Review of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Bj D — 05 Dec 2017

I usually know how I feel about a film halfway through. By that time, I'm either hoping that it will never end, or starting to get impatient.

Sorry to say that at the halfway point, I was tapping my foot and making hard decisions about whether to stay to the end.

On the plus side, it is conceptually intriguing, especially as a follow-up to such a memorable prequel. It's beautifully filmed, and the art design is, for the most part, impressive and enjoyable. Good casting choices and great acting.

On the downside... while I appreciate a filmmaker who isn't in a rush to tell a story, and I appreciate room to think and breathe during thoughtful pauses, there are many points in the film that are just too drawn out without apparent purpose.

About the time the film starts to approach 3 hours, one begins to wonder why some of the earlier scenes had to be so long. OK, so, the production values on this film created a BIG budget, and most of the long scenes just show off where the money went, without using the time to advance the plot.

AND for such a thoughtful, sophisticated, introspective film, I had way too many issues with continuity, story logic, and contrived plot twists. Some of it was clever and necessary, but there were far, far too many one-in-a-billion coincidences to make any of it believable. THAT is the main issue that spoiled what otherwise could have been a top pick film for me.

Glad I saw it. Even more glad I don't have to sit through it again.