The film is undeniably gorgeous, the kind of work that could be appreciated with the volume turned all the way down. The Oscar talk for the always-an-Academy-bridesmaid Roger Deakins started with the first trailer. Robin Wright, Jared Leto, and Harrison Ford co-star.įrom the minute footage of “Blade Runner 2049” started to leak, it was clear that the director of “ Prisoners” and “ Arrival” had created a film with a confident, strong visual language. What he finds there will start what is essentially a detective story, spurring K to solve a mystery about his own past, the history of replicants, the power of memory, and what it means to be a human being. In the film’s opening, Officer K tracks down a replicant who is just trying to live a peaceful life as a farmer (a spectacled Dave Bautista, doing a great deal with a small role). His duty now is to track down old replicants who have gone into hiding, living long past their originally-programmed lifespan.

It’s been decades since the action of the first film, but the replicant-destroying Blade Runner is still a profession, personified here by Ryan Gosling as an agent known as K. Riding a wave of gorgeous visuals from the legendary Roger Deakins and a crack effects team, Villeneuve brings us to Los Angeles in 2049. Until then, I’ll just give you the very basics, as beautiful as they are. The way the film reveals its secrets, themes, and connections is one of its greatest strengths, so I’ll heed that directorial request, although I suspect some of the best writing about this film will be done when its themes can be discussed beat by beat and explicitly. Villeneuve and the team at Warner Brothers have asked critics to be incredibly precious with spoilers, not even revealing things that the film does mere minutes into its running time (and even a couple things I believe the trailers give away, but whatever). Here’s where things get a little tricky for a film critic.

Blade runner 2049 review