A Beautiful Visual Feat

Rating: 8/10 (6 October 2017)

Blade Runner. An 80's futuristic film noir that some filmgoers revere as one of the all-time great films.. with a caveat. Which of the endings did you see? The right one? or the really bad happy ending? Few films give the viewers their own personal ultimatum for the characters, but the first Blade Runner was that indecisive. So is it then, wise to give Blade Runner a 35 year old sequel/reboot? It apparently is. It turns out that Denis Villeneuve was destined to make it and truth be told, if you never saw the first Blade Runner, never fear. This is a film entirely of it's own.
Blade Runner 2049 is the best looking film of the year. In terms of it's cinematography, it is a masterpiece. The production design brings us back to the incredible world that Ridley Scott introduced us to, but expands upon it exponentially. Our world is almost entirely replaced by holograms. 2049 focuses in on the idea of a society completely removed from humanity, where perfect virtual realities and artificial romances take the place of the human condition. Villeneuve and Roger Deakins work wonders on the ideas and the mis-en-scene that surrounds them. What we get is a film, though bloated in run time, fascinating from beginning to end. You will spend nearly three-hours in the theater, but entirely fixated on the image. You don't want to keep your eyes off of it. I know I didn't.