Blade Runner is a film I've never got the love for. I like it. I admire it. It has some great scenes. It has one of the all time best death scenes. But no matter how many times I've tried, it's never quite clicked with me. It's always felt a bit soulless ( no surprise really ), a bit detached. I never cared about the main character, Deckard or anyone else in it. There was no one to root for in it. When I heard a sequel was being made I was like "eh" but then I heard Denis Villeneuve was attached and my hopes started rising. He's made a few crackers in the past 5 years. His take on Blade Runner might be a great one?
I think he's succeeded.
In the near future synthetic humans have been developed to do the jobs no one else wants to do and the work that is too dangerous for people to do. Newer models have been integrated into society but older, problematic models have to be "retired" from time to time and the people tasked with the wet work are called Blade Runners. Agent K is one such person and during a routine job he comes across a piece of evidence that has far reaching ramifications for humanity.
Visually and tonally it's a film cut from the same cloth as the original. But crucially it's warmer. It has a heart this time around. Not much but enough. Maybe it's nostalgia in seeing old characters brought back. I don't know. But this time it worked for me. It clicked. A small fragment of music over a scene near the end moved me more than the vast majority of the big films I've seen this year combined. It just felt right. Nothing felt forced as it the case with some sequels, especially ones decades after the original. The action film promised in the trailers thankfully never materialised. It feels like a continuation of an existing universe and not just a recycled version with better special effects. There isn't a dud note in it, apart from the length. More on that later.
The acting across is board is perfect. Ryan Gosling and his odd tics make for a perfect lead. He's far more likable than Deckard in the original. You get the sense he actually cares about things in his unemotional way. He has a great physicality about him too and totally sells the crunchier aspect of the role when its required and but he also has the gravitas for the deeper side of things. One scene of him sitting down in disappointment is just heartbreaking. Ana De Armas as his companion Joi is lovely. She's brings a much needed and wonderfully ironic warmth to her role and I'd have liked to have seen more of her. Robin Wright as Lt. Joshi adds a nice human touch too. Between this and her role as General Antiope in Wonder Woman she's having a very solid year indeed. Here she plays a role that traditionally goes to grumpy old men and adds a nice spin on things. Even Dave Bautista in a tiny role manages to bring pathos to his couple of minutes onscreen. Jared Leto as the villain of the piece doesn't get much screen time but he makes for chilling viewing. A megalomaniac pining for the days when slavery was accepted. He's creepy as hell. He'll make your face itch. The big one of course is the return of Harrison Ford as Deckard, Time, loss and isolation has softened him from the brute he was. Somewhat. He's a man who once wanted to get away from humanity but now needs reconnection. Between this and The Force Awakens it's been super to see Ford back on form and not phoning in his performances as he had started to do. He doesn't have a big part in this but he's still excellent.
It's absolutely gorgeous looking too. Just look at the picture above and below. So many frames are works of art. Even the rubbish tips of the future have a kind of beauty to them. The design team earned their pay cheques big time here. A dark room lit by shimmering water. A vision of Las Vegas that's at once alien and immediately recognisable. A futuristic wooden server room. The pornographic 100 foot high advertisements for companionship. All sumptuous looking. The shared imagination of director Villeneuve and DP Roger Deakins is a combo I hope to see a lot of in the future
"I've never seen a tree". That is a genuinely terrifying piece of dialogue ain't it. 5 words that paint a horrific version of a future I hope never arrives. Monolithic abominations tower over everything. Times Square style advertising takes up the remaining space. The futuristic design from 1982 hasn't dated. And here we see it on an epic scale. It's a huge looking film. A new type of racism has taken hold too but not about skin colour this time. Constant rain. Steam. Shadows. All adds up to dystopia par excellence. It's a strange type of future too. Ahead of us yet alternate. Mobile phones don't seem to exist and companies like Atari still hold sway. A nice continuation of the original as well.
Now for the part I didn't care for.
It's a silly length. 2.5 hrs plus. No need for it. I'm not talking about extraneous scenes mind you. Everything fit. There was no one scene I'd like to be gone. It's just the ponderous manner in which some of it played out. But once again it's just being true to the original. And I know I'm harping back on the original a lot but it does cast a rather large shadow on proceedings. The pace of some of it will be off putting to a lot of the audience I imagine. Especially younger people used to faster moving sci-fi . Bring a pillow or a jacket to sit on if your cinema doesn't have the comfy chairs. Your arse will thank you for it later.
That aside I think it's a pretty stunning success for a film most people thought would die on it's arse. A deep, thoughtful, complex and mature film that thankfully contains some of the warmth it's predecessor lacked. Like it's predecessor too it's a mediation on being human and what being human actually means. It will engage your brain and have you leaving the cinema with your thoughts in a swirl.
Highly recommended.
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