The Force Awakens Syndrome

Rating: Null/10 (8 October 2017)

There are two ways to look at the sequel to Blade Runner. Let me address both of them.
This is a stunning film visually. The graphics, the ideas, the largeness of it all is extremely well done. There are no cheap visuals or areas where they have cut corners. With that said, the grittiness of the original which was integral to the setting and atmosphere is nearly intact. It is overly long, but the extraordinary imagination and colours keep one awake.
The film itself, however, is a disappointment. The story line is weak and drags out. Whereas the gist of the matter is important and, like the original asks important questions, provides broadly smart answers and impresses with an in-depth coverage the problem is that the original did it already and did it better. The (new) evil corporation is also not as subtle as Tyrell was.
This, for me, is The Force Awakens syndrome. That film was hyped to high heaven. All the critics gave it perfect reviews (payola?), we were told it is superb and on par with the original Star Wars trilogy, on the day of release 100 10/10 reviews appeared on IMDb, etc. It turned out JJ Abrams did what JJ Abrams always does. TFA was boring, superficial, the actresses were bad and the script was just a remake of the original. That is happening with BR2049. Perhaps not having the advantage of a Dick book this is not deserving of all the accolades. Unfortunately, there is another more recent example of this phenomenon Arrival by the same director had interesting visuals, interesting premise and was boring and slow at the end of the day.
What is going on in media review land?