade Runner, and is a completely self contained story. There is no sequel baiting here, though one could be made if they wanted to. This is unlikely though, seeing as how, while highly rated, the film just didn't bring in the audiences to make the kind of money that the production company was hoping for, and it's made quite a bit more money over seas than in the American market. It did make back it's budgeted money and with a small profit to boot, but the numbers just aren't there such that this will likely be the last Blade Runner movie. That being said, this movie will certainly live on as a sci-fi cult classic for years to come! This is easily the best movie that I have seen all year. The acting was superb by everyone, especially Ryan Gossling. Honestly, I haven't been a huge fan of Ryan as he normally acts in a lot of romance and artsy fartsy types of films that don't interest me much (see "The Notebook" and "La La Land"), but this movie showed me what a broad actor he truly is and the depth of his acting ability. As for aesthetics, the movie is beautifully shot. The cinematography is very cool and the CGI isn't noticeable. The story is also amazing. It more than lives up to the standards set in the first film and in my opinion surpasses it. Also, in some ways, BR 2049 more resembles the original work "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick (the book that Blade Runner is based on) than the first film. Obviously neither film are really all that close to the book except in general concepts, but 2049 captures the dystopia portrayed in the book much better than the first movie did, likely due to advances in our film technology. I won't go into the story too much as I don't want to spoil anything. All I will say is that this film explores many of the same questions in the first movie and then some, with plenty of twists and turns and revelations to keep you hooked from beginning to end.

Denis Villeneuve as director, once again proves himself to be a true modern master. Many people have been complaining about where the next generation of genius directors are to replace people like Coppola, Scorsese, Spielburg, Kubrick, Stone, and Scott. With the exception of the Cohen and Nolan brothers we seem to be in a drought in our modern age of new upcoming genius directors, especially when the lions share of films are made by Michael "BOOM SPLOSIONS" Bay and J.J. "Lens Flare" Abrams. Well, one day we may very well be adding Villeneuve to that list of true masters if he continues to create movies like this.

Conclusion: If it's still in your local theater, GO SEE BLADE RUNNER 2049! It's my choice for Best Picture, and it would be criminal in my book if it wan't even nominated.