This was special

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2017)

It's amazing after repeated viewings the lack of patience or inability moviegoers have to simply follow a plot. The lack of concentration throughout the cinema, the talking throughout and some of the comments I have read is downright disturbing. This movie is high art and some people need it spoon-feed to them. If you're not invested from the get-go, just go home.
Blade Runner 2049 is not your typical movie and it was never meant to be. There are no superheroes or giant robots. Explosions are scarce and it's not funny either. It's about emotion and memories and like the original Blade Runner (1982). It poses the same Philip K Dick inspired questions about humanity - what does it mean to be human and are we just the sum of our memories? It now raises questions about artificial intelligence and real love.
It is a sequel 35 years in the making to one of the most thoughtful and provocative movies ever. The original movie was a box office flop which later developed a cult following and and has since been hailed a masterpiece. Ridley Scott created a multilayered world which seduces you into a nostalgic like trance for a place which never really existed and a sequel to a film held in such high regard is rarely ever a good idea but Blade Runner 2049 is a rare exception. Think The Godfather Part II, Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day before it.
No spoilers. We follow Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a new character and a new breed of Blade Runner on the trail of an old model replicant but what he uncovers along the way is so much bigger and threatens to shift the balance of what is left of humanity.
Director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival) and his crew have crafted a beautiful looking film which pays homage to the original without trying to copy it at all. The same rain-soaked, neon-lit streets are present in L.A, only the Eco-system is even more shattered. Sustenance is scarce with protein farming a way of life and while there are obvious nods to the first movie 2049 relishes the opportunity to avoid the familiar and takes us outside the city limits.
The cast in 2049 is excellent. Ryan Gosling carries the main story with ease, playing his detective character with an ice-cold calm until...
Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, the original Blade Runner delivers a highly emotional and raw performance which I found very surprising. Not because Ford is not capable as an actor but Deckard was played so dryly in the original, especially next to Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty. Clearly time and circumstance have clearly changed him here and it's a refreshing approach.
The casting choices of side characters in limited roles such as Dave Bautista, Robin Wright and Ana De Armas in her very unique role were fantastic. Jared Leto gets only a few scenes as villainous creeper Niander Wallace, the corporate tycoon with a god complex but his best 'angel', Luv (Sylvia Hoek) gets plenty and rightfully so because she's excellent.
If I I had to choose any negatives from 2049 it would be need to spoon-feed the audience in scenes by adding a small flashback here and there which I thought was unnecessary. The score was clearly not Vangelis who did the first movie and made up so much of the nostalgic atmosphere in it. While good I did miss the sadness, the piano keys and blues of Vangelis for a time but could tell the score was aiming for something different, more urgent, a sense of dread which was probably more appropriate anyway with 2049 being much larger. That's not to say there aren't hints of Vangelis because there most definitely is.
It has been 35 years and the need for a sequel can be debated forever. Was it necessary? No. But was it good. Yes, really good. Is it a masterpiece? I would say that it's an extremely satisfying conclusion to Deckard's story and having seen it it's made the original even better.
A movie like this does not come around very often. The world needs more movies like Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys, Ex Machina... and Blade Runner 2049. High praise.
Best movie of the year!