"Blade Runner 2049" (2017)

“Blade Runner” became a cult-classic for several reasons. It had impeccable world-building that presented one of the richest, dark sci-fi futures. It had an intriguing mystery lurking behind the plot that people loved to explore and speculate about. And, it was released in many different versions, each claiming to be the ultimate, authoritative presentation, that people could debate about and compare ad nauseam.


So, when it was announced that they were going to continue the story/world in a new film, a shock-wave of excitement and worry shot across nerd-fandom. It was naturally feared that they would screw it up, and for many that would somehow translate into a marring of the original. That was silly for a couple of reasons. One, a sequel does not have to have an impact on what came before. If it is bad, just ignore it. (See Ghostbusters 2. The exception would be an extended story, package deal as in the case of the Hobbit movies. The first one set off to a great start that was ruined by the subsequent parts.) Two, the original Blade Runner, while a fine film, was not so great on its own. Witness the various attempts to make it better or correct “mistakes.”

Ultimately, “2049” is a mix of greatness and problems, much like the original, but nowhere near so close to greatness. This time around, the story is unambiguously centered on a replicant. But we mix in prophecies and messianic elements (as these science fiction tales inevitably do. They are not so much science fiction anymore as much as they are quasi-religious myth building.) It tries to carry forward the Deckard mystery without resolving it. And it introduces a handful of new ideas with which the audience can play.

Among those ideas is the question of where artificial intelligence and the real thing blur. That idea was in the original, of course, but here it is driven further. Gosling’s replicant is in love with a Siri-like program. Unfortunately, this idea is not the central idea being explored, but more of a minor sub-plot. And, inevitably, A.I. is more humane than the human characters. Not because it makes sense or drives the plot in a rational way, but just because it is more provocative. And, partly due to that conceit, but mostly just do to shoddy storytelling, the plot progresses dependent on a lot of characters making mistakes and doing things they would never really do.

Most unfortunately, this film is firmly embedded in the current trend where nerd culture is too much like a teen-ager, demanding that they are adults and ready for R ratings for the sake of the rating. The original Blade Runner was a story for adults and derived its rating from the story. The nudity in this version of Blade Runner is nothing but titillating and superfluous. Less “grown-up real-life” and clearly middle-schooler obsession and soft-core porn.