“Blade Runner” Is Back: Worth The Wait?

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35 years after the blockbuster film that was Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” was released, we finally have a sequel to the Harrison Ford classic. However, does this film live up to its predecessor, or does it just add to the list of pointless and terrible hollywood sequels?

Honestly, it is a bit of both. I’m not saying that this is a “bad film”, but it was partly a disappointing one. While the action in this film was great while it was happening, it was scarce. A lot of this movie focuses just on Officer K (Gosling) and his struggles with trying to find out where he came from and where he belongs. The problem I have with this is not that they showed a lot of Ryan Gosling in the film, he’s a great actor and I have a lot of respect for him. It’s just that I wasn’t aware or as prepared as I should have been. Take a look at the main poster for the film: it leads you to believe that Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford are the two stars, when in reality Gosling is the real star. Being a huge fan of Harrison’s work, I assumed that since he was one of the largest things on the poster that he would have a huge role throughout the entire film. That is not the case here. He is in the film for about 20 minutes in a 2 hour and 48 minute film. That’s a significantly small amount of time. I actually almost forgot that he was in this film by the time we finally saw him onscreen for the first time. Harrison Ford is to “Blade Runner: 2049” as Jared Leto (who is also in this film) was to “Suicide Squad” in the sense that they were both highly advertised and were a major selling point for the film, and yet hardly in their respected films.

The plot, while at times feels rushed and underdeveloped, was actually really powerful. There are many levels within this film, giving the audience plenty to think about and discuss throughout the film. Unfortunately, when you have a large narrative, there’s bound to be so questions left unanswered and characters missing out on a completion to their story, and this film is no exception. There were so many loose ends by the end of the film, and I often found myself wanting more. There were lots of characters that were not given a proper ending in this film. Perhaps the biggest example of this is Niander Wallace (Leto). He is shown as one of these machines and he is creating all of these other sentient beings, creating almost an army of what he sees as perfect creatures. The last time we see Wallace he has Deckard (Ford) captured and is trying to get information out of him. And one way he tries to get him to talk is creating a copy of his lover from so long ago, and then killing her when Deckard mentions that her eyes are the wrong color. After that, we see nothing else. The next time we see Deckard he is being escorted away over the ocean. We see nothing else from that torture scene. We don’t know if Wallace succeeded, or what happened to him after that point. We don’t know what he did to Deckard, it’s all kinda left in the air.

This film feels unfinished, and it also feels way longer than it needed to be, causing the film to drag – a LOT – which is a shame really. Especially after there was such a strong opening to this film with Ryan Gosling and Dave Batista. There were so many things I would have changed about the plot and some of the choices they made. However, despite a lot of this film feeling like a work-in-progress, there are many parts of this film that are freaking awesome. The action, the visuals, all of it are what really make this a movie you can’t miss. The visual effects are so impressive, really capturing that world and environment with all the technology that this world has access to. And the fight scenes have to be the best part of this film. They are so fast and powerful, and something that will not be so easily forgotten.

I give “Blade Runner: 2049” a 6.5 or 7 of 10: it’s mixed for me. While the narrative is somewhat lacking and many questions are left unanswered, the movie makes up for it with the incredible visual candy and outstanding performance by the cast.