![]() Cinematographer Roger Deakins-who had better finally get his goddamn Oscar for this movie-has outdone himself in 2049. The one area in which Blade Runner 2049 is unquestionably, unforgettably great is the way it looks-a tremendous feat, since the original movie earned and deserved the same accolades for its own groundbreaking visual design. (To be fair, 2049 does complicate this allegory a bit with the introduction of an artificial intelligence, whose humanity is a thornier question.) It’s not a bad message, but it does literally nothing to expand on the dynamics established by the original movie. And K’s numerous encounters with both humans and replicants underlines how the difference between the two is nonexistent. It's not much, but it's there if you’re looking for it. In addition to the standard "What makes someone human?" stuff that was farmed in from the first movie, one character references a metaphorical wall that separates us, and the bizarre, unpredictable Los Angeles weather winks at some particularly extreme climate change. The politics of the sequel are both more obvious and less interesting, and the political parallels feel a little half-baked. The entire point of the first movie is seeing Rick Deckard-who has spent his entire career hunting and killing replicants-learn to love a replicant, recognize the very real humanity of replicants in general, and eventually be saved by his greatest replicant adversary. It doesn't take a scholar to read the "replicants" as a stand-in for slaves, or undocumented immigrants, or any other exploited class in American history. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it.)īlade Runner has always been a nakedly political story. (They’re also at the center of the best scene in the whole damn movie. Best of all are the new characters played by Ana de Armas and Mackenzie Davis, who each serve, in their own distinct ways, as allies, obstacles, and love interests to K. Less impressive is Niander Wallace, the new villain played by Jared Leto, who appears solely to give big, scenery-chewing bad guy speeches (though his right-hand woman, played by relative newcomer Sylvia Hoeks, makes a stronger impression). Harrison Ford has basically built his modern-day career around revisiting his most iconic roles while he doesn’t make as strong an impression here as he did in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it’s a solid and layered performance in a compelling new chapter of Rick Deckard’s story. Blade Runner 2049 has an unusually large cast, and most of the performances are strong.
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