Unpacking Blad Runner 2049

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2017)

Bladrunner 2049 asks one simple question, "What does it mean to be human?" Then, it proceeds to offer a variety of possibilities, as seen primarily from the point of view of non-humans, i.e. replicants. Some of the possibilities mentioned include:
Giving birth Lying Being born Having a soul Having real memories Sacrificing for others
I'm sure there are others but you get the idea. In the course of the story we're introduced to sentient beings at various levels of humanness. People, replicants, holograms. If that weren't enough, it seems as though there is a human, replicant hybrid and to confuse it even more, there are a variety of generations of replicants.
With the question asked and the parties introduced, there is a lot of role reversals and juxtapositions. At one point a human serves a hologram as she tries to please a replicant. That is some serious role reversal. The value of life itself is explored. Replicants are terminated for simple failure (wrong color of eye) or known limitations (inability to reproduce). Niander Wallace wants millions of replicants to serve and can't make them fast enough. Meanwhile, thousands of orphans are shown doing trivial work.
A couple of characters really stand out. Joe's holographic companion seems more human than anyone else in the story when she sacrifices everything, seems to have emotion, and much more. Joe, while seeming very stoic in his search for meaning is told by other replicants that sacrificing for others is one of the most human things you can do. So he does exactly that, and he appears to die satisfied that he has come as close to human as possible.
This just scratches the surface of an intricate and complex series of questions. I think the real question you should be left with is, "If sacrificing in the service of others is one of the most human things you can do, how human are you? Do you live a life of giving?" Maybe you didn't catch that question the first time around. I didn't. But it is very definitely in there and worth exploring.