Visually stunning

Rating: 8/10 (10 May 2018)

Picking up 20 years after the events portrayed in the original "Blade Runner" (1982) and continuing in that reality (i.e. extrapolating the future from the world of the first movie, not from world when it was made), "Blade Runner 2049" is a direct sequel to Ridley Scott's iconic film. Subservient replicants (synthetic humans) have replaced the potentially rebellious replicants that drove the plot of the original movie and the sequel follows K, one such replicant (Ryan Gosling) who is tasked by the LAPD to hunt down and destroy any remaining potentially dangerous older models. In doing so, he stumbles upon a secret that could jeopardise the dominance of naturally born humans. Continuing with the high-tech retro-noir of the first film, the visualisation of the bleak yet bustling post-apocalyptic world of 2049 is outstanding and the story of K's unravelling of a complex of misinformation, and his slow realisation of the humanity of Man's AI creations, including himself, is compelling. As much of the story is about deception and the 'replicant' technology includes synthetic memories, the 'unreliable narrator' is central to the narrative but is logical and consistent (although I would have thought the visualised memories would be POV). The film is quite long (163 minutes) and (IMO) slow moving at times, but other than that, is an excellent and 'worthy' sequel to what many people consider to be one most influential science fiction films ever made.