Another year another Villeneuve success

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2017)

To start off I would like to say that I liked this film despite some shortcomings, this is the third good film by Denis Villeneuve in three years, what a monumental achievement, never have I seen this level of consistency or even frequency in both mainstream and art house films. Among the many things it does right, Blade Runner 2049 is a very good looking film with great cinematography and excellent music. There's great atmosphere building and heavy themes just like in the original Blade Runner but the film falters in the plot department. Blade Runner was a thinking man's science fiction film with very heavy themes, 2049 doesn't shy away from them and embraces them but the plot is riddled with loopoles and is very messy. The original Blade Runner's vehicle (so to say) for themes was a simple bounty hunting mission, this simple plot allowed it to put in deep philosophical ideas in the film. 2049 wants to have it's cake and eat it too, the plot or the vehicle to deliver the heavy themes is a modern day noir mystery which is too complex for it's own good and logical loopholes creep in, but one could argue that the plot isn't the spirit of 2049, it's the ideas, the themes of who or what is a truly a human, and these are present in the film just that the scenes and story surrounding it doesn't do the movie much favors. Must say though the romance in this film is it's highlight and strongest suit, it's a mix of Her and original Blade Runner (if done right, because let's face it 1982's romance was it's weakest department). Lastly would reiterate, while I really liked this film, I would definitely put it a notch below the original Blade Runner which tackled similar if not more complex themes more elegantly.