Manages to live up to its predecessor surprisingly well

Rating: Null/10 (31 October 2017)

The original Blade Runner film by Ridley Scott is a thoughtful, philosophical science fiction masterpiece. It's a neo-noir detective story set in a dystopian future and has since its release influenced entire generations of film makers and other creators. So if you're going to direct a sequel over three decades later, you better make it work.
And getting a guy like Denis Villeneuve to direct certainly helps. At least on a purely visual level. Well get into the story in a little bit, but let's first talk about the visuals, the sound, the whole feel of the film. Because all that is fantastic! It's so easy nowadays to say that the film looks good, but this goes beyond that. The original Blade Runner had a very unique look back on its day, which would then influence all the scifi films to come after it. Yet it always remained kind of its own thing. But this film finally captures the essence of that world where rain always falls and people live low, miserable lives amidst giant, towering monoliths of technology and science. Everything from grand, sweeping shots of the city to the haunting, electric howls of the sound track to the grime and yellow filth clinging to every surface. Eleven points out of ten for pure style.
As for the story, it's good. And that's unfortunately the best I can say about it. I've always found Villeneuve to be a better visualist than a storyteller and that holds true here as well. The themes and the characters have that Blade Runner feel to them, which is why I can call it at least good, but the story is not terribly deep or philosophical, nor is it surprising. The film makers actually specifically asked for the early critics not to reveal any plot points, and for the life of me I can't see why. It is a predictable movie. There is one fairly good twist near the end, but that's it. And even that you could kind of guess based on common storytelling tropes.
Still, I'm glad this movie exists. The look and feel of it alone is easily worth the price of admission and the story, while not amazing, will scratch that urge you have built over the decades.