The Future of the Future

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 2017)

"Blade Runner 2049" is before anything else, an astonishing technical achievement and it should be celebrated for that alone. It is also a bold continuation to the story and the mystique of the original Blade Runner film directed by Ridley Scott in 1982. The main difference consisting in the fact that this new movie is heavier in the cyberpunk element and lighter in the classic noir component (I would argue 2049 is more of a thriller). I would assume Hamptom Fancher has read both Philip K. Dick and William Gibson in equal measure in order to find inspiration for the story, which also reminded me "Children of Men" in its humanism. In this film the line between human, replicant and A.I. is blurred to the extreme, to the point that after everything has been said and done, you might be left wondering if there had been actually any human in this movie at all. I won't say that this is the case, but it would give you an idea of how deep this movie delves into the allegorical and speculative implications of the basic concept of an artificial being who can actually be convinced that he is "real" and maybe the other way around. This is a long film, but the world building is so fascinating and realistic that you don't really mind the characters and camera lingering a little bit too much along urban landscapes and dilapidated buildings. The script has some problems in the form of excessive exposition and over explanation, but Dennis Villeneuve's direction is so assured that he manages to overcome these problems with the sheer power of his cinematographic language end emotional punch. The ending is appropriately ambiguous and bleak, and is open to discussion and interpretation. For sure a movie that needs more than one vision in order to fully appreciate every nuance and artistic stroke.