Blade Runner 2049 - Part 4

[Spider-Fan]

I think BR 2049 definitely is more inviting to the average viewer...relatively speaking. The original BR takes multiple viewings to enjoy, I hated it the first time, was indifferent the second time and then loved the film on my third rewatch which seems to be the general pattern I hear from a lot of people. BR 2049 though, I loved on the first watch. I think it has a more accessible main character, obviously bigger and better special effects and action, louder, more bombastic score and sound design -- on a technical level I think its easier for someone to stay awake and enjoy Br2049 than the much more quiet and melodic original.

Some may have that relationship with it, but for me, Blade Runner was love at first site. One of my 5 favorite films and it was that way upon first viewing. 2049 is a very solid sequel, but Blade Runner is still the franchise's masterpiece.

 

[Aximili86]

I don't really see how someone could/would enjoy the sequel without enjoying the original. Sure, the sequel's obviously more modern and a little flashier, but they're both basically the same type of film. A quiet, slow-plodding & really engaging crime noir thriller.

Seems like the complaints among the more impatient people over the first one would apply to 2049, too.

Love 'em both, personally/

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Over the years I have tried many times to get into the original. Every few years or so I give it another re-watch to see if it finally clicks with me. It just never has.

However I enjoyed 2049 a lot, despite feeling that it could have lost 15-20 mins from the run time and be better for it.

 

[David H.]

For me it might have been the managing of expectations. Before watching the original, all I’d ever heard or read about it is that it was an all-caps masterpiece of science fiction and OMG Rutger Hauer and all that. When I finally watched it, i thought it was pretty good but also kind of shapeless. I ended up admiring it more than actually liking it (which is my response to A LOT of “classics”, I should add.)

With 2049 I went in expecting even less. Specially right now, with so many returns to classic genre entries turning out just okay or even outright bad. I knew there’d be some great elements (Deakins, primarily), but whatever hopes I had for the sequel were blown away, and I guess it has a lot more to do with the more concrete narrative. Maybe I’m just not one for emotion driven movies, though 2049 certainly has elements of that.

 

[Teelie]

I am offended

Yeah, I do that to people sometimes.

 

[MadVillainy]

Over the years I have tried many times to get into the original. Every few years or so I give it another re-watch to see if it finally clicks with me. It just never has.

However I enjoyed 2049 a lot, despite feeling that it could have lost 15-20 mins from the run time and be better for it.

Exactly how i feel about both movies. Although I don't mind 2049's runtime

 

[kguillou]

I think BR 2049 is definitely an easier movie to like but in order to LOVE it, I think you need to at least like or have the original movie on your mind. There are certain moments in this movie that will click with you if you intimately know the original. For example, the very end with Gosling laying down on the steps with the snow flake touching his face as "tears in rain" plays, man, that moment really hit me and its because of the musical cue and what that melody meant to the original and how it paralleled with this movie. Someone who's not familiar with Blade Runner or the score won't be impacted by that moment nearly as much, IMO.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I think it plays fine on it's own if you didn't see the original. Mainly because thematically it's relevant to the themes of this film and it's an emotional payoff. Seeing the last film is merely a bonus. That's the mark of a great sequel.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Exactly how i feel about both movies. Although I don't mind 2049's runtime

I just feel 2049 drags in places, and the places it does could easily be chopped down. I still like it a lot though.

The majority of the original drags for me.

 

[Hordakfan]

Shame it did ok then bombed in theaters but any fans of the franchise glad it's a bestselling blu-ray/DVD on the market? at least it sold and perfect reference quality blu-ray like the final cut of the original.

 

[Deck Rickard]

The greatest tragedy of it bombing is that I suppose we'll never see a third installment. I'm not saying that it needs another sequel but they certainly seemed to be planting seeds for a third film that features the looming war between the replicant resistance and Wallace. One wonders what they would have done with a third film; Deckard would obviously be back but what about K? Since he apparently died at the end of 2049, would that be it? Or would they bring him back (like Wallace "brought back" Rachael)? Oh, well. Guess we'll never know.

 

[The Sand Master]

Did anyone catch the BBC's Film 2018 this week where it featured the Secret Cinema's Blade Runner Weekend Festival? A whole hangar warehouse decked out to look like the world of Blade Runner with dozens and dozens of actors in full costume acting out scenes and scenarios and attendants lucky enough to get tickets, all fully dressed up for the future themselves! Interactive TV screens, props, sound effects, Ridley Scott lighting and even 'acid rain' in one section of the Chinatown.
https://tickets.secretcinema.org/info

http://www.methodsunsound.com/spoiler-free-tips-for-secret-cinema-blade-runner-final-cut/

 

[Brother Jack]

K definitely died. The ending doesn't really make sense if he lived, just as the ending to the original wouldn't make sense if Batty lived. The point is that the replicant reaches a higher level of humanity ("more human than human") through sacrificing his own life for a human. Batty chooses to save Deckard because he was going to die anyway, but K purposefully puts himself in harm's way to save Deckard.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

The greatest tragedy of it bombing is that I suppose we'll never see a third installment. I'm not saying that it needs another sequel but they certainly seemed to be planting seeds for a third film that features the looming war between the replicant resistance and Wallace. One wonders what they would have done with a third film; Deckard would obviously be back but what about K? Since he apparently died at the end of 2049, would that be it? Or would they bring him back (like Wallace "brought back" Rachael)? Oh, well. Guess we'll never know.

I agree I definitely feel like they were setting up a 3rd movie where the Replicant revolution was coming.

 

[David H.]

Hmm, I don’t know. The Replicant resistance felt like 2049’s version of off-world colonies. It’s this cool concept that only really serves as dressing. You could expand on it but I never got the feeling they’re setting anything up by it.

As it stands, these two work perfectly for me as a realization and acceptance arc of a new species.

 

[Hordakfan]

K definitely died. The ending doesn't really make sense if he lived, just as the ending to the original wouldn't make sense if Batty lived. The point is that the replicant reaches a higher level of humanity ("more human than human") through sacrificing his own life for a human. Batty chooses to save Deckard because he was going to die anyway, but K purposefully puts himself in harm's way to save Deckard.

Yup and as powerful as Roy Batty's speech death.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Hmm, I don’t know. The Replicant resistance felt like 2049’s version of off-world colonies. It’s this cool concept that only really serves as dressing. You could expand on it but I never got the feeling they’re setting anything up by it.

As it stands, these two work perfectly for me as a realization and acceptance arc of a new species.

I felt throughout the 3rd act they were setting up a 3rd personally.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Man in the Suit]

 

[Elayis]

Exclusive: Read ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Producer Cynthia Yorkin's In-Depth Journal Written During Production

 

[James.B]

'Blade Runner' animated series coming to Adult Swim

 

[Sithborg]

Those names definitely have my attention.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I loved the one anime short they did as a tie-in to Blade Runner 2049, so I will watch this.

 

[TheVileOne]

Seems like a good way to keep the franchise alive at a more reasonable budget.

 

[Brother Jack]

This is like the opposite of the Cowboy Bebop announcement yesterday.