Denis Villeneuve's last film, Blade Runner 2049, is slowly but surely,
following a similar path to the original film. The original Blade Runner was somewhat of an anomaly
when it released back in 1982, with Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
was underappreciated, taking its time to build a massive cult following. That
film is a science fiction masterpiece in many fans viewpoints, taking the fears
and paranoia of artificial intelligence and meshing it so perfectly in a neo-noir package,
undoubtedly having an influence on many directors and films that followed.
Denis Villeneuve is an example of one of those directors.
In our current world where every film needs a reboot or thousands of sequels,
Blade Runner 2049 sets itself apart as one of the worthy sequels that makes a case for existing. And
to a similar cult audience which is only growing over time, it’s given us one of
the best modern-day directors his chance to flesh out a brilliant piece of science fiction.
In this video, I'm going to be giving you my thoughts on why I believe the film is a modern
masterpiece, exploring how Denis Villeneuve conveys the perfect questions surrounding the
meaning of life. This video essay continues my Road to Dune series,
where I create content on all of the dune adaptations, Frank Herbert's original novel, Denis
Villeneuve's filmography and his upcoming 2021 film. To stay up to date with all of these videos,
then don't forget to support this upload by giving it a like rating, subscribing to the channel
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But without further ado, let's dive into Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049.
So Blade Runner 2049 returns to the dystopian metropolis of Ridley Scott’s classic
three decades later, introducing us to Ryan Gosling’s K. Like Harrison Ford’s Deckard
before him, K is a staple Blade Runner, tasked with locating and retiring rogue replicants.
He soon makes a discovery that has implications both for himself and the already-strained
relationship between humans and replicants, leading him to track down Ford's Deckard
for some answers. Measured and thoughtful in its pace, Villeneuve’s film meditates
on deep questions of identity, creating a world in which you can never be sure who
is or isn’t real, or even what truly adds up to being real. It's been mentioned a thousand times
before, but none of this could be accomplished without the excellent cinematography by Roger
Deakins, reinforcing an existential uncertainty by reducing characters and locations to mere forms.
Many scenes are shrouded in smog, mist, rain or snow, reminiscent of the original film,
rendering humans and replicants as silhouettes.
The first reaction to the announcement of the film many years ago
echoed a similar consensus with many questioning why we were getting a sequel to Blade Runner.
A somewhat understandable reaction considering the non-stop trend of rehashing old movies,
exploiting whatever nostalgia there is to exploit. Hollywood will remake or soft reboot a series,
without really understanding what made it so good in the first place. There are countless examples
of this like Jurassic World, Ghostbusters, Terminator or even the Star Wars sequels.
Blade Runner 2049 could have been another one of those products, including a series
of bad call-backs to the original that included a forced cameo from Harrison Ford,
filled with excessive action scenes. There are callbacks in this film,
but none of that feels like it was put in place by a cynical marketing executive who wants to
add fan moments that they think viewers will like. We feel that the callbacks are part of this story
and that they are made by filmmakers who loved the original film and were inspired by
it. While there’s more action in Blade Runner 2049 though, it's also respectable and not
the central focus. The magic of the original can be lost in most of these instances, but
again this is one of the rare examples where it is all over the sequel. It’s made with
such respect that it’s hard to believe that such a big-budgeted film could still be made
by a big studio. There’s no corporate greed except for the occasional product placement
which you, of course, would expect. There’s love and incredible art on display,
giving us a complete opposition of what we are used to seeing in big-budget filmmaking today.
For an '80s flick, Blade Runner had a serious philosophical approach. Director Ridley Scott's
sci-fi classic is set in Los Angeles in 2019, a city that's been devastated by pollution,
industrialization, and overpopulation. The film tracks Rick Deckard, a detective whose
career is devoted to capturing replicants, synthetic human servants now feared after a
violent, off-world rebellion. Through its poetic representation of these replicants,
the film asks questions of what it means to be human, and to what extent that a
synthetic humanoid can have a real personality. Many had hoped that Blade Runner 2049,
might answer some of the many remaining questions left by the original. But Denis
Villeneuve had other intentions. His film, true to the spirit of the original, instead,
puts forward new questions to viewers about the nature of humanity, this time with a
biological spin on the story. The latest film follows K, a member of a new and more
obedient generation of replicants, and himself a blade runner tasked with hunting down older,
more rebellious ones. When K finds the bones of a pregnant replicant on the land of a
replicant he's retired, —his boss orders him to erase all traces that replicants can produce,
even the dead woman's replicant child, fearing that the information
could lead to another war. And as he embarks on his investigation,
in true Blade Runner style which the director does so perfectly,
K comes to question the reality of his memories, and even his identity as a replicant.
And it's the powerful display of philosophy here that really drives these themes to a
more satisfying and extended degree. Some of the philosophical lessons that the first film conveyed
in Philosophy include the question, What does it mean to be human? The original conveys the
idea that simple diagnostic criteria for deciding who or what is or is not human
are bound to fail and that what it means to be human isn't so much an objective
fact that's out there in the world waiting for us to discover, but rather it has more
to do with our attitudes toward one another. Being human is more like a social construct
than it is an objective fact. Now, that doesn't mean those objective facts in the world aren't
relevant, they're of course extremely relevant and necessary, but they're also not sufficient.
And the philosophy of Blade Runner 2049 conveys that the world that's been constructed is very
much a continuation of the world from the original movie. It's very believable three decades on,
and it's basically the same world and atmosphere. We again get the question, What does it mean
to be human?, then secondly, What is real? The Deckard character in the new movie says
to Jared Leto's Niander Wallace, I know what's real" but he says it in such a way that means,
I hope I know what is real. Various characters in the film are trying to find out things,
and it's not clear to them or to us that they can know what they want to know because of accidental
factors or because the information is just not available. Then there's the question, What grounds
a person's identity? Ryan Gosling's character starts off believing he's a replicant at some
point in the film becoming convinced that he's not really a replicant and that he's special. But then
by the end of the film, he's kind of back to where he began, knowing that he is a replicant, and he
even knows that he's actually one that is very ordinary. So his sense of identity is subverted
a couple of times, and so is the audience's perception because of course we're manipulated
into thinking that he's special. And this leads us to ask, can I trust my memories?
K has to deal with this alongside his memories of that wooden horse and Dr. Ana
Stelline tells him at one point that these memories that she's looking at are real memories.
It turns out that they are real memories, but they're just not his real memories.
So the last question we are left with, surrounding the meaning of life especially,
is, how can we make our lives meaningful through our choices? K is leading a tired and repetitive,
where we see the tiredness in his eyes, his face and when he's retiring that first replicant,
which is the same kind of weariness that Deckard displayed in the original film. They're going
about their jobs and it's a tough order, but it's what they have to do. But, throughout the film,
his character makes choices that seem to go against what he was designed to do and what
he's designed to be. By the end of the film, when he's laying on his back on the steps and the snow
is falling on and around him, the audience is supposed to get the sense that he's at peace,
that he feels he's made the right choices, and that he has accomplished something.
But what's evident is that a lot of big issues are unresolved at this point,
and yet he's achieved a kind of meaning in his life by helping a Harison Ford's
Deckard unite with his daughter. It seems like a small thing in the grand scheme of events,
but that's the kind of action that can make his life meaningful. In fact, that is what makes this
sequel a meaningful one with new questions and progression as a work of art.
Like many, I originally came out of the theatre thinking about how great the special effects,
imagery and production was in the film. But what has made this film so rewatchable to
me and the many cult fans who are joining onto it like the original is that through its story and
progressing themes, this film doesn't just wow you through effects but it also challenges you. The
questions of... what does it means to be human? Who am I?, and What do I know? are ones that make
the audience realize that a film like this can be the catalyst or the prompt for self-examination.
If you compare this film to most others, it's just way more thought-provoking and deeper.
Blade Runner 2049 reminds us what cinema can do and that suddenly it can become magical again.
We’re not just dealing with another blockbuster that we will immediately forget
about weeks later. For positive or negative reaction to it, this film will stay with us
as it’s just as intimate and personal as the original. Not everyone will have the same feeling,
but those who did will know what I’m talking about and will cherish this film as time passes,
continuing to ask the important question that cinema itself challenges in many different ways.
That question is about the meaning of life.
But that was my video essay on Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049
and why I believe the film is a modern masterpiece that hits on many different levels. Prisoners is
still my favourite film by the director, but Blade Runner 2049 is definitely my second
film in his filmography and it's one that like the former does a fantastic job in conveying its story
and central ideas through a sense of aesthetic and filmmaking atmosphere. Not many films can do this
alone and it's something that only elevates the clever writing and important themes on display
in the story, which I discussed before. But I'm interested to see how Denis uses atmosphere and
tone in Dune to really elevate the grander story at play, but of course like each of his films,
it will have its own qualities that shine through. We'll have to see, but let me know
down below in the comments section what you personally thought towards Denis Villeneuve's
Blade Runner 2049, alongside what your favourite film is in the director's filmography.
My last commentary in this Road to Dune marathon is on Denis Villeneuve's Incendies, where I will
be going deeper into how the director conveys grief and human suffering. This will be released
in the coming weeks alongside much more content on Dune 2021 coming over the next few months.
To stay up to date with this series along with all the latest news on Denis Villeneuve's DUNE,
then subscribe to the channel and turn on your notifications. Also if you enjoyed this video
remember to leave a like rating and follow me on social media via the links in the description.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.