The Case of the Missing Replicant Offspring and Outstanding Visuals Compromised by Length, Pace and Distance

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2017)

In the original "Blade Runner" film, blade runners were hired assassins paid to "retire" renegade replicants originally manufactured by the Tyrell Corporation. Replicants were manufactured to work as slaves on colonization planets, and some replicants began to rebel and band together to fight their oppressors for freedom and longevity. It should be pointed out that blade runners were humans, and replicants were bio-engineered humanoids without biological births. In the new film, the Wallace Corporation has built upon what Tyrell began several decades earlier. Their new "breeds" of replicants are incapable of disobedience and some have been drafted to be blade runners themselves, mainly to find some of the older models which escaped blade runners.
Ryan Gosling plays "K", the beginning letter of a long-winded serial number. He's one of the new breed of replicants who is also among the new force of blade runners ordered to hunt down and retire renegade replicants, mainly older models which escaped retirement. During one of K's hunts, he finds a box containing skeletal remains which he brings back to the LAPD offices and labs. Upon further analysis of the remains, the deceased appears to have been not only pregnant but also a replicant. The implication is staggering: replicants may have the ability to reproduce. Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright) puts K on the case to find out more about the pregnancy and discover if the offspring is still alive with orders to retire it.
The main plot is generally a good one: a case of the missing replicant believed to have been born, not bio-engineered. Three groups are interested in the biological birth and the offspring, which may be a hybrid: half replicant, half human. On one end of the spectrum is Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), head of the corporation which has succeeded the Tyrell Corporation. Wallace is not against the biological breeding of replicants. When knowledge of the birth reaches Wallace, he embraces, for he plans to use the millions of new replicants as slaves. On the other side are a group of replicants who desire freedom, similar to the first film. And then there's Lt. Joshi, part of the LAPD, who simply fears renegade replicants and possible biological breeding will destroy the infrastructure of society. In other words, humans are humans, and replicants are replicants, and things should remain thus.
First the good news. The look and atmosphere of the sequel is very similar to the original. Even the music, written mostly by Hans Zimmer but based on some of the original themes and style of Vangelis, parallel the original. The story also explores the ideas of what makes us human. In the original, the rebel replicants seemed to have more humanity than the biological humans, which made for an interesting rhetorical juxtaposition between the nature of human reality. Similar ideas are explored here.
I think the biggest criticism is that it's almost too slow-moving and long for it's own good. The original was assessed as being too "slow-moving" but today it doesn't feel that way at all, and even the director's cut is still just under 2 hours. Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, "Blade Runner 2049" could have used a lot more cutting. A couple of scenes, such as one where a large King-King-size animation interacts with Gosling could have been cut and the film would not have suffered one iota. However, some of the long drawn-out throw-away scenes made it difficult to focus on things which were more crucial to the plot. Other times we often see Gosling in multiple view shots where nothing is happening. Sadly, one character which will become important later is shown briefly in one scene. I would have liked more about that character and less screen time devoted to seeing the pores of Gosling's face!
Still, generally a good film, although I don't think it will become a classic like the original. Some parts were interesting, others became too long without much plot development, while other very important points were not developed very much. In both films, we hear about the off-world colonies but we never see them. And we never see the replicants actually engaging in rebellion, two aspects which would have made the original stories a bit richer.