Blade Runner

 

Welcome to the future, it's November 2019.

I have seen Blade Runner about 3 times between several years, and I was disappointed and not really impressed back in 2007. The same happened for the Remastered version in 2011. And now in 2019, I am starting to appreciate it more. It's definitely a movie that grows on me.

As perhaps the most well known and quintessential cyberpunk themed sci-fi movie out there, the plot is about a blade runner played by Harrison Ford who is tasked with "retiring" 4 replicants who have escaped from a colony and are wandering in a city on Earth.

The appealing visuals and the production values for the early 80's are outstanding and memorable whether you like the rest of the movie, or not. It's slow pacing means that only those with patience will be able to appreciate the overall picture.

Many themes play during Blade Runner, but one of the most significant ones is what it means to be human, and when rebellion is born once flawed creations and a slave system are put into place, while independent thought and free will manifest and shape them around.

Reploids and Mavericks of the Mega Man X series have no doubt be inspired by this movie, as have other kinds of stories after 1982. The late Rutger Hauer arguably plays his best and most well known international role here with a monologue speech at the climax which results into a poetic death.

The Voight Kampff opening scene, aside from the scenery of the futuristic Los Angles before that, always stood out for me, but several other scenes such as Roy's confrontation with his maker, and Rick testing Rachael on several levels, do as well.

From the beginning, I always wanted to appreciate and love Ridley Scott's Blade Runner as a movie more, but it's execution, cinematography and direction are not some of the best out there for me. But as I said, perhaps it will grow even further inside me, the more older I get.

Rating: 7.5

The long awaited sequel towards the former, Blade Runner 2049 manages to surprise older and newer fans with a fine balance of storytelling, cinematography, themes and overall setting.

Ryan Gosling now leads as a blade runner named K, normally tasked with retiring older generations of replicants, but as the plot unfolds, he stumbles upon a huge secret igniting a potential revolution and war.

The visuals are even more striking to behold here, as the dystopian bleak colors of high tech and low life continue to manifest and evolve if you will, further. Loneliness is a major theme playing, as the AI hologram called Joi, played by the lovely Ana de Armas, fills up K's void.

An ever slower pacing combined with a longer running time means that arguably, this movie is even harder for normal folks to delve into and to "get", but on the plus side, it takes time into it's own hands, managing to engross and engulf you into it's world.

The established lore expands here in world building, as replicants and humans manage to fuse further, while reproduction and interstellar colonization are other major themes playing, as uphold by the CEO of Wallace Corporation, Niander.

The supportive cast is compelling and convincing, as Jared Leto, Robin Wright, Sylvia Hoeks and others give something of a personal spin and character towards the movie. Harrison Ford returning as the original blade runner is done so in a clever way, respecting both movies by acting as a bridge between them.

Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 is in some ways, even better than the original. In any case, you can't go wrong with either of them, and for me, they are definitely movies which can be re-watched, so that each time, you will pick up and interpret, or learn something new out of it.

Rating: 7.5