India

Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049 is a ravishing descent into dystopian hell

Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049 is a ravishing descent into dystopian hell

Blade Runner, directed by Ridely Scott, was released in 1982, and starred Harrison Ford as Rick Dickard, whose job is to “retire” the replicants, bioengineered robots who seem like humans. Initially disappointing, the movie has endured all along these years, has been subjected to reevaluations and now recognized as a cult classic, with intriguing themes about what it means to human, our relationship with technology and hazards of abusing it.

Now comes Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villuneuve and starring Ryan Reynolds, and its a magnificent sequel that lives upto the status of the original.

The movie starts out with K (Ryan Gosling), a replicant, who is trying to track down a man named Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) and after a violent confrontation, discovers something shocking that will lead him to uncovering something shocking about the Replicants and Rick Dickard, whom he begins to pursue when he’s told by his officer, Joshi (Robin Wright) to find and cover up everything he discovers. And so begins K’s nightmarish journey that would lead him to Dickard (Harrison Ford) and face some startling truths.

The movie has strong supporting cast, Jared Leto as the villanious Niander Wallance and Ana de Armas as his monogramic girlfriend make very good impression, however Leto is a touch too mannered in his scenes.

The movie was lensed by legendary Cinematographer, Roger Deakins and has some of the most jaw dropping and goreous imagery to come from any movie this year, with mist and the production design of a world falling apart used to full effect, and the music by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch is, if not as exquisitely dreamy as Vangelis’ score for the original movie, it is still very striking in its booming excess.

Ryan Gosling, even if he’s not the most expressive actor, is very effective as K, and Harrison brings a world weary intelligence to his role that pays in spades during the third act of the movie.

The movie, however, is very long, and could easily lose 20 minutes, but when Denis uses his directorial prowess, it is hard to deny the it’s dreamy allure and i’d recommend the movie just for that, but it also tells a very good story, and deepens the themes of the its predecessor.

About the author

Abhishek Rana

Since my early childhood, I’ve loved writing, watching movies and having an opinion. Now, I do it professionally. Always looking for new ways to challenge myself.