2/3 of a great film

Rating: 7/10 (20 October 2017)

Had this movie ended after 120 minutes and had the plot taken the route of the male child being the real one this could have been a certified classic for the ages because there's so much else the movie does even better than Scott's original:

production design: Villeneuve's version of the future LA is even more immersive than Scott's but is also more reality- than comic book-based.

soundtrack: Unlike many other people I believe that Zimmer and Wallfisch have done a brilliant job. They accentuated the moody synth effects of Vangelis score and cut out the cheesy saxophone.

Joi: probably the most accurate vision of a futuristic "toy". This is what Amazon's Alexa will look like in 30 years! The love scene where she tries to synchronize with a Nexus-6 model to give K a more "real" taste of her is a piece of cinematic beauty.

lead actor: I have long been critical of Ryan Gosling's actual talents but he is simply brilliant in these type of roles for these type of movies (see also "Drive"). This may be his best performance so far but will likely go unnoticed by the Academy due to the subject matter of the film.

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However everything is ruined by a contrived third act where we meet a senile, geriatric Ford who is somehow able to beat the crap out of Gosling but cannot leave an open car on his own and is also completely clueless about impact of the "miracle" he created, thereby completely flattening the "big plot twist".
Add to that cheesy villains out of the 007 textbook and a hamfistedly choreographed final battle and you have a messed up semi-classic.