Blade Runner sequel planned...

[Shokara]

[Rody]

I guess I'm surprised there isn't more activity in this thread.

I came back from a showing yesterday feeling thoroughly impressed. Blade Runner 2049 perfectly captures the aesthetics and ideas of the original film (as well as I can understand that one), without resorting to excessive nostalgia bait. There certainly are callbacks to the first film, but they're all worked into the story so naturally that noticing their presence is truly rewarding. Blade Runner 2049 is certainly a film to make one think - not only in its themes of percieved reality and identity, but also in its method of actually "showing, not telling" for much of the time. It's not exactly hard to put the pieces laid out together and realize where the plot is heading, but the fact that the film lays the clues out there for the audience, rather than explaining every little detail, is something I greatly appreciated. The emotional payoffs of certain scenes worked largely due to this method, as well as the film's propensity to take its time for the emotional reactions of the main character to hit their critical point. The soundtrack also did wonders for the film's atmosphere - it's great to hear Zimmer again on something completely non-superhero.
I can't say I ever could have predicted how the movie would end, but in the end, I think it wrapped up about as perfectly as it could have. I definitely, strongly recommend sci-fi fans check this one out while it's in theaters.

[lhb412]

^ I want to watch the original again before the sequel, as I haven't seen it since I was 15 or so!

I watch pretty much exclusively horror in October, so this has been postponed for me.

[lhb412]

Ah! This movie disappeared from theaters last weekend, but somehow it's back this weekend! I'll make sure to catch it!

[Dai]

I just rented this, and now I regret not seeing it at the cinema. It's a gorgeous thing to soak into your retinas.

I've always had mixed feelings about the original Blade Runner. It's a stunning movie to look at, but not as great a movie to watch. Sure, its lack of humanity is the point, but the dynamic between Harrison Ford and Sean Young is troubling. It goes beyond a lack of chemistry. There are scenes where Ford's brutality and Young's fear seem to have nothing to do with the needs of the script.

2049 then is just as stunning to look at, but also a good watch. The key difference is that this one has some real heart. It's surprisingly patient, and doesn't feel remotely like a modern Hollywood movie. There's almost no action, and certainly nothing particularly showy on that side of things, instead focusing on its mystery, characters, and themes. I really can't believe a studio had the guts to give something like this a major theatrical release in 2017; it would be like if there was suddenly a huge re-release of Tarkovsky's Solaris sandwiched between all the Deadpools and Infinity Wars. Even its inevitable intertextuality is mostly woven into the heart of the story instead of being the typical Finn-accidentally-turns-on-the-3D-chess-on-the-Falcon variety. There's essentially only 100 minutes of plot here, with the additional hour being all about creating a tangible sense of place, mood, and atmosphere. Said plot is pretty straightforward by cyberpunk standards, but executed in a satisfying manner. I was also pleased to see that all of my earlier cynical predictions about this movie were wrong. So if you missed this one, definitely check it out.

[lhb412]

^ The original Blade Runner was revolutionary, but when you get down to it, I think 2049 is a better movie.

[jellydonut25]

[mr.negativity]

[lhb412]

This is really super cool. 2049 was excellent, but its failure in the box office seem to preclude any more Blade Runner stuff for the near future. I'm glad to be wrong!

It'll be interesting to see if this Toonami/Crunchyroll/Japanese anime studio synergy leads to a constant stream of co-productions, like all the Netflix anime we have now.