Blade Runner 2049: A Work of Art (Review)

In the modern era of movie studios always trying to play it safe with the story direction in certain films, it’s without question a breath of fresh air to see that Warner Brothers let ‘Blade Runner 2049‘ director, Denis Villeneuve, make the film he and those involved with him wanted to make. Too many times the “suits” get involved (reference Kathleen Kennedy/Disney) and try to dumb a film down for the sake of mass audience appeal. No my friends, this film WILL NOT appeal to the masses. It’ll appeal to those who still appreciate a work of art without someone’s bullshit political agenda involved. And for that reason, I can’t praise the sequel to Blade Runner enough….

From the opening visual of Ryan Gosling’s character, K, flying his futuristic cop car in a very dystopian looking California, complete with a moody score evoking the original film, and killer sound effects, I knew there was something special going on here. Without getting into spoiler territory, I’ll simply say that officer “K” is on a mission to seek out and kill any replicants still evading law enforcement. However, the first encounter you see him engage in, with Dave Bautista’s larger than life character, his view starts to evolve into something that drives the story soup to nuts.

Now, aside from Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford’s superb performances, I tip my hat to all the actors involved as they helped bring about an almost too “real” looking world–Sylvia Hoeks in particular, who plays the villain’s primary sidekick in the film, “Luv”, was so convincing in the role I was genuinely creeped out observing all her mannerisms on screen.  Add to it, the set design uses little to no CGI effects at all, so that coupled with the fantastic performances from the main and supporting cast, and you’ve got yourself a truly magical escape at the movies for the film’s 2hr 44min run time. Like my god, everything you see here looks authentic, spared at no expense.

That being said , you may ask yourself if a movie that’s typically this long should test the limits of one’s attention span? Well, I can say with confidence that at no point was I wanting this film to wrap up. As a matter of fact, right down to the very last scene I felt like there was more story to tell and I didn’t want to leave this universe that was given such attention to detail from the production team. Regardless, this motion picture was in fact, a work of art. It didn’t pander to the lowest common denominator of less imaginative thinkers and accomplished what it set out to do: not tarnish the legacy of the original film.

Last but not least, there’s many granular layers to Blade Runner 2049 that should leave you either questioning your own humanity, i.e. what does it really mean to be human?, along with what will society really be like once we are co-existing with artificial intelligence? That my friends is enough to make your mind run wild with pure imagination– If you’re a thinker, not a stinker, go see this film…. Nuff said:)

4 out of 4 stars

 

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