A Captivating Extended Movie Torn between Mystery and Romance

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2019)

8 October 2017. This sequel to the original 1982 Ridley Scott's now classic Blade Runner offers the same mystery thriller sci fi theme that didn't really inspire a lot of initial interest in the original movie. Apparently director Denis Villenueve's Blade Runner version has also encountered some popular audience resistance and the slightly lower female rating as did Ridley Scott back in 1982. There is considerable less action involved in this release as compared to the more popular mainstream movies receiving much bigger box office receipts. Lost is the typical film noir voice-over narrative that was a problem for a number of people, including Harrison Ford, of the 1982 original theatrical release. However, there probably still exists a minority of people who prefer the film noir element of detective voice over of the 1940s, allowing the audience to get into the mental experiences going on with the lead character, including the imagined dialogue of an audio version of reading from a book or text.
Many of the sci fi robotic concepts incorporated into this movie have had their presentation in a number of much earlier sci fi movies, particularly dealing with the human brain, emotions, memories. Russell Crowe's hologram turned real in Virtuosity (1995), Cherry 2000 (1987) the female robotic companion of David Andrew's character that he believes he wants to repair her damaged central processing unit to keep what close relationship he had, Kurt Russell's engineered and programmed human to become the perfect human weapon in Soldier (1998), and even Peter Weller in Robocop (1987) and Robert John Burke in Robocop 3 (1993) as well as D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) about a robotic boy and blurring between human and robot in Making Mr. Right (1987). Yet what seems to distinguish and sets this robotic or synthroid themed movie apart is the integration between a hologram and a robotic entity in both visual as well as acted portrayal. The dazzling and fascinating fusion of electronic interfacing in one of the movie's delicate sequences of awesomeness.
While it is likely that many in the audience will find the outstanding visual effects on par or even more dazzling and powerful as the original and as found in Interstellar (2014) with its water and ice planets or scientifically accurate display of a black hole, the megacity features of the multitude of decrepit futuristic housing or bleak, haunting, hostile landscapes of Blade Runner 2049 appear like Sean Penn's beautiful but "pretentious" landscape imagery found in Into the Wild (2007). What director Denis Villenueve has introduced into his Blade Runner movie is a tribute to both the Ridley Scott's visionary imagery as well as an over-emphasis on visual design by turning it into a primary character of the movie instead of a background palette upon which to tell and to complement the story.
What is really fascinating about the script is how much Blade Runner 2049 is much like the original except that its perspective could be viewed more from a replicant's point of view instead of the hunter or detective point of view by the time the movie is over. Villenueve's movie is even more dark and somber than the original, more grittier with a similar context as Daniel Craig gets to portray James Bond in the more contemporary Casino Royale (2006) from his earlier incarnations. Ultimately, it is harder to connect deeply and consistently with the emotional turmoil underlying this movie as it is also focused on a mystery. Unlike The Machine (2013), Her (2013) or Transcendence (2014) the canvass on which Blade Runner 2049 is presented is so much larger that the opportunity for a consistent, extended intimate and evolving engagement on an interpersonal level is somewhat diminished.