Blade Runner 2049 (2017): For The Right Reasons

 

"You look lonely"

This is the first sequel I review and it's the continuation to Blade Runner (1982). Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is a science fiction/dystopic/cyberpunk/tech-noir film directed by Denis Villeneuve and starred by Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford,  Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista and Jared Leto. The film tells the story of K (Gosling), a blade runner who discovers a secret that may change how the world works, and a search that will lead him to encounter a thought-long gone figure.

BR2049 still follows the sense of decay and glory of its predecessor: Dust, sand, bright colors, neon lights, holograms, ads, technology thriving everywhere, tall buildings, advanced vehicles, trash, poverty, discrimination, racism, etc. Villeneuve takes some of the ideas of the previous film, twists them and gives them a new and fresh take.

Loneliness is everywhere and sometimes you can't escape it.  K is a lonely and quiet person, hated by his co-workers, because he is a "skin job" (derogatory term to call the replicants) and tracks downs and "retires" out-of-control replicants. He lives with Joi (Ana de Armas), his cute AI holographic girlfriend who helps him in all the ways she can. K is devoted to his job, even when he is sent on a mission that changes everything he knows about the world and himself. 

In this sequel, what caught my attention is the solitude and the search of identity that pervades the whole film. K is searching for his true identity. He is a replicant, but he isn't what he is made to believe. What's real and not is often encountered in the film: What K really is, the love Joi feels for K, and so on and so forth. All of these accompanied by cryptic images, symbolisms, long shots and scenes in which the incredible OST made by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch is present. 

Visually, the film is spectacular. Every shot and scene have been made with an exquisite delicacy that makes this sequel even more powerful than the first one if I dare say. The color palette fits exactly with the moments, emotions, and philosophical and existential themes Villeneuve tries to convey inside this broken future.

Another thing that caught my interest is Joi, the beautiful AI girlfriend. She is in love with K. An artificial being in love with a replicant. Is Joi's love a genuine thing? A question that creates heated debates online about this "cyber-waifu" and makes us ask ourselves how real a bond between two creatures that are not even of the same kind can be.

 

For me, this has to be one of the best sequels I have ever seen, only topped with Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Few times have I watched a second part that is even better than its predecessor. I mean no disrespect to Ridley Scott, but Villeneuve takes the science fiction branch into a whole new level for me. It's hard to put into words all the topics this movie touches, and the viewer needs patience to understand what's being told on the screen. It might even take a few more watches to "get" BR2049. 

 

Blade Runner 2049 continues to question what being human really is. Shattering and defying what we know as identity. What does it mean to be human? To be born like one or to act like one? Some say that dying for the right cause is the most human thing anyone can do and K through his epic quest might find some answers about humanity and himself in a future that doesn't seem so far away.