A replicant of the first one

Rating: 6/10 (6 October 2017)

It's been hard not to think of how this one was going to go if you were a film fan this week. Yeah, I know the reviews have been glowing and it's based on something that is so visually iconic. But it's also so perfectly imperfect.
Yes, the 35 year old film has that China Town setting and the Deckard apartment is such an architectural marvel and the film at it's core speaks to the cruelty of giving a consciousness to something that will never be seen as having anything to do with humanity.
Just there is something to that uttered expression most people give after seeing it for the first time, which is "that was slow". And it does lack urgency, the performances, even from human characters, seem robotic, and while there is stuff for the brain and the eye to take in, the heart just seems missing.
In fact while there are many similarities visually and story-wise to A.I., I would say A.I. just grabs me more because it just hits you right here (heart).
And you've probably heard this before but i'll say it again- if you loved the first then you'll love this. If you didn't like it, well the nearly 3 hour run time here won't help. Why? Because it's basically the same movie.
Ryan Gosling is now the Blade Runner, basically a cop charged with taking down older version androids in future Los Angeles. In 2049, there are all types of different tech including holograms, new slave androids, and apparently even one android who managed to get herself pregnant.
That later thing is what starts the Gosling character off on a mission to find Harrison Ford's old Blade Runner Rick Deckard. His travels take us through dreary off world territory used for farms, trash dumps, and child labor camps.
The visual artistry here can't be denied, from the neon signs adorning most of Los Angeles, the vast orange and blue colored wastelands surrounding it, or just how cold the city has become, cinematographer Roger Deakins has never made L.A. look more un-inviting.
Just as we go on this investigation it becomes pretty clear that a Blade Runner sequel, while not exactly boring, is not exactly necessary and also that director Denis Villeneuve was given way too much leeway as far as the run-time is concerned.
And i'm not just saying this because it feels like it takes forever for it to finally have some urgency, it's also following a lot of similar stuff from the first movie.
A main character with a mystery surrounding what exactly he is, another character who has some type of disease that leaves them isolated and creating a life of her own through technology, thematically we're still asking the same question of what is real, what feels real, and why giving consciousness to anything only to take away free will is a dick move.
In this approach I mean i guess you could say the cast does OK, although I thought everybody from Gosling, Ford, and Jared Leto playing the barely seen head of the new company creating replicants, were all a bit one note.
So I mean this is a tough one for me to score since I like the first one well enough but at the end of the day I just don't feel there was enough new here to really warrant a recommendation.
So I go 6 out of 10. If you guys liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube for more.