Glacial Pace, Ponderous...But Seamless Continuity

Rating: 7/10 (9 October 2017)

Occasionally a major motion picture will be modified by a film studio based on the criticisms of test audiences prior to the movie's release, and without the creative participation of its director or screenwriters.
Such a movie was 1982's "Blade Runner," directed by Ridley Scott and released by Warner Bros. At last count, "Blade Runner" existed in some seven different incarnations, including the original version, the studio-modified version, the restored version, one with narration by star Harrison Ford, another with the narration removed, and others with scenes either augmented with additional footage, or removed entirely.
Set in a bleak and hopeless Los Angeles in the year 2019, "Blade Runner" imagined a future in which human-like androids, called replicants, are manufactured to toil as slave labor in off-world colonies. Mostly indistinguishable from actual humans but with superior endurance, intelligence, and strength, a group of replicants escape to Earth from their off-world settlements. A burned-out LA police detective is assigned the task of hunting down the escaped replicants and destroying them. The term "blade runner" describes a hunter of replicants.
Despite its troubled production history, many consider "Blade Runner," in either or all of its incarnations, to be among the best science fiction movies ever produced. And in the thirty-five years since its original release, fans have been clamoring for a sequel.
"Blade Runner 2049," released on October 06, is that long-awaited sequel. Set thirty years after the original, "Blade Runner 2049" follows yet another blade runner, now investigating the remains of a replicant who displays postmortem evidence of having produced a child— unthinkable to their technology. The officer is assigned the clandestine task of locating the child of the replicant, if it exists, and destroying all evidence surrounding the pregnancy and the birth.
Produced by many of the same people responsible for "Blade Runner"— Ridley Scott returns, this time as a producer, leaving the direction in the able hands of Denis Villenueve—the sequel is a worthy follow-up to the legendary original, although the picture is not without problems.
Presumably because so many versions of the original picture exist, the sequel seemingly attempts to embrace them all. And as a result, the movie displays a tendency to over-explain even the most rudimentary points, accounting for both the picture's glacial pace and its mammoth running time of nearly three hours.
As a means of compensation, "Blade Runner 2049," with an estimated budget of some $180 million, is also bigger than the original in every way possible—visually stunning, filled with sometimes astonishing optical effects, and with a booming synthesized music soundtrack strongly reminiscent of the popular Vangelis-composed original.
Much like the music from Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" from 1968, the "Blade Runner 2049" soundtrack emphasizes music tones so low on the chromatic scale that they're often felt rather than heard, underscoring the audience's frequent sense of awe.
Actor Ryan Gosling, playing the 2049 blade runner, is appropriately conflicted by his assignment, and eventually troubled with dividing loyalties. Harrison Ford also turns up somewhat late in the picture to reprise his role from the 1982 production. And to the filmmakers' credit, the continuity is nearly seamless even after a thirty-five year hiatus.
Despite his prominent billing in the picture's advertising, Ford's role is relatively small, but the resolution of the film's plot relies on his character's participation.
Which begs a question—since Ford's participation in "Blade Runner 2049" was far from a sure thing until almost the beginning of production, what would the filmmakers have done had the actor declined to participate?