Not by a long shot...

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2017)

When you compare the first movie from 1982 with this, the first movie still rules on all levels. It captures everything perfectly accompanied but tailor made ambience and music.
It is not a terrible movie but 2049 struggles on all levels. Acting is very stale and slow to a point where you stop believing in then as characters and start to see the actors and then you can no longer be immersed in the story. Story is thin, no "scientific" backing up and just-is and you think ok why not but it's more like lets get on with it and see if the movie will deliver.
They've used models instead of CGI for many of the shots which to begin with looked refreshing but the shots were so poorly made that even the first movie and movies like the first Star Wars movie gets it better. Felt like flying through a Lego-landscape.
Movie has no 'life'. The first movie was bustling with extra casts, sounds, you could even picture the smell of the food in your mind. 2049 feels like it was shot at 6am in a place where a handful of people live. Yet another thing that makes you not get immersed.
There's very little music, or ambient background noise at all, just a lot of wind and silence. They should've used filters to deepen and darken the picture, it's too crisp and too bright and you feel a bit like you're watching people in a hospital for many of the indoor shots.
This is not a bad movie, nor is it really good, it's one of those you put on when you need to pass some time and watch something sci-fi-ish. The first movie, and then the original cut with the voice-overs which are true to the noir genre, will still be my favourite as even today it is masterfully made. Perhaps there will be a directors cut of 2049 where they make up for what didn't come of the original version. There's always hope.