An unfathomable work of art.

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2018)

I'm actually not sure if I should be reviewing this, because I don't think I fully appreciate this movie enough to write about it in a meaningful way. I can see how people love the original Blade Runner and this one as well, because it seems like a really immersive sci-fi world that delves into some deep themes of what it means to be human. However, it all goes a little over my head. I like the way that Westworld and Ex Machina both go into similar themes of the line between machines and sentient beings, and I love the immersive sci-fi world of Inception. So in some ways, it seems like the Blade Runner movies would be something I could get really into. But the story and the world of the Blade Runner movies seem to be very involved with its symbolism and making the replicants representative of immigrants and things like that. I've had a couple of people explain it to me, but I still can't seem to grasp what Ridley Scott and Denis Villenueve are getting at with these two movies. I can tell something is there, but I just can't tell what. Still, I can't tell how any given scene ties into the overall plot and theme, nor do I understand what the significance of the ending of either movie is. Maybe that's my fault, but in either case, I think it's safe to say that this is not a movie that everyone will enjoy or be satisfied by.
In terms of how this reboot will fare at the Oscars, I think it deserves all of the nominations that it received. I'm not sure that it will win in any of these, given the competition, but any win that it gets will be deserved. If you're considering watching this, you kind of have to see the original first. There is basically no explanation given for what replicants are, and the expositionary text on the screen is way to small to read. Even if you have seen the original, it's probably a good idea to watch it again before you see this one. Even though I'm not huge on either movie, I think that there should be more original and artistic movies like this. Overall Rating 7/10.