The film of the year so far.........

Rating: 9/10 (10 October 2017)

Blade Runner 2049 is the best film I have seen so far this year. Normally a sequel is dreadful compared to its original brother and with this being the decade for terrible sequels and reboots, like Alien Covenant and Kingsmen 2, 2049 is actually great. This film is Gorgeous in the same way as the original and actually stands apart from the original in such a way as to be a completely different film. It tips its hat to the original Blade Runner but stands on its own two feet.
The story is a continuation from the original set 30 years in the future. I will not ruin the plot for you in any way as you need to see this film. I will say that the plot does revolve around the same kind of themes that the original does however it's done in such a refreshing and creative way that it leaves you with a lot of questions. It Revolves around what it means to be human as the last one did but also throws in love, revenge, sacrifice and wraps it all up with stunning performances from all but one member of the cast.
Gosling is the main protagonist and does an excellent job of portraying the is-he-isn't-he replicant "K". In most of his performances Gosling does give quite a robotic performance with a few choice parts of emotion. This usually is his acting MO but unlike some of his other films, where it doesn't work, the robotic acting he does in this film suits his character.
The writing team obviously wrote K well and Gosling listened to them and made the character work. The scenes where he loses it and shows emotional sides are brilliant and really enjoyable. Also the love he shows for Joi in their scenes is really affectionate and believable. I don't usually like him but in this I have to say to was brilliant and really took me into his character and what K is feeling and thinking.
Ana De Armas is great as Joi, as with Gosling she is amazingly adept at portraying the complexity of a self-aware AI hologram and you feel a connection to her plight of wanting to be as human as human can be. Robin Wright is great as the LAPD lieutenant as she plays a great supporting character who strangely enough is less human than the replicants are but is genuinely humanÂ….weird.
Harrison Ford was the main focus of the films advertising and trailers however if you are looking forward to more Deckard you will be slightly disappointed. He is not in the film for very long and has little impact on the plot for the first 2/3rds of the film. While some people are b*tching about this and giving the film a 1/10 (which is a total di*k move) for not having Deckard be the main guy, I think it is refreshing to not rehash old characters to death. Deckard does advance the plot along and gives K something to hope for but K is the main protagonist and that is, in my opinion, a good thing.
Jared Leto was boring as the "villain" in this film. His acting was terrible all of his dialog was weird and did nothing for me. His speech about angels was completely boring and did nothing to advance the plot and every time he was on screen the pacing felt slowed down. His whole character did not feel interesting and I was so underwhelmed. Luckily he is only in two scenes and his replicant LUV is a great character. She gives us a suspenseful, menacing, emotional antagonist who advances the plot well and is actually more human than her human boss.
Like the first film the effects in this are beautiful. The use of CGI adds to the story and is very tasteful. The scene where Joi is trying to make love to K is a brilliant example of CGI adding to the story, honesty it is so good I was astonished at how real it looked. The use of colour is very well done as well.
Brilliant cinematography, great use of a golden colour palette, honestly the effects department should be really proud, amazing work. The camera work is very interesting with great sweeping shots of the futuristic LA skyline and the First shot of the eye at the start really gets you interested in what's to come and is a unique way to start a film.
I listen very closely to the music in films and I have to say that this is one of the best examples I've seen recently of music adding to a film a making the scenes special. The music in this builds suspense, evokes emotion and adds to the characters and their setting exactly the right way.
The use of "soundless" music is used to great effect, giving you suspenseful scenes without any sound to add to the eerie feeling in the scenes. It is important to use music but sometimes lack of music can be just as important and creative. This film is a perfect example of a great use of music and the sound department did an awesome job.
Overall this film the best film I have seen this year and while it does have a few little flaws. The pacing is slow in places, Leto's performance is not great and the nearly 3 hour running time is a hard ask for people with short attention spans. I think over all this film is really good and a testament to sequels being as good as their originals. As I said at the start this film is refreshing and tips its hat slightly to Blade Runner however Blade Runner 2049 is a great film in its own right. I urge you to go see for yourselves.