Could have been worse

Rating: Null/10 (5 October 2017)

Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) was quoted as saying that he would not be able to make this film as good as the original Blade Runner (1982), and he was correct. This film takes place 30 years after the first one that was set in 2019 and follows Ryan Gosling (Drive) playing a young blade runner who discovers a long-buried secret that leads him to track down a former blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who's been missing for thirty years.
It may be unfair to compare this belated sequel to the classic original but seeings as it is a sequel I cannot help but do so. The film in it's own right is well made and a step above most things that are going through your Cineplex these days but in comparison to the original it falls quite short in almost every way. Simply where the film does look pretty good, it does not look anywhere near as good as the original, the same can be said for all the design work and costuming which just does not have the care and inspiration of the former. The Music is good but mostly when its touting parts of the original score. The acting is good enough but not as good as the original and certainly the characters are not as good. The film also tries to emulate the slower pace of the first film but ends up being even slower and is so bloated at almost 3 hours which could've easily been 2 hours and been a better film for it with none of the themes or main story beats left out. It is more of a detective story than an action film just like the first was but the detective elements are not as strong or interesting this time around. Blade Runner 2049 does try to go in some new territory in the Blade Runner world but they are all the most obvious boring places to go that have been done before in other films and television (Battlestar Galactica). There are some subplots that have shades of Spike Jonze Her (2013) and there are some other scenes that are an attempt to set up further films in the franchise.
It may sound like I am being quite hard on the film but there are things to enjoy, the visuals while a little too dark and lacking the wow factor of the original cinematography from Jordan Cronenweth are still miles above most films from our age. The sound design is huge and really second to none which makes it the one area that is better than the original film. The special effects are good although they do go Rogue One with bringing back one character digitally which whilst it is probably the best it has been done to date it still suffers from uncanny valley.
In the end I would say it is a solid hard scifi which suffers in comparison to its roots which its best characters are under-used and is bloated but without any iconic scenes. Remember the scene from the original with the replicant stripper being shot in the back as she smashes through glass walls in slow motion, the scene with Rutger Hauer in the elevator lit up after killing Tyrell or his final epic monologue. The new film has none of the artistry that elevates a film to masterpiece. In short, it could have been a lot worse and it is no disgrace to what now has become a franchise I guess but its far from the suspicious rave reviews that have flooded the market days before release.