Blade Runner 2049 Review

It’s been more than 30 years since the original Blade Runner was released, and it has now become one of Hollywood’s cult classics. I recently saw the movie for myself last week and was very impressed with the film, and could see why it has been getting the praise it’s been receiving over the years. If you want to know more of what I thought about the original Blade Runner, I have a review of that posted already in my blog so go ahead and check that out when you get the chance. Now, we have the sequel Blade Runner 2049 directed by one of the best in the game right now, Denis Villeneuve. This film takes place exactly 30 years after the original Blade Runner and is about a current young Blade Runner played by Ryan Gosling, and his discovery of a long-buried secret that leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard played by Harrison Ford himself. Now that is all I can give you about the plot because everything else would just spoil the entire film. So please forgive me if my review on this film seem very vague at times, I just want you all to go in as clean as possible. I’m going to break down what I enjoyed about this film, things that didn’t work for me, and whether you should check it out or not. Alright, here’s my review for Blade Runner 2049!

Let’s start off with the visuals and cinematography of this film. When I saw the original Blade Runner, I was amazed at what I was watching and couldn’t believe that this was a film that was made back in 1982. Fast forward to the present I was curious how the visuals would look now seeing that technology and CGI has drastically improved since the release of the original film, and let me tell you that you will be amazed at what you are watching. Cinematographer Roger Deakins truly outdid himself with this movie. If you look at his filmography he has done work on a ton of amazing films such as Sicario, Prisoners, Skyfall, True Grit, The Reader, No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and so much more! I am shocked that this man has been nominated 13 times for an Academy Award and haven’t won yet! Well, I believe it’s safe to say that he has now earned himself that 14^th nomination and he has my vote to win it, and I believe he should win it. If you really want to appreciate the cinematography of this film you must see this movie in IMAX. I know the price for IMAX is expensive, but trust me when I say the cinematography is worth the price of admission alone.

Director Denis Villeneuve has proven once again why he is one of the best directors in Hollywood right now. The first movie I saw of his was Prisoners, and as dark as that film was I loved that movie and was really disappointed that it didn’t get the awards recognition that I thought it deserved. But with every film like Sicario, Arrival, and now this one he just constantly continues to improve with each film. What he does great in this movie is what he’s been doing in all his other movies, and that is tell great character stories. You are invested with every character in this film including even the antagonists as well, and if you’re able to get me as the audience member to care about the villains of the film then you are doing a magnificent job. Mark my words, but Denis Villeneuve will hands down receive a nomination for Best Director come Oscar time. There are still a ton of films left to come out, but right now he’s my favorite to win it.

Now if you know me very well, you will know that I’m a sucker for great scores in movies and the score in this film was majestic. Hans Zimmer, who is probably one of my favorite composers of all-time besides John Williams of course has given us another amazing score. He fantastically was able to blend in the score from the original film and put his own twist on it and it was beautiful to listen to in that IMAX theater. Every time his score came on I was immersed in the Blade Runner universe and just didn’t want to leave. I enjoyed the score so much that as soon as I came home today, the first thing I did was go online and downloaded it right away. I have no problem paying my hard earn money on something like this because I already know I’m going to listen to it non-stop for the rest day, tomorrow, and probably forever.

The cast in this film all gave great performances. Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford had great chemistry with one another, Jared Leto was superb as the antagonist, and actresses Ana de Armas and Sylvia Hoeks were my most surprising but favorite parts of the film. I really wish I could go more into detail about all of their characters and tell you why I enjoyed them so much, but if I tell you anything about them I would really be spoiling a lot of the movie for you. So just trust me when I say everyone in this movie was great, and I forgot to mention that Robin Wright was also in this movie and she did an amazing job as well. Again, I wish I could tell you more but you need to go in watching this movie knowing as little as possible.

Finally, if there are any gripes I had with this movie it would have to be the pacing of the film. The runtime for this movie is 2hr 44min, and you feel every minute of it. This is a film that is not for everyone; it’s a very slow-paced movie that takes it time to get to the point. That may bother some people and I can understand why, but coming from a film nerd like myself and someone who enjoyed the original which was also slow-paced, the runtime didn’t bother me as much. There were times where I was saying to myself can we move this along a bit quicker, but if you know director Denis Villeneuve it’s that he really likes to take his time telling his stories. Again, as a film nerd that doesn’t bother me, the longer the better but I can understand if that does bother some people. Also, as great as Jared Leto was as the antagonist I felt for a film this long we didn’t really get enough time with his character. Which is kind of disappointing because I was intrigued by him and his fascinations that he had for Replicants.

So, in conclusion Blade Runner 2049 was a fantastic movie that all film fans should see! If you are someone who enjoyed the original movie, then you’re going to come away loving this movie. The visuals and cinematography was beautiful to look at, go see it in IMAX if you can, and I hope that Roger Deakins finally get that Academy Award that he deserves and is well overdue for. Denis Villeneuve has done it again and has given us another classic. He’s without any doubt one of the best filmmakers in Hollywood right now and I’m very excited to see what he decides to tackle next because I can’t praise him enough for what he did in this film. Hans Zimmer just added another notch to his already prestige belt that I can’t talk anymore about the score to this film, you just have to listen for yourself to see what I’m talking about. The cast was superb and I wish I could tell you more about them, but I would be doing everyone a disservice if I did. Seriously just take my words when I tell you everyone did great especially actress Ana de Armas and Sylvia Hoeks. Once you see this film you will see why I believe they were best the parts of this movie. The pacing is slow to watch with the long runtime and I felt we didn’t get enough time with the antagonist played by Jared Leto, but when he was on-screen he was great. I’ve been hearing a ton of people calling this film a masterpiece. I personally don’t know if I’m ready to give it that title yet, I would have to see it again. But I will say it’s a fantastic movie, one of the best ones to have come out so far in 2017, and I highly urge everyone to check it out as soon as they can. Especially if you are a diehard film fan like myself. Overall, I’m going to give Blade Runner 2049 an A!