Blade Runner 2049 suffers from poor pacing and wasted character development

Rating: 6/10 (14 October 2017)

I believe that Blade Runner 2049, though visionary stunning, is an extremely flawed movie and pales in comparison to the original Blade Runner. To put it crudely, it is a visionary bore-fest, but as much as possible I want to like it. Personally, I respect all the efforts they placed in the script-writing, but if the general public doesn't like the film, it is completely justifiable.
The characters lack development and proper motivation. We know that K wants to find out the mystery of his past and who his parents are, and we as audience are convinced at half-way point that he was the chosen child "chosen one". K himself does not care about the revolution nor his duty as a cop nor the corporate interest of Wallace. He just wants to find his real purpose, that's the entire plot.
He believes he was the chosen child, but did nothing significant as " the chosen one". He seems to be acting on his own interest, but in truth he was being manipulated by everyone else. He was told by his boss to erase all evidence, even though he doesn't want to. He was used by Wallace to find Deckard, though that was never his intention. He was later told to kill Deckard for the greater good, though he himself does not believe in the revolution. In pursuing his own identity, he forgot someone who is a true mother to him, Lieutunant Joshi, who was conveniently killed off.
K only "realise" his true calling at close to the end of the film. That plot twist revealing that he wasn't the chosen one destroyed K as a character in story-telling. He had basically gained no true knowledge of himself from the first 2 hours of the movie, despite his sacrifices. There is no reason as to why K felt compelled to save/kill Deckard in first place. He doesn't care about the revolution, and is only being told to do something by another higher authority figure. What is his true motivation behind saving Deckard? I like to believe that there is one, but it is not well- explained. That scene with the giant Joi reminded K that there is no turning back, and that he should see things through. But it would have been understandable, in fact much more human, for K to just walk it off and forget about Deckard. We as audience followed K with his beliefs that he was the one. When the plot twist came, it is already at the 2 hour mark and K is suddenly purposeless. The movie has lost its steam by then.
K's death in the end, contributes absolutely nothing to the story or the development of its characters. In the original film, both Tyrell's and Roy's death signifies something. Tyrell's death shows God being overwhelmed by the power of his own creation, along with many other interpretations. Roy's death vastly affected Deckard, teaching him the fragility of life and the importance of "living".
In comparison to Roy and Tyrell, Luv (the female replicant) and Wallace seemed more like one-dimensional villains. Tyrell sincerely believed that his product will bring the course of mankind to a new technological age, and he intentionally blurred the line between human and replicants. He challenged social and philosophical concepts, and was never portrayed as a villain, but a corporate genius. Wallace, on the other hand, just babbles on and on about his own ambitions. Wallace is a selfish artist, and all he does throughout the film can only be interpreted as "villainous". He killed a freshly born replicant, he killed the clone of Rachel, all just to get the child whom he would later dissect. He does things for his own interests only, and you can never empathize with him as a character. Tyrell is more human than Wallace, and hence more relatable. Luv's portrayal throughout the film is kinda just like that stereotypical assassin hired by the bad guys to chase after the main characters. She was hinted to be more than just a mindless robot following orders, but much of her character remains undeveloped despite great potential. What does she really feel about the implication of a replicant baby? Why was she crying for the new replicant model who was killed by Wallace ? There are certain romantic tension between her and K that was abruptly ended with her death in the last scene. She herself has no desire, no passion, no motivation to do the things she want to do. Unlike Roy, who was more human than human, she became a convenient plot device drone.
The only character given much focus upon is Joi, the artificial intelligence. She reminded me much of Scarlet Johansson in the movie "Her", which explored similar concepts. But her role in the film is not extremely important, so is her death. She did convince K that to dig further into his past. That was her primary role. When that goal is fulfilled, she was conveniently killed off.
The main issue of this movie is the script. I genuinely believe that the director and scriptwriters are heading in the right direction, but the pacing of the film and the motivations of the characters could be improved upon. Certain scenes lingered on for too long, and the soundtrack never. stops. playing. I love Vangelis, but in this film the atmosphere is sometimes a little suffocating and monotonic because of it. Anyway this is my opinions on Blade Runner 2049. I like the film, but it is definitely not great.ï»¿