Rare Breed of Film

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2018)

Blade Runner 2049 is the sequel of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and is directed by Denis Villeneuve. This film exists within the Blade Runner franchise and takes place thirty years after the events of the original. This film follows a young blade runner named K (Ryan Gosling) who finds an important secret and tracks Rick Deckard(Harrison Ford) to find the meaning of it.
This is truly a beautiful film. It's one of the few films I have seen when you can feel the love that the director put into it. You can tell that Villeneuve spent many late nights perfecting every detail of this film. He surrounded himself with some of the best in production design, screenplay, and music. You can see the love that Villeneuve not only has for the franchise, but for film in general. That's why this film was running on all cylinders.
This film took every great aspect of the original and improved on them, while taking the things that didn't work and fixing those as well. The film has mind-blowing concepts and themes and even manages to put a fresh new spin on the ones that were borrowed from the original. Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch bring a riveting soundtrack that even rivals Vangelis' brilliant soundtrack from the original. The soundtrack is complimented by some of the best cinematography ever seen on film. Roger Deakins gives us a film that is a feast for the eyes during every second of a film that is almost three hours long.
The film fixes the originals biggest issue that is the characters. While the characters in the original felt like they lacked depth and were poorly written, the characters in this film were well acted and had great arcs.
The film lacks any emotional drawl to the characters, but this is okay because the characters have their own emotional value and clear motivations. Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford's characters are prime examples of this. As the film progresses K struggles with his humanity and you really feel for Ryan Goslings' character, due to his great performance. Harrison Ford gives one of his greatest performances in his career. While Deckard was dull in the original, he gives an emotional performance, where he is traumatized by the events in his life over the past thirty years.
The film has few action sequences, but when it does they feel crisp and creative. They are made intense by the soundtrack and are stunning due to Deakins' beautiful scenery. These sequence were truly a group effort and that's why they felt perfect.
There will be people who will find this film boring, but for me it's the opposite. With all the excellent aspects of this film that I mentioned before and the immaculate detail that director Denis Villeneuve put into this film, it makes for not only the best film of 2017, but one of the best films I have seen in a long time. Denis Villeneuve created an immersive experience that reminded me why I love movies and that's why Blade Runner 2049 is an easy: 10/10