Over-hyped, far from Villeneuve's best

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2017)

I've been a big Blade Runner fan after the fifth time of watching the Directors Cut. It's not a film that you get first time round but it does leave you with that feeling of greatness that few films can do and only in my fifth viewing did it resonate.
I'm also a big Denis Villeneuve fan. Personally I hold Sicario and Enemy to be his two best films but others such as Prisoners and Arrival are also very good.
So I was disappointed when the credits rolled on Blade Runner 2049. It's a long slog, that is in need of more action, with certain scenes that feel a bit tacked on for very little reason. There's too much of a push to innovate certain cinematographic ideas that get in the way, which result in this being a bit of style over substance. On the whole, it's just a bit of an empty film.
It's starts well enough but never really picks up to speed. The initial concept of Replicants reproducing is interesting however it fails to expand upon that idea or offer any real insight, or blow our minds. Instead it falls back on some hammy ideas that we've all heard before (, Pinochio, Slaves fighting back). I was hoping that this film would break through some of those interesting concepts and give us some real questions about existence, what it is to be human and what it is to create life. This is nothing we have seen before.
The characters are interesting but also don't really evolve themselves except for Deckard. Most of them do what they are supposed and I didn't really feel any motivation that I could invest or relate to. I was really interested to see more of the character Luv, I came into it thinking she was this complicated replicant that serves Jared Letos character but also has somewhat of a superior complex herself. Possibly even one to challenge her maker. However this never happens, she simply goes from A to B before a small fight with Gosling before she is killed off in a very forgettable way. I wanted to get in the mind of this unique character, I only saw the outside.
This is somewhat the pattern throughout this film, it had potential and it certainly looked the goods however it merely stands looking up at the highs it could've been rather than getting there itself.
Hoping this isn't the downturn for Villeneuve as he is still one of the rare film makers Directing anything worth watching but I'm worried he might not do well when producers and others get in the way.