Boring, bland, pretentious, occasionally fascinating.

Rating: 4/10 (6 January 2018)

Whilst the storyline and pacing will put most to sleep - The set designs are tremendous, however the lack of descriptive, emotive music, and clear copying of just about all the elements of the first movie will put most original BR fans off. Not to mention fairly wooden and unappealing lead acting roles ... Or was it just a bad script? Say what you like about 1980s movies, at least they had plot movement and were able to convey the passage of time without actually 'taking time'. If this film is an accurate depiction of 2049, then i say we end it all now - The one saving grace is we're told in the beginning, there has been a downfall of everything we saw in the first - A blackout. So we expect bleak, but there's been plenty of 'bleak' sci-fi flicks made in the past 10 years that are much more engaging and conceptually interesting than this one.
PROs: Harrison Ford - He's a little ancient now, but still 100 times better on screen than 'pretty boy' Gosling, who, in most movies seems a little robotic (Ah, hang on that's why they cast him right?). Oh, and Harrison has a tremendous stash of whiskey, which makes his radioactive hideout all the more appealing. Note for later - Don't keep the bees outside (hmm, bees - but where's the flowers?). The L.A. sea-wall and corresponding actions sequences were pretty rad, however Wallace's transport shuttle looked like something out of the original 'V' mini-series. A little more imagination on shuttle design please.
CONs: Simplistic plot, very little actual 'science', which is a shame, as there's quite a bit of 'tech' in the film but not a lot of explanation as to how it's evolved or what's driving it. Uninspired acting by most of the cast. As someone else mentioned, the script actually managed to break the suspension of disbelief regarding the concept of humanity vs A.I. "If you're not born, then you're 'not'". Hmm, that kind of goes against the existential notion of "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" doesn't it. But i guess it's necessary to make such a big deal of a replicant having a child. Yay for the replicants. They can feel human now and age through their lives with all sorts of medical issues! Misogynistic projection of 'Sexuality' - In the first BR, there was quite a balanced portrayal of the beauty of both Male and female forms, but in this one it's all about 'gentlemens pleasure'. Lucky for the cashed up men of the future eh ;)