The world is not enough

Rating: 4/10 (5 November 2017)

No less than 35 years after the original Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, it is Canadian director Denis Villeneuve who gives us the 2017 sequel. Hampton Fancher, the writer of the original Blade Runner and also a prolific actor for decades, returns out of retirement to continue with his career-defining work. And it was quite a challenge as not only does he have to come up with a futuristic, yet realistic work, but also take into account the events of the 1982 movie. I have seen the latter once years ago and I don't remember too much, so it's almost as if I haven't even seen it and that's the approach I am giving this new movie here. The lead actor is recent Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling and that is a big problem for me for sure. He was basically inferior in every shared screen scene from start to finish, be it with Harrison Ford, the lead actor in the original, with Dave Bautista early on or with Robin Wright and Ana de Armas. He is so bleak and the fact that there are hardly any scenes here without him in a film that goes for almost 3 hours definitely hurts the overall outcome a lot. I mean many people like him I know, but to me he is so completely void of energy that it is very difficult for me to appreciate the film with him at the very center of it.
Of course it is not an actors' movie, but still. All the actors I mentioned show how to make the most of their screen time and they do a pretty good job and you can add others to that like Leto, even if a lot about his character is about these eyes and not really about his performance. As for de Armas, she currently sits on number one in the IMDb Starmeter, just like last week, and we will see how her career is going after this huge success and if she (and Daisy Ridley for example too) can make huge waves outside their blockbuster franchises in the next years, maybe decades. Harrison Ford definitely elevates the material from the moment he shows up and I am not even a fan of his. But the amount of classics he is in is very impressive. Lets see if we get an old version of his Indiana Jones too at some point, just like we do here and on Star Wars. Back to this one here: I am actually surprised by the great reception and it cannot only be my Gosling bias that kept me crucially from enjoying the watch. Sure in terms of the complete visual side and technical side, it was a spectacular watch and will definitely be represented at the Oscars. The world is great to watch. Is this the film that finally gets Roger Deakins his long overdue win? It sure looks like that. The colors, the landscapes, the buildings, the structures... it all looked exactly the way I hoped it would. But honestly, this does not keep me from criticizing the story. Just one example: The reference to Gosling's character believing he is the one who was born. There the film almost points laughingly at other films where he would have been and it seems very condescending that the movie prides itself by something so simple honestly acting as if this would prove it's great because it takes a completely different route. Yes people may have predicted it's him, but then after this revelation it's just about nothing but guessing who's the one instead. Not enough. Not even close. We will see if there will be a third Blade Runner at some point (or a film taking place in-between the 1982 and 2017 film) and the open ending with a strong plot potentially for Leto's character make it look possible. However, the watch here does not get me curious about the original again, let alone this one here that I will not see again ever I guess. A bit of a shame as I really enjoyed Villeneuve's recent works. But from what I have seen so far, this is a career worst. Don't watch. It's only for the very biggest Gosling fanboys.