Movie Reviews 2.0
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I'd have to go back and watch the original theatrical version with the voice-over, but I think the new one is definitely better than the director's cut, or the "final cut" of Blade Runner. The Ryan Gosling character is much more interesting and developed than Deckard was, but maybe the voice over of the original release would make me think differently. Never thought of Blade Runner as one of Harrison Ford's better performances. And I always thought the love story between Deckard and Rachael was pretty clumsy. It kind of fits with the typical detective genre love interest, but it never worked for me. I like Blade Runner a lot, but I thought Blade Runner 2049 just kind of nailed everything.
I agree its much better than original. I always found the original boring and too slow. However, I also agree with Gubbi: the soundtrack of the first one is much much better.
Funniest part of the new Blade Runner for us was the old bum lady in K's apartment building cursing him, because she was speaking hungarian 
Oh and also, when
Not a big surprise though, as most of the movie was shot here in Hungary In fact, our photoscan guys did some work for the sets, including the Nexus 8s floating in glass cages at Leto's residence and some of the statues in Las Vegas. So they are on the credits list as well as local movie prop/set studio Filmefex. Oh and Harrison Ford basically biked all over the city of Budapest and its surroundings, taking selfies with the staff and he was generally not grumpy at all.
As for the movie, yeah, it was amazing, beautiful, clever. Only thing that bothered us was that it left too many things hanging - as if they were trying to set up a sequel, but the writers denied that and the box office seems to be insufficient either...
Oh and also, whenGraff talked about Deckard, he said he was a "nyugdíjas" - which is pensioner in hungarian. Oh and his iconic introduction line in the original was also in hungarian: "Lófaszt! Nehogymá... te vagy a Blade Runner", which translates to "Horse dick... No way, you are the Blade Runner"
Not a big surprise though, as most of the movie was shot here in Hungary
In fact, our photoscan guys did some work for the sets, including the Nexus 8s floating in glass cages at Leto's residence and some of the statues in Las Vegas. So they are on the credits list as well as local movie prop/set studio Filmefex. Oh and Harrison Ford basically biked all over the city of Budapest and its surroundings, taking selfies with the staff and he was generally not grumpy at all.As for the movie, yeah, it was amazing, beautiful, clever. Only thing that bothered us was that it left too many things hanging - as if they were trying to set up a sequel, but the writers denied that and the box office seems to be insufficient either...
I've been listening to the score today and it's pretty good.
I have an LP of the original film's soundtrack at home. It's iconic.
For me, this is the Godfather 2 of sci-fi sequels. I can actually understand people liking the first one better. I just feel pretty strongly about this one. The people who are wrong are the ones who didn't like it at all. They should just stop watching movies.
Well just a short list...
Whatever happened to the replicant child? Yeah she finally met his father, but was still enclosed in that bunker.
Whatever happened to the replicant revolution? They wouldn't stop just because Deckard was not interrogated.
Whatever happened to Wallace? He still has nearly infinite resources to find the replicant child and get all the information he wants.
OK, K has probably died, plenty of hints and all. Then again, it still is a bit hard to accept that he has basically sacrificed himself for a family reunion - especially one that still leaves all of the above hanging in the air.
Whatever happened to the replicant revolution? They wouldn't stop just because Deckard was not interrogated.
Whatever happened to Wallace? He still has nearly infinite resources to find the replicant child and get all the information he wants.
OK, K has probably died, plenty of hints and all. Then again, it still is a bit hard to accept that he has basically sacrificed himself for a family reunion - especially one that still leaves all of the above hanging in the air.
The point is that the major conflicts in the story were just not resolved at all.
I can easily live with a movie that challenges you to use your imagination and draw your own conclusions, but this is IMHO way too much - and it did feel like a set up for at least another movie.
Don't get me wrong though, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and there were plenty of things that had an appropriate ending.
My thoughts
I don't think what happens after the movie ends matters at all. The movie starts with K, a replicant, obedient to his human masters. He longs for a more meaningful "human" life, shown through the charades he plays with his holographic love interest, Joi. The flashbacks he experiences because of seeing the tree at the farm with a date inscribed at the bottom of the tree, lead him to a deeper memory about being a child, lonely, with only a prized toy horse that has to be hidden or lost. His boss has some feelings for him, but treats him as a sub-human or other. He is essentially alone, because his closest "friend" does not view him as an equal. Eventually he finds his way to the woman living in the bubble that creates memories for replicants, and he learns that the memory he has about being a child, and hiding a toy horse, is real. It is a painful and emotional memory off loneliness and loss. He believes that he's the child replicant everyone is looking for. He then finds his way to Deckard, believing himself to be Deckard's son and see's the carvings that Deckard makes, fully forming the connection that the prized toy is a gift from his parent, Deckard. Stuff happens and Deckard is captured. K is taken to the replicants who tell him that he is not the child, and he must kill Deckard so the child is not discovered. He realizes that the memory belongs to the memory maker, and she is the child of Deckard. They tell him something roughly along the lines of it being human to sacrifice himself for the cause, or a cause. He then sees Joi for what she is, an holographic emulation of a living being that is able to fool him by telling him what he wants to hear, but what he's wanted to hear is that he has a name, and that he's better than how he's lived.
Ok, so that's all important because he has choices. He can kill the child to stop a war between humans and replicants, or he can kill Deckard and help the replicants in a revolution against the humans. K does not choose either of those. He is still alone, having served a human master and now maybe serving the wishes of the replicant revolutionaries. So he makes a choice, to prove to himself that he is alive, that his feeling is real and that he can serve a greater purpose, instead of looking outward for validation. He chooses to help the child, the daughter he shares memories with, by reuniting her with her father - he makes a selfless decision to reunite them and give them the family he can't have, even if it costs him his own life, which it does. Something worth dying for - empathy, love.
That's my first-viewing impression of the movie, and kind of exemplifies why I think the story and antagonist are so much stronger than the original film, where Deckard is a relatively weak character. I'll probably end up watching it quite a few times.
Also, Deckard would be believed to be dead, drawn out into the ocean, or that's roughly what K says. With Deckard dead, neither the revolutionaries wouldn't be after him, and Wallace has no way to find the girl. I suppose if Deckard took her on the run somewhere, the replicants may try to find them, but that's not really the point of the movie.
Ok, so that's all important because he has choices. He can kill the child to stop a war between humans and replicants, or he can kill Deckard and help the replicants in a revolution against the humans. K does not choose either of those. He is still alone, having served a human master and now maybe serving the wishes of the replicant revolutionaries. So he makes a choice, to prove to himself that he is alive, that his feeling is real and that he can serve a greater purpose, instead of looking outward for validation. He chooses to help the child, the daughter he shares memories with, by reuniting her with her father - he makes a selfless decision to reunite them and give them the family he can't have, even if it costs him his own life, which it does. Something worth dying for - empathy, love.
That's my first-viewing impression of the movie, and kind of exemplifies why I think the story and antagonist are so much stronger than the original film, where Deckard is a relatively weak character. I'll probably end up watching it quite a few times.
Also, Deckard would be believed to be dead, drawn out into the ocean, or that's roughly what K says. With Deckard dead, neither the revolutionaries wouldn't be after him, and Wallace has no way to find the girl. I suppose if Deckard took her on the run somewhere, the replicants may try to find them, but that's not really the point of the movie.
I doubt the first release will do anything for you. The narrator/voice-over is inane, it's commenting where it should be reflecting. It reminds me of Leslie Nielsen's old Police Squad series. "I arrived at the crime scene" (police car arrives at crime scene, crashes into thrash can), "My partner was already there" (camera pans to partner).
That and the completely out of place happy ending.
It ought to be, the new movie is two hours and 45 minutes, 80% of which has Ryan Gosling's character in it. The old movie had to establish the entire pretext for the story that is already in place in the new one.
Certainly agree here.
But isn't it meant to be clumsy ? Rachel looses her humanity and Deckard has to force her to say "kiss me"; Not because he is a pussy grabbing Weinstein wanna-be, but because he insists he still loves her and desires her.
The first Blade Runner left a lasting mark on culture. It influenced sci-fi movies (and video games!!) for decades with its future-noir style, I don't see that happening with the new one.
QFT.
Cheers
The extra time in the new one definitely helps flesh out what I think is a more interesting story with more interesting characters. I'm definitely not a person that complains about long movies.
The romance in the original doesn't really work for me. I never really felt a connection there. Again, it's a short movie. I thought it could have used more time
I definitely agree that the new one will not be as influential as the original, but I still think it's a better movie.
Babel-17
Veteran
My Blade Runner 2049 review in a nutshell
120 lbs. of very good movie(s) packed into a sack with a 100 lb. limit that could have held an epic sequel.
120 lbs. of very good movie(s) packed into a sack with a 100 lb. limit that could have held an epic sequel.
Sean Young played Chani in David Lynch's Dune. In the sequel to the novel it was based on, the character she played in the original dies during childbirth, and her husband, Paul, is offered the chance to get a clone of her if he'll cooperate. Those offering this are masters of genetics, and unscrupulous manipulators, who use their constructs as slaves, often denied of free will.
Babel-17
Veteran
I just saw Blade Runner 2049 today and him being called "K" reminded me of Natural City, "the Korean Blade Runner", where the cop is called "R".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378428/reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_City
Nice visuals, the plot is a bit clumsy.
Orion
Regular
Blade runner was ace. Liked it more than original. The original felt like snippets of the future and 90% derelict abandoned building. This one has far more high tech imagery.
Excellent graphics.
Excellent graphics.
Far better recreation of a young actor (tress) than any other recent hollywood film.
The waifu stuff was a nice touch but may have injured potential sales. It may be too weird for the masses still. Hurts word of mouth, imo.
The waifu stuff was a nice touch but may have injured potential sales. It may be too weird for the masses still. Hurts word of mouth, imo.
Blade Runner: well, I liked it. It didn't blow my socks off, but I enjoyed it. I found the slow pacing quite refreshing - a times it felt more like a French art-house movie than a Hollywood blockbuster. The visuals were pretty awesome. It didn't feel like a 2.75 hour long movie. Maybe I was expecting a bit more "plot", but in retrospect I think it was probably better for not having lots of extraneous fluff.
I enjoyed it more than the original - then again I've never held the original as some sort of pinnacle of cinematic achievement. It's OK, but it doesn't justify the fawning. I find it hard to watch these days without wondering WTF all the fuss is about.
I enjoyed it more than the original - then again I've never held the original as some sort of pinnacle of cinematic achievement. It's OK, but it doesn't justify the fawning. I find it hard to watch these days without wondering WTF all the fuss is about.
Babel-17
Veteran
Funniest part of the new Blade Runner for us was the old bum lady in K's apartment building cursing him, because she was speaking hungarian
Graff talked about Deckard, he said he was a "nyugdíjas" - which is pensioner in hungarian. Oh and his iconic introduction line in the original was also in hungarian: "Lófaszt! Nehogymá... te vagy a Blade Runner", which translates to "Horse dick... No way, you are the Blade Runner"
Not a big surprise though, as most of the movie was shot here in Hungary
As for the movie, yeah, it was amazing, beautiful, clever. Only thing that bothered us was that it left too many things hanging - as if they were trying to set up a sequel, but the writers denied that and the box office seems to be insufficient either...
"Philip" means "horse lover". PKD used himself as a character in one book, and called himself "Horselover Fat". Dick translates to Fat in some language or other. So maybe "Horse dick" is a tip of the hat to that.
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