Breathtaking visuals & semi-boring characters

Rating: 5/10 (5 October 2017)

My first IMDb review (English is not my mother tongue).
The BR2049 movie looks great sometimes but large parts of the film are shot on a gray foggy background which is way less visually interesting as the neon colors that come back a few times during the film. The opening shots are an almost shot-for-shot remake of the original which was fine by me. Los Angeles while expanded on compared to the previous movie, seemed less "alive" as in the original Blade Runner (remember that bicycles shot that last 35 seconds in BR 1982, that's how you set the mood of your city). Still, some places like the "House" of Jared Leto simply looked fantastic.
Characters:
Dave Bautista "character" while advertised as a main part of the plot is just there for the beginning of the film and I think it is a shame. He could have been a nice antagonist (the brutal warrior) to Gosling.
The holographic woman was an intriguing character that leaves us with many questions "Was she really in love with Ryan?", or "was she just programmed to be in love?", "Is she capable of real emotions?".
Ryan gosling is extremely low-key in this film, no funny lines, almost no dialogue, he doesn't seem to feel any pain at all when stabbed or shot at, which basically removes a lot of potential tension. Because he is so alien to us, it hard to follow him on his journey or to care about what he is going to discover.
Jared Leto was the worst. He looks fine but does a lot of monologues that are not that smart or interesting. Plus as a character, he is not very threatening because he does not leave his factory once in the film.
Harrison Ford had almost nothing to work with, he is found by Gosling after 2 hours and 15 minutes of film, they have a small fight, then Ford is captured and Gosling must save him. That's about it.
Robin Wright had almost nothing to work with, except interacting with Gosling who's a robot following her orders. I don't remember her leaving the LAPD office once in the film. She was not threatening or smarter than anyone else.
Sylvia Hoeks character, working for Leto, did a little bit more than Robin. Still, I believe she was a weak antagonist because she had no goal for herself, she was just the "I-work-for-my-boss-and-do-what-he-wants-me-to-do" kind of bad girl. She had no deeper connection / rivalry with Gosling or Ford.
The main problem of the film is that it expands on parts of the original that were already not that great to begin with:
The love story between Rachel and Deckard was always ambiguous and sometimes not romantic at all (like the "sex scene" which resembles more a rape than anything else). Bringing this element back and playing it like it was a "true love" relationship instead of a semi-abusive one does not work in BR2049.
BR2049 uses too many "zoom and enhance" scenes that were already boring and confusing in the original Blade Runner. This time, it happens more often and it slows the already slow-paced movie down.
Rachel is brought back for one scene of 30 seconds, the CG in my opinion looked great but it was again, a pointless call back to the original done tastelessly.
They go so far as to play dialogues from the original, this time it has a purpose plot wise but again, distracting and maybe a bit forced.
The film itself, like its predecessor, is extremely slow-paced, even the actions scenes are shot and played kind of realistically, no big explosions or big shoot-out. Villeneuve did that already in "Sicario" and it worked back then because the character were easier to relate to or intriguing and stakes were high. In this one, I would have appreciated a little bit more action scenes to be honest. Moreover, in "Sicario" or "Prisoners", the people in danger are humans, which means, a simple bullet or a simple stabbing can kill them, whereas, in BR2049, Ryan is a Replicant that appears to be immune to pain. Therefore a non-impressive (or non-over-the-top) action-scene might not work as well as it did in the previous movies because the sense of threat and danger regarding the life of our protagonist is not remotely there.
The music, similar to the Vangelis theme but left me a bit cold, the original theme makes a nice comeback at the end of this movie whereas, during the rest of the film, just bits of it are played and the parts are, have been reworked to sound more electronic which is a detriment to the movie.
I had high hopes and fears about BR2049. Hopes because the guys working on it (Villeneuve & Deakins) always deliver the most beautiful movies you can imagine. Anxieties because Blade Runner does not need a sequel, no matter who's doing it. Its story is self-contained, leaves a lot to interpretation and its open ending is just the perfect way to end the story of this ambiguous film. After watching this film, I was both right to have hopes and right to be anxious. The film is a mixed bag of breathtaking visuals and boring characters, lofty dialogue and average scenario. You should not make a movie that asks "what does it mean to have a soul?", "what does it mean to be human?", "Can machines have emotions?" if every one of your character acts and feels robotic, or at least feels flat and not that interesting.