I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott's 1982 epic masterpiece, Blade Runner. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that although I've watched hundreds of movies, without doubt, it's my favourite movie of all time.
So when they announced that they were producing Blade Runner 2, I was a little apprehensive, to say the least!! Were they going to reuse Harrison Ford, as a geriatric Blade Runner with a remote controlled walking frame or try to make you believe he still had the strength of a 20 yo, like in Indiana Jones - the Crystal Skull?
In the lead up to the release of the film, producer Ridley Scott said that Harrison Ford described it as the "the best script I've ever read". Yeah. Exactly what I thought. A pretty big call.
Just saw it yesterday. At the IMAX. In 3D. In Jordan (of all places).
Wow! Just Wow!
It's a tad over 2 hours 40 minutes, so make sure you don't drink too much before stepping into the cinema, because you don't want to have to make the choice between peeing in your drink container or missing 3 minutes of this incredible movie! It really is a whopper of a movie!
Ridley Scott toyed around with a sequel shortly after the (delayed) success of Blade Runner, but never got round to making it. It was always on his radar, apparently. This time round, he came back as a producer, commissioning Denis Villenue (who did Sicario, Prisoners and Arrival) to shoot the film.
Denis said this about the making the film, "I know that every single fan will walk into the theater with a baseball bat. I'm aware of that and I respect that, and it's okay with me because it's art. Art is risk, and I have to take risks. It's gonna be the biggest risk of my life but I'm okay with that. For me it's very exciting... It's just so inspiring, I'm so inspired. I've been dreaming to do sci-fi since I was 10 years old, and I said 'no' to a lot of sequels. I couldn't say 'no' to Blade Runner 2049. I love it too much, so I said, 'Alright, I will do it and give everything I have to make it great.'".
He was right. Any hardcore fan was going to be watching carefully. Very carefully.
Not only does it feature Harrison Ford, but it stars brooding young Blade Runner cop "K" (presumably after the late Philip K. ****, the author of the original sci-fi story, upon which the original Blade Runner film was based) is played by Ryan Gosling along with Ana de Armas ("Joi") and Sylvia Hoeks ("Luv"). Incredibly, there are cameos by Edward James Olmos ("Gaff") (with a sentence or two of "Cityspeak", which EJO actually created himself as a blend of English, German, Japanese, Hungarian and Japanese) and also ____________ (at the end of the movie).
The movie is set 30 years after the original Blade Runner. Eldon Tyrell is, of course, dead, and main bad guy behind the scenes is Jared Leto's character, Niander Wallace. Blade Runners are still around, but this time, they're out to hunt Nexus 8 models who were created to have a longer than 4 year lifespan that the Nexus 6 replicants had (in Blade Runner).
True to the original, the cinematography is breathtaking, but the scenes aren't as dark and broody as the original. The CGI is incredible. Every scene is different and it seems clear that they've spent a lot of time thinking how a scene will be shot to bring out the perspective of the seemingly massive sets. As in the original, it is actually quite immersive.
There's also some subtle and not so subtle homages to the original. A group of people riding bicycles down the street as Officer K walks to his house, the way they shot the cockpit scenes when he flies his police car, how they filmed him drawing his gun, the derogatory term "skinjobs" is still used for Replicants, the unicorn shadow, Gaff still does origami 30 years later, dreams and memories are still a thing, eyes, tears, eyes and more eyes feature big time, Deckard still uses the same gun as the original, the origami sheep (as in Philip K. ****'s novel - "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" which was the basis for the first film), sound bytes from the first film is used, massive holograms everywhere in the city and LCD screens etc. One interesting thing to note is that the opening scene of 2049 is actually what was GOING to be the opening scene for the original Blade Runner, but it got cut!
Hans Zimmer along with Benjamin Wallfisch composed the electronic music score in a similar vein to Vangelis, but Vangelis still has the edge. The music seemed a little too refined compared to the grand opera statement that Vangelis makes.
In terms of the plot, it's fantastic. I won't give anything away here, but to say that the incredible special effects don't overshadow the storyline. The penny may drop earlier in the movie for some acute watchers, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. It really is a detective film which does keep you guessing how things will pan out, nearly to the end.
Weirdly enough, there seem to be some visual cues to Ridley Scott's Aliens movies, too. I guess it's not surprising, given the fact that Ridley Scott is the producer.
Ryan Gosling was absolutely custom made for this role. The guy just looks fantastic in the overcoat and reminds me of a James Dean type character, but with a more sensitive edge to him.
Harrison Ford is incredible as well, particularly in the interview at the end! I knew it was coming, but it was great how they incorporated him into the story.
Well, it doesn't beat the original. But that's not to say it's bad. It still kills 99% of the films out there. And that, even as a sequel.
Hope you get to enjoy the film as much as I did.
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