By: Kameron McBride
The main theme running through Blade Runner 2049 is the idea of falsity: identities, memories and even people are all presented as either fake or replicated. Yet, this movie presents human emotions in ways that are so beautiful and complex that it is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Blade Runner was a spectacular world that contained a fairly simple story, Blade Runner 2049 ups the ante by including a story that can match its rich world.
Detective "K" (Ryan Gosling) is a detective so lonely that his only two forms of contact are his Lieutenant named Joshi (Robin Wright) and a holographic spouse called "JOI" (Ana de Armas). 2049 wastes no time in getting to the chase with its detective this time: K is a replicant- no spoiler, as it is established right away. K is a replicant that is tasked with hunting older robotic models: a task that leads him to confront Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) who has a secret buried in his backyard that kick-starts the investigative aspect of this movie.
K eventually begins to try and piece together a wide-ranging conspiracy involving the creation and manipulation of replicants. His struggle to find answers leads him to confront new threats-- such as Niander Wallace (Jared Leto, playing the new version of the Tyrael CEO from the previous film) and Luv (Sylvia Hoeks, a replicant bodyguard for Wallace)--and familiar characters, with Edward James Olmos and Harrison Ford reprising their roles as Gaff and Deckard, respectively.
It's the relationship between K and JOI that anchors a lot of the heady themes that make up the rest of the film. These are two characters (a robot and hologram, respectively) that shouldn't be predisposed to emotion, yet their relationship forms a strong emotional crux that the rest of the movie can build upon.
The story itself is great fun. Gosling's character is actually attempting to navigate an exceptionally complex web that is both wholly satisfying in both the journey and conclusion. To spoil any part of this plot is to ruin a truly wonderful and interesting detective story, needless to say, it manages to keep up a good pace that holds interest over a nearly 3-hour runtime.
Detective "K" (Ryan Gosling) is a detective so lonely that his only two forms of contact are his Lieutenant named Joshi (Robin Wright) and a holographic spouse called "JOI" (Ana de Armas). 2049 wastes no time in getting to the chase with its detective this time: K is a replicant- no spoiler, as it is established right away. K is a replicant that is tasked with hunting older robotic models: a task that leads him to confront Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) who has a secret buried in his backyard that kick-starts the investigative aspect of this movie.
K eventually begins to try and piece together a wide-ranging conspiracy involving the creation and manipulation of replicants. His struggle to find answers leads him to confront new threats-- such as Niander Wallace (Jared Leto, playing the new version of the Tyrael CEO from the previous film) and Luv (Sylvia Hoeks, a replicant bodyguard for Wallace)--and familiar characters, with Edward James Olmos and Harrison Ford reprising their roles as Gaff and Deckard, respectively.
It's the relationship between K and JOI that anchors a lot of the heady themes that make up the rest of the film. These are two characters (a robot and hologram, respectively) that shouldn't be predisposed to emotion, yet their relationship forms a strong emotional crux that the rest of the movie can build upon.
The story itself is great fun. Gosling's character is actually attempting to navigate an exceptionally complex web that is both wholly satisfying in both the journey and conclusion. To spoil any part of this plot is to ruin a truly wonderful and interesting detective story, needless to say, it manages to keep up a good pace that holds interest over a nearly 3-hour runtime.
It's been argued that Christopher Nolan is today's version of Stanley Kubrick but I think Denis Villeneuve is more deserving of that comparison. His movies engage, despite their length and heady themes; with Villeneuve able to more effectively blend truly intelligent ideas with very engaging visuals.
Blade Runner 2049 is a triumphant blend of thoughtful science fiction that is so well grounded in human emotions. It is the rare film that is able to so effectively blend its themes into the story that they actually manage to enhance each other.
The motto of the Tyrael Corporation from the first movie was "More Human Than Human," this film puts that phrase into action by presenting us with robotic characters attempting to understand the complexities of human life but who ultimately succeed in capturing those emotions more completely than should be possible. At film's end, an audience member is probably in the same mental state as our hero- exhausted and laying on the ground to watching snowflakes fall. There is a tendency to try and comprehend the complexity of a story all at once, but perhaps ultimately accepting that a beautiful and transformative journey should be a story's ultimate goal leads to a full appreciation of why Blade Runner 2049 is a truly great film.
