Well-developed character-driven sci-fi - a unique rendering of a classic

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2017)

The original Blade Runner film remains one of my most favorite sci-fi films of all-time, so I was really looking forward to the remake. At first, it seemed slow, over-developed, but then as the film progressed, I began to appreciate the pace. This is one of those rare finds in science fiction films coming out of Hollywood, where the character is dominant to the action or special-effects. In fact, the special effects in this remake are nothing to gawk at. A very dark and morose setting for the Los Angeles of 2049, with some flybys with futurist cars, but overall, the story is what carries this film and Gosling's performance is touching. One feels his pain and desperation to find his relevance in a post-apocalyptic world, and I loved his association with his holographic computer, and their special bond. Overall, it's a long movie, but it taps on the doors of our inner emotion; and on both sides of the story, the human sense of entitlement to survive above all other species, including even those they created too well; and the Replicants, the engineered Ai cybernetics, who simply want a chance to become everything they can be.