Blade Runner 2049 Movie Review

Review by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

Blade Runner 2049

For years, there's always been a couple of movies from the 80s and 90s that are considered sacred ground, and a sequel would be considered the worst idea ever. Films like Pulp Fiction, Mulholland Drive, or Groundhog Day, films that are not only iconic classics but heavily influential as well, to the point that a sequel could feel redundant on top of unnecessary. And for years, no movie has had more of this than Blade Runner, a completely self contained movie that not only doesn't warrant a sequel but has gone on to influence pop culture, cyberpunk fiction, and sci-fi filmmaking. So it feels really weird but also oddly fitting that now, in this wave of Nostalgia Hollywood is going through right now, we'd get a proper Blade Runner sequel, handled by Denis Villeneuve, director of Arrival, Prisoners, Sicario, Incendies, and in my opinion the best director working today. 

So the big question on everyones mind is no doubt whether or not this sequel holds up to the original. And I'm not going to try to play coy just to appease the originals fanboys and say something like "the original will never be surpassed", mainly because in every way possible Blade Runner 2049 builds on and improves what the original movie created. In a lot of ways, Blade Runner 2049 is a perfect continuation of what the original movie started, to a point where if I didn't know any better I would swear that the story for this movie was the plan for where the series was going to go since the very beginning, since the release of the first film in 1982. So in that way, no, this isn't like most of these nostalgia sequels, the original would have to be seen for this movie to make sense.

As far as the story itself goes, I'm honestly very afraid of saying too much. This is a mystery movie, and a surprisingly good one at that. If Arrival, Prisoners, or Incendies are any indication, it's that one of Villeneuve's strongest talents is the ability to tell a compelling, unpredictable mystery that's just complicated enough to keep us guessing but not so complicated that we get so lost trying to figure it out ourselves that we lose track of what's happening in the movie. So yeah, I don't want to get too into the specifics here, so I'll keep it simple - the story of this movie is absolutely phenomenal, it's subversive to cliche and expectation in a mind-blowing way and it's the single-most compelling narrative i've seen in a movie all year.

If there's any one aspect that's often referenced heavily when people talk about the original Blade Runner, it's the visuals and set design. In the years since its release in 1982 the visual cyberpunk world created in Blade Runner has gone on to influence the designs for worlds in series like Ghost in the Shell or Deus Ex, so it's interesting to come back to the world that, even if indirectly, started all these other franchises. What makes the world and settings here fascinating to watch is how much has changed between the 30 years that happen in between the first film and the second. It's clear there was a lot of thought put into creating a society that could reasonably exist some decades after the glimpse we got in the first film, it's one that has changed in many ways but it's also identifiably the same world. What I like about this is how it feels like a natural and realistic progression of society over time. Noticeable changes have been made in technological advancements and societal norms but not so much so that it feels detached as a whole from the original world and a lot of similarities are strongly noticeable, which feels realistic and believable for a progression of time. It's small details here that work towards building a believable world and it comes together beautifully. 

What I've always liked about Villeneuves particular brand of filmmaking as a cut above the rest is his attention to detail, and not just in terms of direction. Where Christopher Nolans biggest flaw is writing characters that effectively feel like three dimensional human beings, or Nicolas Winding-Refns flaw is creating realistic communication between characters, Villeneuve strikes a near-perfect chord with most of his movies. Characters are not only three dimensional and well thought out but also complex, inspired creations. Even the one-off characters who only really appear in one scene to serve one purpose were outstanding and fleshed out, but not in a way that felt forced or like they were taking up more time than was necessary. This shows that despite their individually small that Villeneuve had fully formed identities in mind for each of these characters, and that while we only see them for one or two scenes they're so complex that the illusion of them being real is never lost. There's one scene in particular I don't want to specify at the risk of spoiling some of it but it involves a character talking about memory and I'll be damned if this short, almost innocuous and undeniably human moment isn't one of the best sequences I've seen all year.

Final Rating
Between Trainspotting 2 and Blade Runner 2 2017 has proved itself to be a year showcasing that sequels can be made for just about any movie and be amazing. 2049 is a nearly flawless movie by every definition of the word. With this and Arrival, it seems like Denis Villeneuve is quickly on route to becoming a prominent director in Hollywood, which is fitting because if you ask me he's a cut above almost all the others in every way. This is a rare, one of a kind movie that's truly and in every way deserving of your time and attention. This is right up there with Her, Arrival, Drive, and Snowpiercer as the best films of the decade and it's absolutely my favorite movie of 2017 thus far.