One of The Best Sequels Ever Made - A Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2017)

This movie was not going to disappoint me, all the marketing for Blade Runner 2049 had me thinking that this movie was gonna be incredible, it had one of my favourite directors working today at the helm, the same writer as the original and looked like a faithful continuation of the original, as I had hoped this movie was absolutely incredible.
The script for this movie was perfect, it made the world still feel like the one we knew from the first one, like it's been through so much since the first one only worse and it always felt like a gradual development. Every character in this movie has a good motivation and backstory, no one felt like they didn't have a purpose to play and I really got invested in all of them, even if some of the more villainous characters. The mystery that weaves this film together was really well done, so compelling and I really wanted to know the answers to the questions raised.
As soon as I heard that Denis Villeneuve was going to direct this movie I knew he would be a perfect fit, Arrival was my favourite movie of 2016 so I knew he could do Sci-Fi and like everything else in this film it lived up to my expectations. There aren't a lot of action scenes in this movie but when there is he is very good at making them look realistic and gritty which gave them real tension, he used lighting very well to sell the location and state of the world and he gave this film such a good tone, a dark yet hopeful one. At this point Villeneuve could take over any franchise and I'd be convinced it was in perfect hands.
All the performances in this movie were fantastic and I could not have imagined anyone else playing the characters in this movie. Ryan Gosling was brilliant as K, you knew he had a real moral complexity to his actions in this film and he really play his characters isolation very well. Harrison Ford was phenomenal as Deckard, he played him as a very traumatised man that Ford made sympathetic and it felt as if he was playing the same character as he did in the original not just someone else entirely. Ana de Armas was a real surprise in this movie, she wasn't just a love interest but a real character with depth that I really cared about. Jared Leto could have been in the movie more but he really played this morally grey and mysterious character very well and always kept my attention when he was on screen.
The look of this movie was jaw dropping I loved that they really expanded on the world not just through dialogue but visually as well. The different environments all look distinctive and sell the off balance system of the planet rather than just telling the audience that it is. A lot of this has to do with the cinematography, everything looks incredible, the rainy city streets, dusty landscapes and snowy locations all look immaculate but never like they are in a film but part of a larger world. All of the special effects are amazing, they weren't used to an unnecessary degree but only way practical effects weren't an option and they always looked real like they should be.
Blade Runner 2049 was a masterpiece, if it's not better than the original it is at least equal to it. Everything from the direction, characters, performances, special effects, cinematography and world building were perfect for what they needed to bring to this movie. It's the best movie of the year so far and is proof that sequels, even ones that took as long as this, can be every bit as good and though provoking as there originals.
10/10: A+ (Incredible)