Stunning, and beautifully captivating

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2017)

As all sequels go not every first attempt can be fulfilling. Denis Villeneuve surprised me with this new installment with Ryan Gosling as a new Blade Runner. 'K' as his name goes is a rather gentle but also vicious policeman who finds that a rogue replicant named Sapper (Dave Bautista) lives on the outskirts of L.A. in the echo farmlands of old San Diego growing protein grubs designed for off world troops. Coming across his home K learns of a so called miracle born into the tumultuous era of 2049 in the form of a newborn child directly from a replicant, which is supposedly impossible.
Clues abound, which leads K on a wild goose chase to match some of his memories in accordance to his orders. Along the way he finds Dekkard (Harrison Ford.) Who at a time was also a Blade Runner who escaped L.A. with his beloved Rachel who was the mother of said child before she died from giving birth to a girl. I found this movie spellbinding not only because of the newly adapted artistry but also its grittiness within the city itself that has been drowned with millions of citizens.
Since the fall of the Tyrell corporation another entity had also come into the picture by the name of Wallace industries headed by Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) who's dream is to find the child at all costs in order to extend human lives. I liked the idea having Jared play Wallace as the mind bending philosopher was a nice touch to in order to add more darkness to his character. A man with no conscience or morals for his idealistic approach to immortality.
Also Edward James Olmos playing Gaff was so nostalgic it felt that a bit of the old Blade Runner was still present even after all of these years. Apart from the all star cast the effects were kept at a minimal albeit for the flying police cruisers, which to me was the icing on the cake. It would not be Blade Runner without those iconic vehicles gracing a thick brown polluted sky giving a contrast of polarized beauty amongst unhealthy cloud cover.
Finally the music was top notch, which was provided by both Hans Zimmer for orchestral along with the synth appeal of Benjamin Wallfisch. Incredibly he kept the sounds, and tones relatively the same but also added new tones that helped its rich vibrant story telling right on top as each scene changed. It would have been nice to have Vangelis's help on the musical score but lately his health has been not too well I am afraid so he opted out. A sad shame really, his beautiful and graceful style of music has been hailed as the most influential among other famous composers alike.
Apart from the initial description to the movie I rather liked the set scenes with Avant garde type of old world buildings with the gratuitous Elvis Presley hologram singing on a stage in front of an empty audience chamber where both K and Dekkard duke it out with fists rather than blasters. I found that kind of funny that two men punch each other out until they are black and blue but instead decide to get a drink because they could fight all day, and night if need be. Replicant are like any other machine, they're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit it's not my problem... as Dekkard once said.
I think there might be a third installment. A kind where a revolution will be coming in the form of human against replicant. A fight that would be so brutal, and moralistically wrong that it would task the human condition to its limits on whether life is either bought or created. In either case Dekkard is not done yet, and possibly Joe isn't either. We didn't see him die on those steps. His wounds were not that bad in fact. Still if he did die then another will take his place to carry the torch for one of the most successful Sci-fi franchises in recent years. Highly recommended for all Sci-fi fans world wide. Not for those under sixteen.