Bland runner

Rating: 4/10 (17 December 2019)

Sadly this sequel is actually a deceitful attempt at rebooting a franchise for dollops of cash money. It doesn't in any satisfying way develop from the original; it is extremely poor as a sequel. Clearly this is actually the first installment of a legacy (money extraction job) trilogy of Blade Runner derived films. It's financial anemia will probably result in it remaining, entirely unjustifiably, as a direct delayed sequel to the original Blade Runner.
I found the film to be utterly unconvincing as a return to the Blade Runner universe. Writing decisions regarding establishing a premise for this sequels events are awful...... Unbelievable. Unconvincing. Incredible. Unworthy.
Do any of the actions and decisions which underpin this films plot scenario, and which orientate the behavior and opinions and ideas of the characters make any acceptable sense? To me, I can only say resoundingly 'no'.
The obvious conclusion being that the utter deficiencies of the story treatment, when considering this film as a sequel to what has gone before, is because the actual writing concern is focused on the films that were intended to follow it.
I deplore this kind of writing: if the first installment is bad or commercially unsuccessful then the emerging story strands and threads will never be seen; only an incoherent and unfulfilled singular film remains to testify to the creative intent.
Over the course of a protracted and interminable run time this film deports itself upon a dystopian sci fi near future Earth tableaux of colour coordinated grunged physical decay of the lived in human environment and electric neo noir moral degradation of the living human ecosystem. Which, for a while, a short while, is visually and artistically interesting. But not for long enough. Eventually the production and artistic design follows the sound design and musical score into overstaying it's welcome.
The best features of this film are twofold Imo:
The first is the thematic interests which ARE directly referenced from the original; the memory/identity of individuals and individualism itself; the human-ness question on a world containing aware human inventions; human sexuality when it is fixated on, or by, 'artificial' partners.
Indeed these thematic considerations are entirely in keeping with the wealth of literary sci fi that the original Blade Runner drew upon. Obviously the sci fi novella 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' for starters!
This is exemplified by the fact that, for me, the second most interesting character was a 'female' hologram.
Secondly, and quite amazingly, the director manages to elicit the first actually good acting performance that I have enjoyed from Harrison Ford in several years (and a few reprisals of his most celebrated roles!) which genuinely surprised me. And thereby he provided the most interesting screen presence of the film for me.
Ryan Gosling, however, plays a character so deliberately oblique and reserved that he reminds me throughout of his more effective turn in 'Drive'; in which film he illuminates his characters situation and orientation, whereas here he is unable to overcome the leaden weight slung onto his character by the requirements of a particularly severe version of the voluntary sacrificial martyr role. "He grows to living and he is confirmed as living by his willingness to self sacrifice for others he cares for". Fair play. But his willing sacrifice journey starts with him so stultifyingly inhibited, and for so long, that his unresponsive resting face is a useful visual metaphor for the whole stolid film.
Of final interest, is that the (clearly never to be made) following film was probably shaping up to be a very heavily female lead film.....in the context of the desire to produce reproductive Androids by the antagonist the possible intended future shape of this franchise can probable be vaguely discerned.
I partly enjoyed this film, but I was disappointed by the writing in all its facets and the shallowness of the visual, physical and audio production values when exposed to such a long run time......
I give it a highish 4/10 to 5; but I regret deeply many of the creative decisions made and the business decisions that I feel underpinned the artistic direction.