Hollywood's biggest trend currently is to remake, or continue its old classic films with unneeded “legacy” sequels. We see it with movies like the new Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, and even Star Wars movies, where years after the series ends, the production company makes a sequel in hopes it will get attention from long time fans. Some of America's classic films have great endings that finish their characters' arcs and stories, just for a sequel to come along and change their ending. Most of the time these end up flopping or leaving the audience with unfulfilled expectations compared to the original films. In my opinion Blade Runner 2049 the sequel to the original sci-fi classic Blade Runner is not one of these meaningless legacy sequels.
Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Ana de Armas, was released in 2017. It is an incredible sequel to the 1982 Blade Runner. It follows its predecessor by including some of the same themes like identity, humanity, and discrimination. The science fiction genre opens many doors creatively for analogies of human life and human connection. The film received five Academy Award nominations and two award wins for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects.
I highly recommend for viewers to watch the original Blade Runner If you haven't already, although the movie can still make sense without having seen the original. The premise is that humans advanced technologically to the point of not using humans for work, and rather using cyborg replicants of humans to be slaves. When they rebel against their order, humans send out “blade runners” to hunt them down and retire them. By 2049, they use replicants to do the job of a blade runner instead of a human.
Blade Runner 2049 introduces us to Officer K. He is a replicant, a bioengineered being designed for specific purposes, in this case, to work as a blade runner, a law enforcement officer tasked with hunting down and retiring rogue replicants. K is a dutiful, obedient replicant at the start of the film, and is tested after each order to make sure he remains emotionless and unfeeling. After retiring rogue replicant Sapper Morton, he discovers evidence of possibly the first child born from two replicants. His boss tells him this information cannot get out because it could break society and cause outbreaks of rogue replicants. K decides to dig deeper into the case regardless and in the process gets involved against big corporations who are also after the child. The more information K discovers, the more the case seems to tie back to him leading him to believe he might be the child the case is searching for.
Officer K is an incredibly intriguing character. When we meet K he seems content with his place in society. He’s depicted as a cold, machine-like figure with strict logical movements and decisions. He isolates himself from everyone and has no close relationships. As a replicant he is an outcast and is hated by people and other officers. As the film progresses we catch glimpses of humanity underneath this exterior. The only way he shows compassion is to Joi, his virtual girlfriend. When looking at his character the best way I could describe him as is lonely.
His purpose and reason for being made really isn’t important to the world, yet viewers care about him. The movie uses him to embrace humanity. To embrace the importance of emotions and the characteristics that make us the species we are, as we watch his character change and grow. In the final moments of the film, K catches a snowflake as it falls. I think this scene in particular shows the idea of K’s journey perfectly. From a further view a snowflake is just like every other bit of snow on the ground but when you look at it closely you can notice its beauty and can recognize its independence from the rest, regardless if its purpose is the same. And just every life the snowfall eventually melts. But there's a beauty in that too, coming to an end, and K realizes that leaving him with content satisfaction in the end.
Even with so many heavy themes going on, Villenueve manages to make the movie super entertaining and not solely dramatic. If you're looking for a movie full of good laughs this isn’t it, but as a thought provoking science fiction epic, in my opinion this is as good as it gets. The performances are incredible, the visuals are great, and the ending is nothing short of amazing. Movies like this are very rare today in the current “cash grab” style of Hollywood, and this one really breaks the mold.
4.8✰/ 5
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