Gosling as K has more of the flat affect you might expect from a “soulless” replicant instead of the howling animal energy of Pris (Daryl Hannah) and Batty in the original, but he offers just enough of his longing and compassion that we believe in his interiority. But what is surprising is Blade Runner 2049’s endless poignancy. Even the new music, Hans Zimmer by way of Nine Inch Nails instead of Vangelis, finds its own striking identity. And rather than a foil on the other side of the fulcrum, K in Blade Runner 2049 is searching more for the symbolic embodiment of the future than a person motivated by passions, like Batty.Īfter Arrival, with its austere, alien immensity, it’s not surprising that Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve flies us through a grand and imposing vision of the future (lit with sublime, elemental power by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins). To say much more of K’s investigation would involve spoilers, but it doesn’t matter so much because the actual contours of his case aren’t all that compelling. If we failed to overthrow the masters of this world, maybe the replicants can. While humans have been pushed to the background, the replicants of Blade Runner 2049 have an exciting and treacherous future. The humans left behind loathe the “Skinners” with good cause: while the replicants have a place and function in Earth’s society, all but a chosen few humans (including the cops that maintain this poisonous order) are left to scrape out what they can. Blade Runner 2049 is mostly populated with replicants. Replicants are now under the control of Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), who wants to create replicant slaves that can breed, exponentially accelerating humanity’s labor pool as it expands through the galaxy.Īfter “retiring” (executing) an old Nexus 8 model with a mysterious past, the blade runner K finds himself enmeshed in a missing persons case that could change the balance of power between replicants and their human masters. So valueless that they hardly figure into the narrative at all.Ī lot has happened since 2019, the year Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) ran off with the Tyrell Corporation’s most advanced replicant, Rachael (Sean Young), after a life-changing confrontation with rogue replicants lead by warrior-poet Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). More than a sequel to 1982’s Blade Runner - the sequel elements are actually its greatest weaknesses - Blade Runner 2049 portrays what happens when humanity’s vast numbers become valueless, pinched between god-like corporate entities above and a replicant slave class below. It’s vibrant sci-fi worth exploring in itself, transcending the typical sequel cycle.īlade Runner 2049 is a tour through circles of a hell we built for ourselves on Earth. This isn’t the output of a machine that grinds up old movies and spits out a familiar-tasting paste. Nothing feels like a soft reboot or a Marvel movie. Blade Runner 2049 isn’t a franchise entry. Looking at this city, this one possible future, induces awe and despair - we’ve populated the stars, but never changed society.īut before we get into what Blade Runner 2049 is, it’d be helpful to start with what it isn’t. Massive buildings in the shape of pyramids and other gigantic totems project order, control, wealth and hidden knowledge. This Los Angeles isn’t designed for the benefit of its inhabitants, including the blade runner K (Ryan Gosling), but serves as substructure to even larger temples of the elite. The entire city, populated by replicant skinjobs and anyone too poor to leave Earth, is flat on top. The Los Angeles of Blade Runner 2049 has as its foundation seamless blocks of skyscraper-height buildings, riven by the main roads into deep, glowing trenches lit by neon advertisements, all surrounded by a forbidding seawall.
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