Starts So Well, Goes Bad Fast

Rating: 4/10 (1 January 2018)

Burned over and over again by every 'remake' and 'reboot' that has squelched its way out of Hollywood the past 10 years or so, I went into this with deep distrust and skepticism, so was therefore very surprised to find it open so strongly, with the world of the original Blade Runner faithfully recreated and built upon, and a sturdy performance by Ryan Gosling at its center.
True, it doesn't seem to add up to much or say anything, and Jared Leto is an incomprehensible mess, but for the first hour and a half you don't really mind, just because it's so nice to look at and the care and attention on display. It really only starts to go downhill once Harrison Ford appears on screen.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can ascertain, Harrison Ford has not actually acted ONCE the past quarter century. And here, as with his shameful cameo in 'The Farce Awakens', he simply turns up, trembles his lip, looks like he's going to cry and then dodders about onscreen looking confused for about 10 minutes total, runs off with his big sack of cash and takes off to fly his plane. And as with that previous spin of the grave of Han Solo, there is nothing beyond the obvious surface physical resemblance to link whatever he is doing onscreen here to the character of Deckard in the original.
The film is easily a good half hour too long, and way before the credits roll you realize it hasn't added up to anything, or said anything new, or done anything to equal the original. There was never any need to make a sequel to Blade Runner, but the first two thirds of this film did the best job of attempting it anyone could have hoped for. Yes, it all leads to nothing, but it's still an admirable achievement all the same, so how to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 I really don't know.