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Here's Part 1 of my off-the-cuff pseudo-review... Writing this all down has helped me come around a bit. I'm hoping I have time to see this again Sunday.
Acting
The acting and cast were nearly perfect. Gosling plays a character similar to Driver, which is exactly what I wanted, but acts actually *more human* than Driver. I think this was a good choice. Deckard was hard boiled, brooding, didn’t give a fuck. Having K be the same character would have been a mistake. So taking Gosling's character from Drive and adjusting him so he’s not a wannabe Deckard was probably the best way to go about things. I get that some people hate Gosling automatically. I want to punch James Franco in the face whenever I see him. But Gosling does an objectively good job.
One of the first fears that popped into my mind when the movie was announced was that Harrison Ford would be too decrepit to play Deckard well. I think one of the low points of Episode VII was how emaciated he looked. I don’t know what they did, but he looks fucking jacked in Blade Runner 2049. He pulls off all his lines. He seems to have loosened up a bit compared to 2019, but that makes sense given the plot. Then again, they could have gone in the opposite direction and made him a maniac. That could have easily gotten off the rails, though. So I have no complaints about Ford or the character of Deckard.
Jared Leto the human is a douchebag, but his character nearly steals the show. He’s the perfect capitalist sociopath. He's completely dogmatic yet can’t look anyone in the eyes. You almost get the sense that he’s blind despite his implanted pupils. Perfect.
[I'm an r-tard. The lady actress was good. Nice kicking skills.]
So to summarize the acting and characters, A+.
Design
Design was such a huge part of Blade Runner’s success. The architecture, the streets, the crowds of people, the storefronts… Everything was just a little off. It made you feel not like you were in the dystopian future but a slightly deranged alternate universe. It was off just enough to feel uncanny. I don’t think 2049 captures this nearly as well as the original, but it’s still well done. The shots of the skyline and the streets are a little more vanilla compared to the original, but the smog and decrepitude (reference intended) still have impact.
The wardrobe is also great but not as dramatic as the original. Trenchcoat noir. Gosling’s coat creates a collar to function, presumably, as a respirator due to the degrading environment, which is a great subtle addition. Jovovich in retro-futurist haute couture stuff. Leto in a gi. It’s all there. But nothing in this movie quite touches Rachel’s oversized fur coat collar, the eye engineer’s plug-in jacket, or Salome’s transparent raincoat. Speaking of rain, why the fuck don’t the umbrellas in 2049 have neon in them?
Obviously, one the most famous pieces of prop design ever is Deckard’s blaster, even though the thing barely had any close-ups. K’s gadgets are not as iconic, but are still very cool and still very Blade Runner. He has a portable scanner to detect Replicants, an upgraded blaster that, like K’s personality, is similar to that of Deckard but different enough to be its own thing. And of course, his cruiser is fucking awesome.
The city itself is nice, but not quite there. Like I said before, Blade Runner’s city felt uncanny, if not intimidating or unsettling. The hodgepodge of people, the vendors, the gothic, nearly biomechanical-looking blimps, the advertising. 2049 gets the vendors and the advertising right for sure. But the city just feels a bit sterilized compared to the original. I feel like I could have waled through there no problem, where as if I walked through the city of the original Blade Runner, I would have had at least 3 people trying to steal my organs, hand me their infant child, or projectile vomit on me.
One highlight is the birthing station for new Replicants. This can be seen in the trailers. Most production designers would have automatically gone for a Matrix-style pod. In 2049, the Replicants gestate in a plastic bag hung from the ceiling and slough their way out. This is natural biology-meets-objectification. It's super unsettling and it's super original. I love it.
So all in all for the design, I’m slightly disappointed. I would have like to see the Tyrell building in the middle of being disassembled, parts of the city bombed out, etc. I feel like this was a slight watering down of the city rather than a 30 year advancement down the spiral of pollution, crime, and poverty. Yet the wardrobe, gadgets, and non-city sets are all great. I give the design a C+, subtracting points mainly for the city itself and the lack of an absolutely killer fusion of fashion and gadgetry.
Music
This will be a quick one. Vangelis isn’t dead. ‘80s style synth music is en vogue. Why the fuck didn't Vangelis score this movie?? There are occasional swells from a Yamaha CS-80, but most of the soundtrack is what you’d expect of a more generic cyberpunk movie. There are a couple of dramatic synth riffs that work wonders, but I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t bring Vangelis back. His soundtrack was such an import part of the original movie.
That said, music plays a less important role in Blade Runner 2049. This movie is less of a noire compared to the original. There are fewer brooding scenes with no dialogue, which would have been filled with swirls and rainy-day sax lines. So the lack of music in the same style of the original movie isn’t as glaring an absence as it could have been.
Music gets a C+.
Pacing
If I the runtime of the movie hadn’t made headlines, I would have never guessed it's 2:45. There are some 2-hour movies that feel like they’re 4 hours. This felt like a 90 minute movie. It’s constantly moving, yet you never feel rushed.
A+
Special Effects
Blade Runner was a special effects marvel, mainly due to the shots of the city. There’s nothing groundbreaking in 2049, and I think that’s fine. What they do isn’t particularly difficult to pull off, but it is effective. In particular, holographic advertisements and characters often glitch, either by producing visual artifacts or by looping like a broken record. This takes a character that you nearly forgot isn’t real and slaps you in the face. There is also a scene that uses a hologram to create the most artistic pre-coital moments you’ll ever see.
Furthermore, 2049’s CGI never looks fake. They never do anything too wild and I doubt this will look dated in 10 years.
A-
COMING SOON:
Themes and Mood
Plot and Dialogue
I'm saving these for last because three of these are the things I have the most complaints about.
Acting
The acting and cast were nearly perfect. Gosling plays a character similar to Driver, which is exactly what I wanted, but acts actually *more human* than Driver. I think this was a good choice. Deckard was hard boiled, brooding, didn’t give a fuck. Having K be the same character would have been a mistake. So taking Gosling's character from Drive and adjusting him so he’s not a wannabe Deckard was probably the best way to go about things. I get that some people hate Gosling automatically. I want to punch James Franco in the face whenever I see him. But Gosling does an objectively good job.
One of the first fears that popped into my mind when the movie was announced was that Harrison Ford would be too decrepit to play Deckard well. I think one of the low points of Episode VII was how emaciated he looked. I don’t know what they did, but he looks fucking jacked in Blade Runner 2049. He pulls off all his lines. He seems to have loosened up a bit compared to 2019, but that makes sense given the plot. Then again, they could have gone in the opposite direction and made him a maniac. That could have easily gotten off the rails, though. So I have no complaints about Ford or the character of Deckard.
Jared Leto the human is a douchebag, but his character nearly steals the show. He’s the perfect capitalist sociopath. He's completely dogmatic yet can’t look anyone in the eyes. You almost get the sense that he’s blind despite his implanted pupils. Perfect.
[I'm an r-tard. The lady actress was good. Nice kicking skills.]
So to summarize the acting and characters, A+.
Design
Design was such a huge part of Blade Runner’s success. The architecture, the streets, the crowds of people, the storefronts… Everything was just a little off. It made you feel not like you were in the dystopian future but a slightly deranged alternate universe. It was off just enough to feel uncanny. I don’t think 2049 captures this nearly as well as the original, but it’s still well done. The shots of the skyline and the streets are a little more vanilla compared to the original, but the smog and decrepitude (reference intended) still have impact.
The wardrobe is also great but not as dramatic as the original. Trenchcoat noir. Gosling’s coat creates a collar to function, presumably, as a respirator due to the degrading environment, which is a great subtle addition. Jovovich in retro-futurist haute couture stuff. Leto in a gi. It’s all there. But nothing in this movie quite touches Rachel’s oversized fur coat collar, the eye engineer’s plug-in jacket, or Salome’s transparent raincoat. Speaking of rain, why the fuck don’t the umbrellas in 2049 have neon in them?
Obviously, one the most famous pieces of prop design ever is Deckard’s blaster, even though the thing barely had any close-ups. K’s gadgets are not as iconic, but are still very cool and still very Blade Runner. He has a portable scanner to detect Replicants, an upgraded blaster that, like K’s personality, is similar to that of Deckard but different enough to be its own thing. And of course, his cruiser is fucking awesome.
The city itself is nice, but not quite there. Like I said before, Blade Runner’s city felt uncanny, if not intimidating or unsettling. The hodgepodge of people, the vendors, the gothic, nearly biomechanical-looking blimps, the advertising. 2049 gets the vendors and the advertising right for sure. But the city just feels a bit sterilized compared to the original. I feel like I could have waled through there no problem, where as if I walked through the city of the original Blade Runner, I would have had at least 3 people trying to steal my organs, hand me their infant child, or projectile vomit on me.
One highlight is the birthing station for new Replicants. This can be seen in the trailers. Most production designers would have automatically gone for a Matrix-style pod. In 2049, the Replicants gestate in a plastic bag hung from the ceiling and slough their way out. This is natural biology-meets-objectification. It's super unsettling and it's super original. I love it.
So all in all for the design, I’m slightly disappointed. I would have like to see the Tyrell building in the middle of being disassembled, parts of the city bombed out, etc. I feel like this was a slight watering down of the city rather than a 30 year advancement down the spiral of pollution, crime, and poverty. Yet the wardrobe, gadgets, and non-city sets are all great. I give the design a C+, subtracting points mainly for the city itself and the lack of an absolutely killer fusion of fashion and gadgetry.
Music
This will be a quick one. Vangelis isn’t dead. ‘80s style synth music is en vogue. Why the fuck didn't Vangelis score this movie?? There are occasional swells from a Yamaha CS-80, but most of the soundtrack is what you’d expect of a more generic cyberpunk movie. There are a couple of dramatic synth riffs that work wonders, but I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t bring Vangelis back. His soundtrack was such an import part of the original movie.
That said, music plays a less important role in Blade Runner 2049. This movie is less of a noire compared to the original. There are fewer brooding scenes with no dialogue, which would have been filled with swirls and rainy-day sax lines. So the lack of music in the same style of the original movie isn’t as glaring an absence as it could have been.
Music gets a C+.
Pacing
If I the runtime of the movie hadn’t made headlines, I would have never guessed it's 2:45. There are some 2-hour movies that feel like they’re 4 hours. This felt like a 90 minute movie. It’s constantly moving, yet you never feel rushed.
A+
Special Effects
Blade Runner was a special effects marvel, mainly due to the shots of the city. There’s nothing groundbreaking in 2049, and I think that’s fine. What they do isn’t particularly difficult to pull off, but it is effective. In particular, holographic advertisements and characters often glitch, either by producing visual artifacts or by looping like a broken record. This takes a character that you nearly forgot isn’t real and slaps you in the face. There is also a scene that uses a hologram to create the most artistic pre-coital moments you’ll ever see.
Furthermore, 2049’s CGI never looks fake. They never do anything too wild and I doubt this will look dated in 10 years.
A-
COMING SOON:
Themes and Mood
Plot and Dialogue
I'm saving these for last because three of these are the things I have the most complaints about.
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