Style over substance

Rating: 6/10 (17 October 2017)

Being a fan of the first movie, I was looking forward to watching this one, and I was left very disappointed. The first movie surpasses this one by a mile in about every department. The problem with 2049 is that it seems like it doesn't have any good ideas at all, it's not daring, it's just bland. The production is top notch but that's about it. First the characters, the most important part of the movie. There aren't any interesting or memorable characters in 2049. Only Niander Wallace was slightly interesting but he's so much outside the main story that you kind of forget about him, he appears at the beginning and towards the end. All the replicants in the original movie had a sort of psycho edge to them, they had emotions, they caught your attention. Here they're just like a bunch of dull androids literally, including the main character 'K'. And even the minor characters in the original were all memorable, Tyrell, Sebastian, Hannibal, they were all unique and interesting. In this one there is nothing of that. Second the story and the situations. In the first movie things were happening, slow moody scenes were followed by action sequences and they kind of completed each other seamlessly. You would marvel at the style and then marvel at the action. In this one, it looks like just endless stylish slow scenes that drag on and on. And since they don't get anywhere they become sort of pointless. It all feels incredibly slow. The story itself had some potential but it's not developed properly, where are all the ideas? The 'love story' if we can call it that between 'k' and 'Joy' is just completely forgettable. I don't blame the director, he did all he could with what he had I suppose. When compared to the original masterpiece, 2049 is a complete disappointment on all fronts. As a standalone movie is okish but I wouldn't want to watch it again.