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Blade Runner 2049


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It took me several viewings/versions to finally enjoy it. I saw it on Sci-fi back in the day edited to shit, and said fuck it.Watched a couple more versions and liked them better. I don't think its the second coming like everyone else does, but I see why people enjoy it and enjoy debating it.

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...fuck, this turned out good. had to stop in the last half hour for work but finishing this tonight 

 

the original is crazy influential but i can definitely see the argument about this one being better. knew i should've seen it in theaters. 

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How is Deckard you ask?  I wouldn't know, because he's not in this movie.  Harrison Ford is in this movie, that is unquestionable but more than that I cannot confirm.  Ford growls his way through his performance with his characteristic grumpy lethargy.  Everyone in this movie is dressed in some sort of somewhat futuristic garb but Ford is dressed in what appears to be a Hanes t-shirt and a part of sweat pants.  If you told me that Ford only signed on with the condition that he just wears whatever clothes he already had on then I'd believe it.



 

The movie asks little of Ford's performance but he somehow gives less.  He seems bored or fidgety and when he does talk its with a bewildered belligerence that seems to indicate he has no interest in making this work.  To his credit there are at least 3 instances of real genuine acting on Harrison Ford's part, and it really works, but there's nothing recognizable about the character of Deckard.  You can still see Indiana Jones in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you can still see Han Solo in The Force Awakens, but there's not one bit of Rick Deckard in Blade Runner 2049.  It's not a huge deal since Deckard is little more than an extended cameo up until the end but seeing as he's one of the selling points of the movie it's a little disappointing.

 



Ultimately it's Blade Runner 2049's ties to the original movie that are its biggest flaws.  Even if Harrison Ford had been on his a-game, Deckard adds very little to the movie.  The mother could have been any random replicant and the movie would be all the better for the lack of baggage.

Having this movie become a sequel in the third act robs it of its previous importance.  All the world building with Joi is ultimately wasted.  Despite the fact that she's literally with K the entire time, she never meets or even speaks to Deckard or any other major character for that matter.  We're left with an overindulgent sex scene where Joi is super-imposed over the body of a prostitute (Mackenzie Davis), it's visually interesting but basically the same as a scene from Her.  Nobody really comments on K's A.I. wife and once she's gone it's barely brought up again.

Similarly Niander Wallace and a replicant resistance are built up as major figures only to not be important in the final act where K finally faces off against Luv to save Deckard's life so that he can see his daughter.  I will say that the payoff is worth it at the end but it seems like the bulk of the film's plot is taking place after the movie ends.  Similarly much of the world building done in the first hour in the half is squandered as the story resolves in a very small way.  I do respect the simplicity of this ending, not everything needs a big bombastic finish, but a lot of the false lead-up serves no purpose in hindsight and could easily be trimmed off.  Did we really need to see what Gaff (Edward James Olmos) is up to these days?

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