So I just saw Blade Runner 2049
and it was phenomenal.
For those of you not aware,
Denis Villeneuve is proving himself to be
one of the more talented directors working today.
He's somehow released one film every year
for the past five years and they've all been great.
Now, I've been excited for this film for a long time
because of the director and also because of the
cinematographer, Roger Deakins.
To prepare for watching this film I revisited the
original Blade Runner from 1982 which is something
I haven't seen since I was probably 16 years old
and I couldn't even tell you which version I watched.
So yesterday I watched the Final Cut version
which is supposedly the best one.
As for the original film, its best selling point is
the production design.
The overall look and style of the film was not only
unique for its time but incredibly influential.
It's one of those films that wound up heavily inspiring
so many others down the line.
There are a lot of futuristic science-fiction movies that
are incredibly goofy in their predictions,
but the original Blade Runner
feels so incredibly realistic.
I mean, it's not like we're gonna have
flying cars in two years or anything.
But it's futuristic dystopian universe
somehow feels pretty grounded.
Either way, it's a fun and interesting universe for a film
to take place in and I'm really glad that Denis Villeneuve
was given the opportunity to expand on it.
And in my opinion, this newest film is in almost
every way a huge improvement.
Blade Runner 2049 is a sequel that is completely
faithful to the original and somehow
brings a lot more to the table.
Which is refreshing after seeing so many like
Episode Seven, Finding Dory and Jurassic World.
Films that copy and paste the exact same plot
and do nothing but reference the original in
kind of a, "Hey, remember we made this?" way.
Not saying I didn't enjoy Episode Seven, but
I'm just being honest about what it is.
Instead, Blade Runner 2049 marks itself as
one of the best sequels ever made.
Although there were references to
the original Blade Runner, it was almost always
in the interest of adding to the story in a necessary way.
It is very much a continuation of the events
in the first film.
Not a reset button that
happens to take place years later.
The opening scene and the climax of the film have
very similar feels to the original, but the
entire plot and experience of the film is
very much its own thing.
The original Blade Runner created a
fascinating universe, but left so much unexplored and
whereas some filmmakers might see that as
an excuse to not leave any stone unturned.
Instead, Blade Runner 2049 uses this as
an excuse to explore entirely new
concepts, characters and themes within the same story.
It feels like Blade Runner and yet it's like
nothing you've ever seen before.
It's a film that feels as though it somehow doesn't
belong in this decade or the 1980s at the same time.
It's an anomaly of an
entrancing universe and masterful filmmaking.
Now, as I mentioned I consider the original
Blade Runner's biggest selling point
to be its production design.
And for those of you who are curious, I'd give the
original film an 8 out of 10 overall.
And although the production design for this film is
likely better than anything you'll see all year, the
biggest selling point for Blade Runner 2049 is the
cinematography combined with visual effects.
This is such an incredibly
visceral experience to the senses, almost
every single frame of this entire film
could be used as a beautiful desktop background.
There is such a huge colorful variety of
different settings and locations in this film.
And the way that each of those is presented visually is
just so breathtaking.
When you have a science-fiction universe
at your disposal you have so much
creative freedom to decide where things will
take place and how.
And it's clear that they put a lot of effort
into this, because there are so many incredibly
ambitious scene concepts.
Ambitious because they don't work unless they're
pulled off flawlessly.
And somehow they manage to do just that.
This film adds so much in a way that it's
legitimately improving upon the original.
The original film setting and lighting often felt
repetitive and claustrophobic.
But this new film has a healthy variety that
still feels as though it's legitimately in the same
universe and doesn't feel like it's overkill.
The original Blade Runner's story and pacing
often feels slow and stagnant.
And what's crazy about this newest film is that
it is infinitely more interesting and entertaining
and yet somehow didn't sacrifice the
pacing of the original.
It is in no way an action-packed, ADHD
bastardization, but there is so much to
soak in about the story concepts and the
visuals especially, that time just flies by.
I've seen this movie in theaters twice now and
the second time I saw it it felt like an hour had passed.
It's a two hour and forty three minute long film which
I was not expecting after watching the
final cut of the original and it being under two hours.
But nothing in the film ever felt boring or unnecessary.
Each scene had a purpose in the film and there was
always impressive filmmaking behind it.
All of the performances were fantastic.
Ryan Gosling was amazing as usual.
Robin Wright was awesome.
This is also a very redeeming performance for
Jared Leto especially after Suicide Squad.
The character he plays in this film feels like
the actual character and not just Jared Leto.
And this is Harrison Ford's best
performance that I can remember.
Which says a lot considering how "Eh" his
Star Wars Episode Seven performance was.
Denis Villeneuve is a man who clearly cares about the
universe the original film created.
And I hope that Hollywood decides to give him more
projects like this because these are often left
in the wrong hands.
Apparently, he's interested in making his
own version of Dune.
So tell your friends to check out
Blade Runner 2049 in theaters.
Check it out yourself, see it multiple times, give this
guy some fuckin' money so that
he gets to do projects like this again.
Because otherwise we are
voting with our wallets and saying
"No more of this, please."
"I would rather have another Jurassic World."
"Or another World War Z."
"And eight hundred more Star Wars."
There's only a couple things that I'm a little bit
fuzzy on in the plot that I can't really
go into right now, but I'd like to find out more.
And there were some minuscule bits of
cheese and convenience sprinkled throughout the film.
But otherwise this film is essentially a masterpiece.
And this incredibly ambitious storytelling and
filmmaking will be remembered in years to come.
And I'm giving this one a 9, but
might change it to a 10 later, I don't know
out of 10.
Also by the time this video is published, I will
be doing my Sunday Twitch stream.
There's a link in the description if you wanna
come hang out. Thank you!