Fantastic movie!

Rating: 9/10 (4 November 2017)

9.5 actually. IMDb doesn't allow greater thans.......
but never mind, this film is great. Close to perfect.
Movies, like food recipes, call for the right ingredients, in the right proportions, mixed in the right way, with attention to the final seasoning to bring out the subtle nuances of flavor. Excellent script, acting, directing, sets, special effects, lighting, sound, editing.....all assembled with care and cleverness make BR2049 one of the best. Not much to dislike here.
As sequels go, it's hard to find ones that are that much better than the original, especially when the original was already declared a classic....this is one of them.
The weak spots are few. I only saw it once, and I'd have to study it a second time to find the flaws more accurately. Overall it's extremely well done. I wasn't really taken with Jared Leto's character-----an actor whose skill I greatly admire----but for some reason he just didn't win me over in this role, and I think it was the character as written, not Leto. Again, if I watched this another time I might find my opinion changed on this. Maybe it was because I just didn't like what that character represented....and it had nothing to do with Leto's take on it at all. There is not enough backstory on his character to give us a full sense of what he is...how he came to be. We're left in the dark with Niander Wallace.
That they incorporated many elements of the original, and updated them amazingly, allows viewers who have seen the original a feeling of familiarity...even though the ambiance had altered so much---akin to seeing an old friend years later and under very different circumstances but wearing the same shirt as last time you'd seen them.
The mood, tone, of this movie is quite dark: sunlight has been in this dystopic future time replaced by interior lighting and most of the time it is either dark or getting darker outside. Lots of rain, even snow keep the atmosphere unsettled. The murkiness sets the stage for the constant emotional /and/ knowledge uncertainty that haunts Ryan Gosling's lead role. He's seeking answers, but he only gradually comes to understanding what it is he has been seeking. There's a good bit of metaphor in this: Gosling's character could well be explained as everyman searching for his meaning in creation, his purpose in being. He could as well be said to be in a constant struggle to find himself....yet finding himself doesn't necessarily provide the awareness he was hoping to discover.
In the original Bladerunner there were a couple of touches that really got me-- --like the scene where Deckard takes the snake to a dealer who scans it with a high-powered microscope and sees a serial number----making what appears to be a real reptile a manmade one. That blew me away. In this sequel we are already past that science...now taken for granted. Still, there is an analogous scene in BR2049, and it's incorporated well into the plot. Speaking of plot: I never give away spoilers in movies, figuring I wouldn't want someone to tell me if I hadn't yet seen the movie....but I can say the plot is well conceived, has continuity--and continuity with the original, and has just enough twist to keep the audience guessing. Good script, overall.
Like a well-prepared and cooked meal, the movie should satisfy most sci-fi fans. I left the theater a bit awed by it. Happy. A good movie, like a good book, leaves one feeling better for having seen it. I did.
Someone told me the original cut had been almost 4 hrs long. I would gladly have sat through the 4 hour version. I didn't want it to end.