Review: Blade Runner 2049
Review by Benjamin Allen Dickson
THIS FILM IS PHENOMENAL.
Sorry, but oh man, what a film this is. Upon the release of this, I kept my expectations low, but when I heard that Ridley Scott was nowhere near the making of this film, I was ecstatic. He is almost as toxic and venomous as George Lucas to the Star Wars franchise. I am quite a fan of the original Blade Runner, so I didn't want to be let down by a sequel if it was going to be sub par. The original Blade Runner (1982) is the framework for modern science fiction, it directly inspired many other great pieces of art like the classic anime Ghost In The Shell as well as one of my personal favorite science fiction comedies ever created, even one of my favorite movies of all time, The Fifth Element. This new Blade Runner movie had a lot to live up to, and it absolutely did. As much as I cherish the Final Cut of the classic Blade Runner, I think I can safely say I enjoy Blade Runner 2049 slightly more. This movie is beautiful, I actually felt like I was soaking in a masterpiece, a work of art. Everything from the stylized visuals to the punchy synths and the brilliant sound design just made me melt. The visuals in this film made me smile, the performances were perfect, and the I felt my eyes dilating as they wanted to ingest more and more of this beautiful vision of the future. Sure they have a problem with artificial intelligence, but goddamn it they have robot waifus and that is the most amazing thing I have ever seen and I am so on board. The music in this film is so thick and atmospheric I felt completely submerged in this world, with such extraordinary synth sounds and layers upon layers of strings. I have nothing bad to say about this movie, it is one of the most stunning pieces of cinema I have ever seen, and definitely the most enthralling film I have ever seen on the big screen. It definitely isn't for everyone though, you absolutely need to see the original film to understand anything that’s going on in this film, and preferably watch the brilliant short film that takes place in between this film and the original, that short is called Blade Runner Black Out 2022. It is directed by none other than Shinichiro Watanabe, who created two of my favorite anime of all time, Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. The short is brilliant, and will provide much needed details to the story and will help you follow along in Blade Runner 2049. Like I stated earlier, I have no problems with this film, but I can understand if people will find this movie slow and hard to follow, I even heard a couple behind me in the theater making out and the young lady say something along the lines of “Hey! Watch the movie!” and the guy said “But it’s so borrringggg” So I totally get it, this is not a date movie, the trailer probably didn't help that, but this is a philosophical look at technology and what it means to be human. You absolutely need to have the context of the Blade Runner world before going to see this new film, and you need to be ready for a Noir style of film, not a heart pounding action film. This is probably going to be my favorite movie of the year, neck and neck with Logan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes an instant classic for fans of the franchise. Such an astounding film, I legit felt like a heroin addict getting too much pleasure out of this movie.
Long story short: This movie is like heroin. Quote me on that.
This Masterpiece Gets A…………………………………………………10/10