A true sequel so different but with the soul of the original

Rating: 9/10 (9 October 2017)

Unfortunately, there are enough people who really feel overwhelming joy that Blade Runner 2049 made a mediocre debut at the Box Office. It was almost a miracle that an R-Rates Sequel of one of the more niche Science- Fiction movies, with a run-time of over 160 minutes saw green-light from the Studio. Maybe it will be the last chance in many, many years to watch such an ambitious project again at the big screen. And Blade Runner 2049 is nothing but amazing when it comes to the visuals and the directing. Denis Villeneuve delivers one of his finest movies to date. Also, Blade Runner 2049 is his movie, his very own vision with his very own style of directing a movie. 2049 builds up on the Final Cut of the original movie from 1982, but please don't compare both movies with each other. Ridley Scott and Denis Villeneuve are two very different Directors. So, if you can shake off to compare every 2 minutes 2049 with the original, you will definitely enjoy a great Science-Fiction movie here.
The long run-time may be a problem for the audience, maybe it's about 20- 30 minutes too long for modern cinema and it would have been better to save some of the scenes for a Director's Cut and trim a few scenes to made them a little shorter. A viewer who enjoyed the slow pacing of the original movie (like me) will probably absorb every minute of the sequel.
The acting of Gossling and Ford was superb. It worked surprisingly well to include the character of Rick Deckard, which story I felt was always so complete, in the sequel. Ford wasn't bored like he was in Indiana Jones 4 and kinda lackluster in Episode VIII. In 2049, he enjoyed his part, which is ironic because the part of Rick Deckard was always the role which Ford had many problems with during the shoot of the original movie back in the 80's. Don't expect much screen time from neither Ford, Bautista or Leto. But they all played their parts so very well, I really enjoyed watching these guys. In the spotlight is Ryan Gossling who played the lonely and melancholic Blade Runner K. His part here is eerily similar to the nameless character he played in Drive. But don't judge his character in Blade Runner 2049 too early, there is a lot of development here.
And yes, there is also a lot of Fanservice here for the folks who love the original. And it is indeed only Fanservice, not even once is Blade Runner 2049 copying stuff from the previous movie. Villeneuve made his homework not to do the same mistakes like Abrams did with Episode VIII.
I could write a lot more here but let's face it, it would be too long and too boring to read. What you can enjoy here is a great Science-Fiction flick, maybe one of the best the past 20 years including Interstellar. It's not a movie made for a very wide audience, it is indeed hard to watch this without the knowledge of what happened in the original movie, and, yes, the run-time is a tad too long for the cinema. But if you let the movie do his job, you will be absorbed by it and I can guarantee, it is a journey, an odyssey you won't regret.