This is How You Do a Sequel

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2017)

This director is one of the best working in the business today and this is his best film to date. I can't believe the man managed to top Ascension and Sicario which are two of my all time favorite films of the last decade but leave it to the genius that is Denis Villeneuve to top himself in the most incredible ways.
Denis Villeneuve's direction for this movie is impeccable and I am fully convinced that no other director could have handled the film and delivered it nearly as masterfully as he did and I would not be surprised if the Academy decided to honor him with (at the very least!) a nomination for best director.
I'd be remiss if I did not mention the incredible performances by the amazing cast of the film. All around there were so many strong performances! The fact that a lot of lesser known actors were able to go toe to toe with the likes of Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto (who are all at their best in years) is something to commend! In particular Sylvia Hoeks and Ana De Armas completely surprised me with just how good they were.
Yes, this movie would be nothing without its stars, so with that I will go ahead and say that this is my favorite performance from Ryan Gosling since his role in Drive back in 2011 (which is six years ago, holy crap where has the time gone?). He does so much to display the reserved character of K. He plays the more reserved scenes with such subtlety that it genuinely caught me off guard just how much he was doing with so little, as well as capturing the more emotional scenes without it coming off as out-of-character or corny, which it very well could have been.
Harrison Ford also is incredible in this movie! Really, this might just be the best performance of his entire career. There was one scene, near the climax of the movie, where there is a shot that lasts several minutes and Ford only says one sentence in the entirety of it, but was still so gripping because of the acting that Ford accomplished! With nothing more than posture and facial expressions! I would be horrified if Ford were not nominated for best supporting actor. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he walked off with the award at the end of the night. However, despite how much I've built him up in this review don't go in expecting to see too much of Ford. This is Gosling's movie, and Ford does not show up until much later.
Jared Leto and Sylvia Hoeks both play very good antagonists in the movie, and really bring the characters to life with their great acting. It goes a long way that, even though they are a little on the "crazy bad guys" side of things, they do have a very clear goal with a clear desired outcome and a logical reason to be doing what they are doing. There isn't any being-evil-for-the-hell-of-it moments. The audience understands the stakes that both of these characters have in the outcome of the story, and you can understand the motives behind their actions. This is such a refreshing thing to say in the age of Marvel movies, where the majority of antagonists are simply World Ending Baddies.
The Mixture of practical and special effects in this movie are also worthy of applause, and that goes for both the artists that crafted them as well as to the actors in the film itself. They make every little piece of the world feel real and lived in. I will also roll the practical effects that the actors performed in the film itself, as both Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford actually physically hit one another(!!!) in their fight scene. This in itself really helped to sell the scene and demonstrates the actors dedication to the film as a whole.
The crown jewel of the film though would have to go to Roger Deakins' cinematography. If this man does not win this years best Cinematography Oscar than the whole award is a farce, because I am not sure if I have ever seen a single film (since the films of Stanley Kubrick) that were this consistently stunning in every single shot. In most films there may only be 3-4 scenes where great cinematography was used but in this film there are only 3-4 scenes that aren't jaw dropping. The way that the shots are cut, the composition of each shot, and the way that many of the shots seem to linger and play out is nothing short than an example of moving art. Really I would say that the shots are so good and convey so much information to the audience that you could watch the entire movie without sound and the film as a whole would still be comprehensible and enjoyable and that is an achievement worth applauding.
Overall I could go on for hours about every little thing I loved in this film (and in reality I have with people in my day to day life) but I absolutely do not wish to spoil this film for anyone so I will conclude by saying that this movie is a masterpiece. It is one of the best sequels ever made, it is one of the best science fiction movies ever made, this is one of the best movies of this decade and it is one that you need to go see for yourself.
Or else this film may be lost to time, like tears in the rain.