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Best of the decade: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

A review by Brooks Rich

This is one film I understand if someone says, "man that film was too slow for me." I completely get that. Blade Runner was a deliberately paced science fiction film. It was released in 1982 but it was paced more like a science fiction film from the '70s. Fans of Blade Runner should immediately track down the 1972 film Silent Running.

If this blog had been around in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 would have been my favorite movie of the year. Honestly three out of the past four years have deliberately paced and heady science fiction films as my favorites for the year. Arrival in 2016, Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, and Ad Astra this past year. While Star Wars might be doing all it can to destroy the science fiction genre, there are directors out there doing all they can to keep it intelligent. Denis Villeneuve is my pick for director of the decade and while Arrival is in my opinion his best work, Blade Runner 2049 is right behind it. I think this film is a masterpiece.

Ryan Gosling plays K, a blade runner who hunts down the old replicants, which are essentially robots. K himself is a new model replicant and only lives to hunt down the old replicants. He soon uncovers a secret that can change the entire replicant mythos and also possibly destabilize civilization.

Full props to Ryan Gosling for his performance in this film. This film is two hours and forty-four minutes and Gosling is in almost every scene. I can't imagine that sort of shooting schedule. K is a fascinating character and probably my favorite character of the past decade, if we were to rank such a thing. I am fully invested in his story every time I watch it and I think the conclusion of the film is exactly how his story should end.

Villeneuve does not reboot Blade Runner to be this giant action packed science fiction adventure film.  He paces this film just like the original. This one probably moves a little faster even with the run time but it's so refreshing to see a film paced like this in today's world of quick cutting superhero and action movies.

This film is gorgeous. I can't put that any other way. Roger Deakins won the Academy Award for best cinematography for this film and I can't disagree with that at all. I think this is the best looking film of the decade and with Villeneuve doing Dune next, you at least know that film will be gorgeous too. Fans of high brow science fiction. If for some reason you skipped this film, for the love of God track it down.


Comments

  1. Jack MathewNovember 15, 2022 at 11:38 PM

    I literally watched this movie 4 to 5 time and still he wants to make me watch this movie one more time.

    Blade Runner 2049 Jacket

    ReplyDelete

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