Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Jamesrogersbush — 08 Oct 2017

There is one constant connecting the few naysayers among the critics of Blade Runner 2049: They all sound surprisingly like the naysayers of the original. I remember watching the original and loving it, even though many critics panned it in the same way that a few are doing now. The only real difference is that while a majority of critics at first panned the original and then slowly changed their minds, this time most critics get what Blade Runner is all about and are appreciating it from the get-go, while a paltry few, some of whom didn't like the original either, are panning it for much the same reasons the original was panned: It's too obscure, it's a mood piece that doesn't really hold up as a story, it's too long, it's more a series of set pieces than an engaging drama, etc. Well, guess what naysayers, the majority don't care, and all you've done is miss the point and distance yourselves from having a great movie experience. And given time, this Blade Runner, like the original, will grow an audience, beyond it's critics and even it's fan base. Thats what this kind of film does - it comes on like a slow acting drug, that wallops us in the beginning, then slowly drags us to a new place, and finally sinks in, long after we think we are done with it. The seeds that it plants in our psyche will eventually grow into our subconscious, where we will find ourselves having feelings about the film that we didn't have at first viewing. But for some, the seeds will never germinate and they will be left with nothing to show but a feeling of 'what was that all about?' While for those of us whose seeds do grow, a feeling of quiet awe and understanding will begin to take shape. And, if we haven't seen it already, we will begin to see that Blade Runner is most importantly about our inability to ever fully know who we really are and what this drama we are living is really all about. It also shows us a vision of a possible future, that we may already be on our way to creating - a future where love, the most basic emotion of all, like the trees that no longer grow in 2049, finds it hard to find a place to grow. And yet, like the small flowers that Joe finds at the foot of the dead tree where Rachel is buried, love still finds a way to survive.

And finally, eyeball to eyeball, that was and is the first image in both films and the point of the whole thing. Voigt-comp, the ultimate test of who is human and who is not. Technology, testing, and can the test be fool proof, or are we just fooling ourselves into believing that our testing really proves anything? Human or AI? What will be the ultimate difference, how will we tell the difference, and will it even matter when the replicants and AI decide not to take it anymore and then take their place on the evolutionary ladder. Next up, replicant revolution, AI liberation, and the subservience of the human genome to a future where the world is reborn, and love, the one ingredient that cannot be altered or done away with, is still at the heart of existence.