Perhaps a tad baffling to be really great

Rating: 6/10 (21 June 2018)

Several claims have been made about Blade Runner 2049, including one in review that appeared in the UK's Guardian, that it is destined to become a future 'sci-fi classic'.
Other reviewers suggest that in some kind of profound way the film examines what it is to be human (or something). Both claims might well be true: but either way, the film does go on for quite some time and almost - almost - overstays its welcome. As for 'being profound', well, if that's another way of saying the film occasionally gets close to being a little baffling, so be it.
Oddly, I never saw the first Blade Runner all the way through - I always grew a little bored and doing something else seemed a little more attractive, but I understand that first film is now a 'sci-fi classic'. Perhaps, but by my own admission, I'm in no position to say yay or nay.
As for Blade Runner 2049, I can see how some might like to make the claim, but as for being profound and some kind of ontological examination of both humanity and whatever '-ity' droids will claim for themselves, the jury is still out and won't be back for a while.
Even if the production company's publicity department had thought of describing the film as such, it will surely soon have been obvious to them that they would run the risk of alienating all those fans who like their words to have no more than two syllables.
Visually, Blade Runner 2049 is magnificent, so it is a shame that the storyline - 'plot' is a little too mundane for a 'sci-fi classic' - meanders rather more than a tale told by the local bar bore.
It hooks into the first Blade Runner outing and in a somewhat convoluted way - I've already used the word 'baffling' so I'm attempting what is often called 'elegant variation' - doing so make sense. It's just that the sum of the parts doesn't quite add up to a satisfyingly coherent whole. You can admire each part, but drumming up total admiration for the whole is rather a challenge.
I feel rather guilty being so apparently mean-spirited, but I have no choice. Blade Runner 2049 is a well-made, well-acted, well-directed and well-produced film, but doesn't quite pay the full shilling. Go for it and make your own mind up. Who knows, you might even decide that I'm talking cobblers. Or perhaps not.