Jack and I liked this sci-fi action story of the future interactions between humans and robotic/android beings known as replicants. A sequel to the 1982 hit, it features magnificent cinematography, production design, and special effects.
Ryan Gosling (last blogged for Song to Song) puts aside emotions to star as K, a youngish replicant who works for the Los Angeles Police Department hunting older replicants who might interfere with the new world order, as led by his human boss Robin Wright (most recently in Wonder Woman). Two comely replicants are played by actresses new to me: Ana de Armas as K's holographic girlfriend Joi and Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, assistant to corporate warlord Niander Wallace, played by Jared Leto (last blogged for his Oscar-winning performance in Dallas Buyer's Club), who despite being pictured on all posters, isn't in the movie much. Harrison Ford (most recently in these pages for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens), starred in the original movie and reprises his role of Deckard, making his first appearance after an hour and 45 minutes of the 2:44 running time has elapsed. It's nice to see Mackenzie Davis (after The Martian, we appreciated her starring role in the Emmy-winning episode of Black Mirror) and Carla Juri (played Inka, a nice German friend in Morris from America) as the immune deficient scientist.
Director Denis Villeneuve (Oscar-nominated for Arrival) works from a script by Hampton Fancher (he co-wrote the original and a couple of other movies) and Michael Green (co-writer of Logan).
The aforementioned photography is thanks to Roger Deakins (last in these pages for shooting Hail, Caesar!), and includes wide shots of sci-fi milieux, with a nod to production design Dennis Gassner (won an Oscar for Bugsy (1991), was nominated for Barton Fink (1991), Road to Perdition (2002), The Golden Compass (2007), and Into the Woods; and is also known for fine work on The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Truman Show (1998), Field of Dreams (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Big Fish (2003), Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall, to name a few) and his crew.
Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer, who collaborated on the sweet score for Hidden Figures, give us a scary soundtrack that can be streamed for an hour and a half (including five short songs by others) from this youtube link.
I moved to LA and began film school in 1982. We saw the first Blade Runner in one of our screening rooms and I distinctly remember being depressed by the dark, foggy atmosphere shown in the future of Los Angeles, wondering what I had gotten myself into. It took place in 2019. This 2049 LA is even more depressing but I didn't take it personally when we saw it two weeks ago.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 88% and its audiences at 81 are liking this one a lot. Fan-kids should see it.
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