Blade Runner 2049 Movie Review

A long time ago, when cloning was a huge ethic issue, I remember reading an article while doing research on a project for genetic engineering. A scientist was asked if he would ever consider cloning humans. He laughed, and replied, “Humans are boring. I’d rather work on dogs. With the different types of dog breeds out there, it would be a bit more complicated to clone a dog.” But in the world of Blade Runner 2049, set thirty years after the original, Replicants, or genetically engineer humans are still the norm, and ethics has been more or less thrown out the window.

            It’s hard to explain let alone review a movie such as Blade Runner 2049 without giving away too many spoilers (and I know this review is late; I had to watch the first one). The original movie was somewhat of a mess with numerous editions, director’s cuts, rereleases etc. And this movie in itself has a bit of a niche audience. If you want to see it with clean eyes, I’ll say this: if you want to see something that may cause Oscar buzz at least, see this film. Otherwise, this review will be broken down into the pros, the okay, the cons, and the WTF???!!!???

            PROS: The director Denis Villeneuve said he didn’t want anyone else touching this movie but him because he didn’t want anyone else to eff it up. And he’s right: this movie could’ve easily been an outright disaster in someone else’s hands (here’s looking at you ID4: Resurgence). Now I’m not saying this is the greatest movie of the year but it’s pretty good. The cinematography is spot on almost mirroring that of the original Final Cut version. The film, in almost coming full circle, borrowed from what it inspired: Akira, Ghost in the Shell (not the 1995 movie but rather the Stand Alone Complex series), and the Matrix. The special effects are near ground breaking; I’m not talking about the city scape or background visuals but there’s one scene in particular that’s floating around (but it’s heavy spoiler territory). What’s great about this movie is every scene is important, even things that seem unremarkable come back in full force later on, however this can be a bit of a con (more on that later). There’s a dog or a wolf or a hybrid, which is always fun.

            OKAY: 2049 feels like it’s somewhere between a sequel and a companion to the original. While there are events from the first one that influence the plot of this movie, 2049 tries to go off and make its own path but the past keeps bring it back. This isn’t necessary a bad thing; it would be boring it if it was a rehash. But (and this will make more sense after you watch it) you could easily replace variables X and Y and could still end up with the same story of 2049. Just saying… There’s also this other problem with A-list actors making cameos for brief amounts of time. Again, without trying to go into deep spoiler territory, I will say that these actors are used for longer than what was done in Kingsmen: The Golden Circle. And considering that Jared Leto (being the crazy method actor that he is) actually got himself blind on purpose for his character…yikes. This was also not Ryan Gosling’s best work. I’m not sure if that’s his character or the director, but there are snippets where he’s trying to give his character more depth but it just never gets there. He’s pretty to look at for sure. And Sylvia Hoeks’ character never breaks two-dimensions either.

            CONS: This movie is long. Almost three hours long. I am not one of those people who can be on a plane for five plus hours and not use the bathroom. This can be off putting to a lot of other movie goers as well. I had to get up twice. And going back to that every scene is important part makes it a bit worse, because I’m 90% sure I missed something. The music is loud, a bit too much for my liking (that or whoever is working the sound in my theater doesn’t have the settings right). Also, this movie can suffer from a niche audience. With the length and the material from a movie 35 plus years old, it’s really not entirely suited for the casual moviegoer. There was one event that was never fully explained (although it fairness I may have missed it in one of my bathroom runs).

            WTF???!!!???: There are a few narrative twists that can make someone’s head spin. There is one scene in particular that is very strange but oddly shot and rendered so spectacularly I can’t really fault it. But it’s still strange…

            Should I See This: Again, this is a late review so if you’ve seen if already, great! If not, ask yourself this: are you a fan of the cinematic experience? If yes, then go see it. Did you like the original, in whatever version you saw it? If yes, then go see it. Are you a casual movie goer? I’d advise caution as this film is not for everyone.

            Sequel-bility: Like the original, Blade Runner 2049 doesn’t really need it. It has made back its budget and will likely recoup its marketing. It has done well domestically but seems to be losing out to Geostorm in foreign markets.