"Blade Runner 2049"(2017)| Movie Review

Genre: Fantasy/Science fiction

Release Date: October 4, 2017 Runtime: 2 hr. 43 min. MPAA Rating: R

I've never looked forward to a sequel especially a sequel to an iconic classic and one of my favorite films of all time as much as I looked forward to Blade Runner 2049. In fact, like most people I rolled my eyes at the news and declared the sequel unnecessary until I heard it was being directed by Denis Villeneuve (one of my favorite directors, a master of his craft in multiple film genres that has continuing to knock it out of the park!) when it comes to the original Blade Runner by Ridley Scott a masterwork of philosophical neo-noir science-fiction (from an android-hunting novel by Philip K Dick) the film that redefined a genre, is not easy to digest. It's far from the type of movie that would have a mass appeal even though is now universally recognized as a masterpiece I still regularly encounter people who consider it to be the dead-eyed pretty girl who looks good on your arms but is a real bore over dinner.

A brief note explains what has and hasn’t changed in the 30 years that have passed since the previous installment, and a murky world of corporate overlords and stone-faced assassins has only grown murkier. “Blade Runner” human workers (manufactured by the evil Tyrell Corporation that later ceded control to the entrepreneurial schemer Neander Wallace (Jared Leto)) also known as replicants are killers hired to snuff out any remaining old models AKA the rogue A.I. Among these cold-hearted killers is K (Ryan Gosling), an L.A.P.D. employee that takes assignments from an icy superior, Lt. Joshi(Robin Wright). His sole companionship comes in the form of holographic girlfriend Joi (Ana de Armas), with whom he enjoys mechanical romance in the small pockets of time in between calls from the station. Tasked with tracking down a replicant who appears to have real parents, K finds himself in the midst of an identity crisis, an existential crisis even deeper, more harrowing, and more thought-provoking than Deckard’s, which is saying a lot. The themes and ideas swirling around in Hampton Fancher and Michael Green’s script are extraordinarily rich and relatable to anyone who’s ever, even for a moment, felt like a stranger to his or herself. This is powerful stuff, and while the messaging can occasionally feel long-winded and hollow, Villeneuve and Deakins’ imagery makes the weaker scenes at least visually captivating. Gosling's cool, quiet performance is reminiscent of his work in "Drive," and shows the heavy influence of Harrison Ford's in the original 1982 film, Harrison Ford performance is one of the most deeply felt and Jared Leto performance is solid for the most part, but some of his speeches feel so drawn out and meandering that one wonders if they should have been cut short (or cut altogether) to help alleviate the film’s massive 163-minute runtime. Overall Blade Runner fans will likely be divided in their opinions of Blade Runner 2049 and how it stacks up to the original. It’s not a perfect movie mostly due to a couple of needling plot contrivances and only time will tell whether it’ll have the legs of the original or achieve the same modern-classic status. But fans of Villeneuve will surely consider it a triumph. It’s the most purely cinematic movie he’s made yet, and in today’s big-budget landscape, pure cinema is harder to come by than ever.

RATING: ★★★★½