Disappointing... but still worth seeing

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2017)

This film had so much potential. It has great acting, wonderful and innovative special effects, lavish and imaginative environments, unique science fiction elements, it feels realistic, the music and tone are spot on, the cinematography is the kind you can watch for days... they only forgot story, and unfortunately that's kind of important.
I was secretly hoping that they would have gone back to the source material, the original source material: the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." The themes explored in that book are compelling and fascinating and include morality, religion, and what it means to be human. The original "Blade Runner" adopted some of these themes. This film abandons them. Because of that, it feels soulless, nothing but a pantomime of the original.
I think that the primary plot failing is that "Blade Runner 2049" lays itself bare. We know right from the start who is a replicant and who is human. This strips out the heart of what (to me) makes Blade Runner special: the questioning of what it actually means to be human and the juxtaposition of humans acting like androids and androids acting with selfless humanity. Very little of that is to be found in this film.
Walking out, I was left scratching my head at what themes they actually were trying to get at here. None are readily apparent. So it ends up being a cool looking, atmospheric action/sci-fi flick. That's makes it a good movie, but doesn't make it a "masterpiece."
People still talk about the original "Blade Runner," 30 years after it's release. Nobody will be talking about this movie when the year 2049 actually rolls around.