Blade Runner 2049: A Visually Compelling Masterpiece

Denis Villeneuve had my curiosity with Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival. But now he has my attention.

Blade Runner 2049 is the sequel to Ridley Scotts 1982 Blade Runner and follows LAPD Officer, K (played by Ryan Gosling), who unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to bring chaos to the rest of the world. K’s discovery eventually leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford from the first film), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Let me start off by saying that I’m admittedly a new-comer to the series. I never saw the original Blade Runner. But I was aware of the strong influence it has in the sci-fi genre and how much other people love it and regard it as a masterpiece. I was also pretty familiar with the world and the overall gist of the story.

Despite knowing for the most part what I was walking into, I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy Blade Runner 2049 because I never saw the original. I meant to watch it with my girlfriend, Kaitlyn, before we saw the new one, but we never got around to watching it.

Coming out of the theater, I can say two things. 1. You don’t need to see the original Blade Runner to enjoy this movie or even fully understand it. Blade Runner 2049 is its own well-contained, stand alone movie with a satisfying narrative that has a clear beginning and end. However, people who have seen the first Blade Runner, will probably have a much better experience and take a lot more away from this movie. And 2. This movie is incredible.

Blade Runner 2049 is a pretty straightforward, mystery, investigation story on the surface, similar to a modern day police-investigation mystery but with the exception of being set in a future with advanced technology and humanoid robots called replicants that populate most of the world. The narrative flows very well, one thing leading to another, while asking these big philosophical questions along the way and subtly incorporating a ton of complex and deep themes underneath the surface. But the movie doesn’t weigh you down with these questions and themes or make them the focus of the movie. The primary focus is on the story itself and remains consistent throughout the duration of the film.

Interestingly, we aren’t introduced to the main story right away. Writers, Michael Green and Hampton Fancher spend time establishing our main character Officer K and the world of Blade Runner before the narrative really takes off. But the way the story starts is important in setting up the plot and establishing other characters such as Lieutenant Joshi and the holographic, female companion, Joi.

All the characters in the movie are compelling, complex, and fit perfectly in the Blade Runner universe. You could take any of the central characters and spend hours picking them apart and analyzing their relationships with each other as well as their individual motivations, character arcs, and different layers because there is so much more depth to every character and relationship than what is initially seen on a surface level. My two favorite characters were K and Joi and their relationship together.

The acting across the board was phenomenal and I bought into everyones performances. There wasn’t a single bad link. Ryan Gosling as Officer K carries the film and he adds a lot of depth and emotion to his character through his fantastic performance. There are certain scenes where you can tell whats going on inside K’s mind simply through the emotion and subtle expressions Gosling is able to convey. Ryan Gosling has proven that he is very good at playing quiet characters, while somehow still managing to carry the entire movie and hold the audiences full attention. I also thought Ana de Armas as K’s holographic companion, Joi was fantastic and she had great chemistry with Goslings character that led to many incredibly touching, and moving moments. It was great to see her in a movie of this caliber after only knowing her as the psychotic blonde girl from that movie Knock Knock, with Keanu Reeves. Harrison Ford and Jared Leto were also great and commanded the screen every time we saw them.

Director Denis Villeneuve hasn’t made a bad movie his entire career and Blade Runner 2049 has proven that he probably never will because he just keeps getting better. The visuals in this movie are absolutely stunning and jaw-dropping. Villeneuve does a phenomenal job directing the actors, action, pacing, and overall scenes, while at the same time capturing the haunting, ominous beauty of this dystopian world. And cinematographer Roger Deakins does an equally phenomenal job of capturing these images, bringing the visuals to life, and creating a beautiful work of art with every shot—every frame. Long after I saw this movie, I couldn’t stop thinking about and obsessing over the visuals, and the overall look, and feel of the movie. I still cant stop obsessing about it. The imagery in this movie will stick with you and continue to leave you in awe long after you see it.

Some people may have a problem with the pacing, which is largely due to how Villeneuve directs the movie. He likes to take his time developing a scene, directing Ryan Gosling as he wanders slowly, almost dreamlike, through unique and gorgeous landscapes, and letting the camera linger on these beautiful landscapes and imagery. But I found every shot of this movie incredibly captivating and compelling. It felt like being taken through a museum full of magnificent art with so much to absorb in every frame that you become lost in the world, basking in its beauty, and before you know it, the tour is over. Two hours and forty minutes flew by in seconds. That’s what it felt like watching this movie. I was so lost in the imagery and visuals, that I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen and time ceased to exist.

The overall production and special effects of this movie also plays a large part in the stunning imagery and visuals of Blade Runner 2049 and the ability to easily get lost in this futuristic, and grimy world. The special effects were amazing. This movie had an enormous budget and it definitely shows in the special effects and set designs. But on top of Blade Runner looking amazing. It also SOUNDS amazing. Especially in the theater I saw it in. I saw this movie in Dolby at an AMC Prime Theater and it was spectacular. With every gun shot, every punch, and every time the extraordinary, and haunting score came up, the whole theater reverberated, my entire seat shook, and my ear drums rejoiced in the glory of the mind-blowing surround sound and the overall sound design of this movie. I not only implore you to see this movie, but to experience it in an AMC Prime Dolby theater. Blade Runner 2049 is the PERFECT movie for this gem of a theater.

Blade Runner 2049 isn’t just a solid film, its a cinematic EXPERIENCE that is meant to be seen on the biggest theater screen possible with the best surround sound system out there (like AMC Dolby). There are some directors out there who continue to make movies that are MADE for the big screen. Christopher Nolan is an example of one, with movies such as Interstellar and Dunkirk. And now Denis Villeneuve has truly made a film that was meant to be experienced on the big screen with Blade Runner 2049.

This movie reminds me of why I love movies so much. Movies have the ability to captivate you, to make you forget about everything else and transport you to another world for a few hours, to create a cathartic experience, to have an effect on you, and to make you think and feel emotions you never felt before, and to spark conversations with other people—film fans and regular movie-goers alike. Thats exactly what Blade Runner 2049 did for me and what I think it achieves overall.

For people looking for a sci-fi action movie, Blade Runner 2049 may not be for you, although it does have some great action scenes in it. But for people who appreciate film and have been craving a visually beautiful, truly one of a kind, cinematic experience by one of the best working directors today, with a compelling narrative, this movie is definitely for you.

A lot of people have been referring to Blade Runner 2049 as a masterpiece like its predecessor. Some movies like Blade Runner 2049 will have a larger than life appeal. They’ll have the look and feel of a big, ambitious, epic movie but they don’t always have a good narrative structure to back it up, such as the case with style over substance. But Blade Runner 2049 not only has the visuals and feel of an epic masterpiece, it has the narrative satisfaction and completeness of a masterpiece with a clear beginning and end. Its the perfect example of style AND substance and I think it will live up to being hailed as a masterpiece. It might take a few more years, but its inevitable. We probably won't see anything like Blade Runner 2049 for a long, LONG time.

I implore you to see this movie if you haven’t already. It’s worth every cent to experience it in theaters and show that you appreciate filmmakers like Denis Villeneuve who still value filmmaking as a form of art and care about creating great movies.