A Masterpiece That Pays Off

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2017)

I don't like calling Blade Runner 2049 a sequel. To me, a "sequel" suggests that it builds off of the story and success of a previous installment. A "sequel" is something that continues the story of previous core characters. Blade Runner 2049 is not JUST a sequel. It's an expansion, both in the visual sense and the thematic sense.
To really sum things up, Blade Runner 2049 is a rare film that manages to capture both the look and the heart of its predecessor, yet remain wholly original and refreshing for a modern audience. The story follows K, a newer-model Replicant who is a Blade Runner for the LAPD. After discovering a jarring secret about the Nexus 08 Replicants (from the original Blade Runner), K is sent out on a journey to track down Officer Deckard, who has been in hiding for 30 years.
Blade Runner 2049 is one of the most beautiful films to come out in film history. Every single shot is precisely filmed, positioned, and edited to create the sense of vastness in the world's dystopia. The cinematography beautifully executes the film's colors and shots to establish the different worlds visited in the film. It's a visual tribute to the original's groundbreaking effects, but also manages to break out of the confines of the original and become it's own work of art.
What makes Blade Runner 2049 such a compelling addition to the Blade Runner series is that, with this new storyline, it manages to touch on the original's themes of existentialism and the definition of humanity. What does it mean to be human? With a protagonist who is a Replicant AND a Blade Runner, this question is further prodded. The main plot of the film revolves around this question, and takes K on a journey discovering on what he actually is, and what his experiences are supposed to mean to him.
Ryan Gosling plays the role of K with beautiful precision and subtlety; the film is supposed to convey how K feels human even when he knows he isn't, and even raises the possibility if he is human. Gosling's nonverbal acting perfectly sums up the complexity of thought that K goes through, and transforms into the character on screen.
Do you need to see the original Blade Runner in order to watch this? Yes and no. Blade Runner 2049 stands on its own as a slow burner, sci fi thriller that manages to capture its audience no matter what they've seen before. However, Blade Runner 2049 also expands on the original Blade Runner, taking the original's visual innovations and thematic elements and modernizing them to a new contemporary standard of storytelling. Watching the original Blade Runner will only make you enjoy 2049 even more. 2049 is a rare example of a "sequel" surpassing its predecessor visually and creatively.