A rare sequel passing the Voight-Kampff test

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2017)

Hollywood is usually predictable, but it can still surprise you sometimes. It can be an unpleasant surprise, like the guy who made the wonderful Lord of the Rings movies churning out the turgid mess that was the Hobbit trilogy. And it can be a welcome surprise, like a Blade Runner sequel being, you know, actually good. Count me as one of the fans who rolled their eyes at the idea of a follow-up to Ridley Scott's masterpiece... but 2049 won me over.
No, it's not on par with *the* Blade Runner, and no, I don't believe in thirty years this will be part of the collective cinematic imagination like its predecessor... but it's still better than I expected: neat science fiction made with intelligence and care.
Denis Villeneuve crafts a stylish, atmospheric piece, slow-paced but never boring. The introductory vignette with two men confronting each other in a remote outpost has a Sergio Leone vibe; the nightmarish future cities imagined by the great Philip K. Dick are portrayed with a mixture of dread and fascination.
The cast is game, with always reliable Ryan Gosling as the lead and Harrison Ford giving his best performance in decades. Lovely Ana de Armas gives a star-making turn; the relationship between the protagonist and his holographic partner is the most interesting thing about the film, once again highlighting the question underpinning the whole Blade Runner mythos: what does it mean to be human?
The antagonists are underwhelming. They are not exactly poorly made - even if some dialogues by smug demiurge Wallace (Leto) have the cringingly ponderous quality of Supervillain Fortune Cookies - but they are a little obvious compared to the original's memorable Roy Batty.
Still, the script avoids many potential pitfalls - screenwriter Hampton Fancher (who worked on the first Blade Runner as well) was involved, and it shows. There is (thankfully) no definite answer to the "Is Deckard a replicant?" question; on the other hand, we learn immediately that Officer K (Gosling) is in fact a replicant, instead of moronically trying to mimic that specific conundrum. K is as different a protagonist from Deckard as possible, a deliberate and clever choice. The plot references the events of the original but without parroting them Force Awakens-style.
2049 doesn't try to top the legendary "tears in the rain" monologue, which would have encouraged unflattering comparisons; a similar scene at the end is entirely silent and works just beautifully. Once again, it's about finding a moment of grace and freedom in a decaying, oppressive world.
7,5/10