Better than the Original!

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2018)

30 years ago, a certain rain-drenched replicant said the immortal words: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe". With director Dennis Villeneuve we can finally see just some of those "things". That's the really brilliant thing about BLADE RUNNER 2049: the design and the vision.
Villeneuve has created a beautiful, fascinating and vivid dystopian world. We see such poignant, beautiful things: a room bathed in golden water reflections, giant holographic ballerinas, a stunning version of Las Vegas in orange dust, a futuristic hover car immersed in rainwater and finally, a man passing away amidst a snowfall. The scope and vision of the world is really breathtaking, the colours are beautiful and vibrant and really transform the film. This obviously is in-debt to the cinematography captured brilliantly by Roger Deakins. He showcases the world to the uttermost of his and the camera's abilities in the same way the original.
However the really great thing about the film was how it took a theme and expanded so much on it. The film is very philosophical in the same way as the original as it explores what it means and how it feels to be human. Emotions like love and real memories are all explored in the film in great depth. For example, a man is so in love with a hologram that the hologram projects herself over a real woman so they can finally make love. Scenarios like this are just some of the poignant, philosophical parts to this film. It's powerful storytelling and science fiction at its best. Hapton Fescher has written a story that grips with it's running plot and multi-layered characters. However, it's nothing THAT new and it's not much of a mystery since you can simply figure out what's what but it's still engaging and action-packed.
The action in the movie is very well-done. It hinges on the original movie but still does it's own thing. It's brutal and sometimes bloody but goes bigger and better than the first movie. This was part of the problem for one scene where Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), a replicant creator who's a replicant himself, murders a female replicant he's just awakened. It's a perverted scene and ruined part of the film for me but I still managed to enjoy this neo-noir piece overall.
Of course, the movie is really carried by it's brilliant cast and I must say almost all of the cast is on top form. There were 4 standout performances and 1 decidedly poor performance in the film. To begin with, Ryan Gosling as Officer K. Gosling gives an absolutely brilliant performance as K and acts out real anger and sadness but also loneliness. It's a very raw performance and a very emotional one too. Next, there is of course, Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard. It's wonderful to see him pick up his role after 30 years and carry on the same. He plays a grump, old, cynic but also quite a vulnerable man who's lost a lot in life and Ford plays all of that very strongly. There were then the 2 female standouts with Ana de Armas and Sylvia Hoeks. Armas gives a touchingly emotional performance as the holographic Joi. She plays a character almost like Oz's tin man and you really care about her and k's romance. Sylvia Hoeks is brilliant as the monstrous Luv. She plays a murderous brute of a replicant, uncaring and unfeeling. She's like a female version of Roy Batty. Only, he knew when to spare life, she doesn't! She's really a villainess you can loath but the acting is just so powerhouse from Hoeks. However, the 1 bad performance in the movie was Jared Leto as Niander Wallace. Let's acting is bland and two dimensional and he basically reads the script out loud. Disappointing among such a stellar cast.
However, this was a film that delivered an engaging and stunningly beautiful sequel to a classic. It gives us a proper adventure (unlike the original) that's almost like a STAR WARS movie, that really moves the story onwards. It's not an enjoyable movie but it's certainly a fine movie that grips and dazzles, and breaths new life into an old classic...