It's terrific but not quite up there with the original

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2017)

Let's face it, it could NOT be as good as the original, which is one of the greatest pieces of movie making ever be conceived, so let's get that out of the way.
Rarely are sequels as good as the first one, and while this makes a hell of a good shot at it, it doesn't manage it.
But what it does manage is to refresh the world of Blade Runner, making it relevant for the present day, while still keeping the feel of the original as much as it can without being derivative.
The story follows on 30 years from BR, with Ryan Gosling, a new-age Blade Runner doing the same thing the old ones did - but after making a discovery, needs to track down ol' Deckard to solve an even bigger mystery.
The original story was filled with so much philosophy and depth it's impossible to know where to start - what the sequel does is keep in enough of a level of depth to keep audiences engage but not making it as extensive - it's a sad reflection of the iPhone age that we just do not seem to have the capacity to think as much as we once did, and it feels like Villeneuve and Scott knew this and made a Blade Runner to accommodate the modern world.
But they keep enough of what made BR good to avoid alienating its many fans, while adding in enough new stuff to avoid it seeming dated.
For Gosling's part he's brilliant - he was immaculately cast in this role and it's the best I've seen him. Ford isn't in it a huge amount and definitely seems a different Deckard to 1982's. And a lot of the structure is similar - there's a 'Roy Batty' (if a pale imitation and nowhere near as threatening) type, a Tyrell (a much more cynical one) and even a kind of Sebastian too - an isolated soul who makes their own world.
So fans will feel familiar ground. The directing is good - it does not feel like a long film and it goes by quickly - the pacing is spot on.
But it just cannot compare to the original overall. It is a 10/10 by today's standards, but the original was a masterpiece which is off the charts.
This is close enough, but no cigar.