In one word: Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2017)

First of all, I would like to start by saying where I stand. I watched the original movie with my parents in the theaters in 1992, when I was 12 years old. Although I was too young to fully grasp the philosophical explorations, I was completely taken away. The movie changed the way I saw films after that. I realized that cinema is a magical and personal experience that can trigger your emotions and your thoughts in ways that you couldn't even imagine. I guess each one of the film-goers has a movie like that to remember, a movie that signaled in a way their passage to a more mature way of watching films. For me that movie was Blade Runner. Having said all that, I had high expectations and a great fear going to the theater to watch Blade Runner 2049. High expectations because Villeneuve hardly ever misfires and because Ryan Gosling is one of the most charismatic actors of the last 15 years. Great fear, because I knew that I might be utterly disappointed. Well, in three words What a delivery! That was one of the most beautiful, heart-breaking, breathtaking and mesmerizing films that I have watched in the last 5 years. A true work of art. I found it amazing how the film functioned both as a sequel and as a remake. OK, it was a sequel for the obvious reasons. The story takes place 30 years later (2049 instead of 2019) and some of the major characters of the first movie (most importantly Deckard played by Harrison Ford) play a crucial part in the development of the plot. It is a remake, however, because although the story is quite different, the film feels like an adaptation of the original film: the ethereal slow pace (what a bold decision!), the brilliant soundtrack that resembles Vangelis' tunes, the gloomy atmosphere, the suffocating urban landscape, the rain and the element of water, the darkness, the sadness, but most importantly the exploration of the same philosophical and existential questions; what is memory? What does it mean to remember? Can we ever be sure that our memory is an exact representation of what actually happened? What does it mean to be human? What is the essence of being a human? What does "father" mean? How do we feel about whoever we think or believe that created us? Blade Runner 2049 was made by a group of people who truly respected the original movie and the result well in one word: Masterpiece.