The 35 Year Wait is Worth It

Rating: 8/10 (6 October 2017)

It's been 35 years since Ridley Scott delivered his iconic sci-fi noir based on Philip K. Dick's novella 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' and now director Denis Villeneuve has brought us a sequel that many fans have been anxiously anticipating. Was the three and a half decade wait worth such a lengthy hiatus? Honestly it sure as hell was in this writer's opinion.
A brief plot synopsis: 30 years after Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) hunted replicants, Tyrell Corp has now been bought by wealthy financier Niander Wallace (Oscar winner Jared Leto) who now manufactures obedient replicants who don't question their purpose unlike their predecessors. However replicant Blade Runner 'K' (Ryan Gosling) soon begins to find bizarre clues that lead him to question whether he actually is a replicant or may have been human when he finds some bones at the sight of his most recent assignment. Soon the agent goes on the run in order to find the truth and it's a slow-boiling adventure that will make your mind race.
Director Denis Villeneuve casts this film quite well especially with Ryan Gosling's portrayal of the new Blade Runner. Gosling's K is the character we stick with for the majority of the film's nearly three hour run-time and the actor is more than capable of commanding the screen and bringing a supposedly emotionless character to life. Gosling sticks to stone-faced expressions for the film as K is quickly revealed as a replicant and is extremely skilled at his profession (like Deckard before him), but when K finds the bones of a female replicant (a character from the original film) and as he probes further into the case K begins to question if he is actually human and Gosling's stony faÃ§ade begins to crumble little by little. K begins to feel some form of love for his A.I. called Joi (Ana de Armas), he has a moment where he cries after finding a wooden horse that he remembered having as a child and even at the film's climax K smiles at Deckard and has a look of serenity after the old Blade Runner leaves K alone outside.
Original star Harrison Ford doesn't appear until the film's final act which is beautifully built up. Not much is explained about Rick Deckard's thirty year absence except for hinting about his job being a main reason and who he took off with at the original film's conclusion. Thankfully not having the original film's star appear until near the end helps keep the emphasis on K and his mission.
Sadly the most underused character in the film is the primary antagonist, Niander Wallace. Jared Leto brings his usual A-game to this blind mogul, but his screen-time is so limited that we never get to know much about Wallace other than his takeover of the bankrupt Tyrell Corporation and his mission to create replicants who won't question their lives like Roy Batty and company in the original 1982 film. What lead Wallace to create replicants who are subservient is never made clear, but it could be that Wallace is aware of what happened with Roy Batty and his group of rogue replicants in "Blade Runner". Leto's performance in the film is good as he has to use his voice and subtle body language as Niander is blind; his voice lilts from his trademark softness when close enough to another actor to a slightly raised when he enters a scene or gives a bit of a lecture. However Leto isn't wasted and makes the most of his brief screen-time and does leave an impression.
The film's style is just as distinctive here as it was in the 1982 film. While Ridley Scott's visuals had a little more lighting in a mostly blackened landscape, Villeneuve's film is even bleaker as the cinematography (shot marvelously by Roger Deakins) with grays, dark yellow-gold and black for the shadows; the three leads, K, Rick Deckard and Niander Wallace are introduced in shadow when they each speak their first line of dialogue. With this sequel the new color palate makes the setting of 2049 L.A. even more dystopic than the 1982 film was and also capitalizes on technology that is now available in the film's time-line like the flying cars seen in the original, A.I. being a psychical presence (evidenced by Joi's hologram form) and of course our replicant hero. The film also has some subtle throwbacks to its predecessor like K eating Asian cuisine alone in a Chinatown-like district which is similar to Rick Deckard in the 1982 film. Another highlight of the film is the musical score (co-written by Oscar winner Hans Zimmer) which almost has a war drum feel to it as the pounding percussive vibrations are like a call to arms and echo heart-pounding anxiety.
With a nearly 3 hour run-time the film does feel a bit tedious at certain points, but the action scenes help speed some of the slower sections up thanks to the relentless movement of characters and the driving musical score. The story is a potboiler of events; a slowly escalating chase between K and Wallace's replicant assistant, Love, as she is restless in her pursuit of our hero once he essentially goes AWOL. There are many emotional moments that might produce some tears or make you wring your hands.
Go see this movie and experience a new adventure