Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Jdb26354 — 05 Oct 2017

First time I saw the original Blade Runner (“2019”), I just stayed in my seat at the theater until the next showing and watched it again. I taped the movie at the theater to have the soundtrack, whose official version wasn’t released for years. These facts put me in a 0.1% slice of fans of the movie.

So what to say of Blade Runner 2049 (“2049”)?

2019 pulled you into a world and a mood. The opening scene of Los Angeles in 2019 is not matched in 2049.

Making a virtue of necessity, Ridley Scott set 2019 at night (except for the controversial ending scene), which is cheaper to convey in the grimly grand manner he sought. Denis Villeneuve had the budget to venture into the day, which pays off best at the end, with the rest resting in an uneasy truce with sepia. The plot of 2019 was pedestrian; I think a Harrison Ford quote can be found that he played a detective who did not detect much. The plot of 2049 is hardly elaborate, but is more developed and satisfactory. Gosling is a god, and 2019 fans owe him a great debt for his embrace of the project despite the cult. 2019 actually aspired to the epic more in portrayal than in theme. 2049 has greater pretense to the epic—I spoil nothing, just watch the trailer (“the world is built on a wall that separates kind”). 2049 settles for less, but less ends up more. 2049 has a cracker jack supporting cast, although none delivers a line like Rutger Hauer’s “tears in the rain” from 2019. That’s what makes magic magic.

I’m glad that age and 2019’s cult status brought Harrison Ford back to the wisdom of his original choice to play Deckard. Sometimes you don’t give your younger self enough credit. Score honored the original, and sound generally was solid.

In sum, the army assembled by the hope of a reprise captures the prize of a wonderfully worthy movie in its own right. Doing justice to both 2019 and 2049, you watch no mere sequel. Too long? Perhaps. But better than gone.