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Blade Runner 2049 Review Thread

T

tonysidaway

Member
AlteredBeast said:
Well, Deckard is definitely human in it. :p
Click to expand...

Naughty. The original doesn't explicitly cast doubt on whether Rick is human, because the unicorn sequence was left on the cutting room floor. That's not a continuity problem for the sequel, as the possibility that he's a replicant is never mentioned there either. Even if it were, Rick could have remained in ignorance of his status all his life without any continuity issue.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
Flipyap said:
I was thinking of the happy ending and Rachael being special, but I guess one could even fit that in if one fanfics hard enough.
Click to expand...

Technically even the theatrical "happy" ending works

2049 makes it clear the last of the Nexus Replicants had the extended lifespan, and obviously with the ability to conceive a child, it wouldn't seem too far fetched that the four year lifespan wouldn't apply. After all, Rachael was "an experiment", in Tyrell's words.

I'm still mulling this movie over. I have a lot of contradicting opinions rolling in my head as I think about it. It's a beautiful piece of craft for sure, but some things stuck out to me as odd concessions to the studio/producers that even the original movie didn't have. Like did we need subtitles for what the woman was yelling in the stairway of K's apartment when she's just window dressing for the scene? There's also a lot of odd Spielberg/Lucas like scenes of levity that never would've flown in the original film.

I guess deep down I wish we would've gotten Scott directing this instead of Villeneuve. It could've used the same script even. I'll have more complete thoughts on it later.
 
C

CelestialWolfZX

Member
Although I've heard this film is similar to Mad Max: Fury Road where you don't need to see the originals beforehand to understand what's going on... My dad's wanting to watch the original this weekend before we head off to watch this. I've seen the directors cut before, and I believe he has as well so that's probably the one we'll watch again, but is it worth watching The Final Cut instead?

We're foregoing the theatrical cut, we need no narration.
 
I

Inferno313

Banned
CelestialWolfZX said:
Although I've heard this film is similar to Mad Max: Fury Road where you don't need to see the originals beforehand to understand what's going on... My dad's wanting to watch the original this weekend before we head off to watch this. I've seen the directors cut before, and I believe he has as well so that's probably the one we'll watch again, but is it worth watching The Final Cut instead?

We're foregoing the theatrical cut, we need no narration.
Click to expand...

The Final Cut is basically The Director's Cut 2.0, very similar, but with some touch-ups that improve it even further.
 
Z

ZombAid82

Member
Rydeen said:
Technically even the theatrical "happy" ending works

2049 makes it clear the last of the Nexus Replicants had the extended lifespan, and obviously with the ability to conceive a child, it wouldn't seem too far fetched that the four year lifespan wouldn't apply. After all, Rachael was "an experiment", in Tyrell's words.

I'm still mulling this movie over. I have a lot of contradicting opinions rolling in my head as I think about it. It's a beautiful piece of craft for sure, but some things stuck out to me as odd concessions to the studio/producers that even the original movie didn't have. Like did we need subtitles for what the woman was yelling in the stairway of K's apartment when she's just window dressing for the scene? There's also a lot of odd Spielberg/Lucas like scenes of levity that never would've flown in the original film.

I guess deep down I wish we would've gotten Scott directing this instead of Villeneuve. It could've used the same script even. I'll have more thoughts on it later.
Click to expand...

Have you seen Alien Covenant?
The best thing that could've happens to this movie, is Scott NOT directing.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
CelestialWolfZX said:
Although I've heard this film is similar to Mad Max: Fury Road where you don't need to see the originals beforehand to understand what's going on... My dad's wanting to watch the original this weekend before we head off to watch this. I've seen the directors cut before, and I believe he has as well so that's probably the one we'll watch again, but is it worth watching The Final Cut instead?

We're foregoing the theatrical cut, we need no narration.
Click to expand...

Final Cut is very close to the Director's Cut with some tweaks to certain shots (specifically when the dove flies away at the end), and the color timing is slightly different as well, which some people don't like but I don't mind, makes the film look like it was released recently as opposed to 35 years ago.

ZombAid82 said:
Have you seen Alien Covenant?
The best thing that could've happens to this movie, is Scott NOT directing.
Click to expand...

I did, and I saw Prometheus, which I loathed.

Scott was executive producer on this and signed off on the script, so if it was the same script with Scott directing, it would've been fine. Half the issues with Covenant were related to the script and not the direction itself. Visually, Covenant looked great, it had other problems unrelated to the directing.
 
I

Inferno313

Banned
Rydeen said:
Final Cut is very close to the Director's Cut with some tweaks to certain shots (specifically when the dove flies away at the end), and the color timing is slightly different as well, which some people don't like but I don't mind, makes the film look like it was released recently as opposed to 35 years ago.



I did, and I saw Prometheus, which I loathed.

Scott was executive producer on this and signed off on the script, so if it was the same script with Scott directing, it would've been fine. Half the issues with Covenant were related to the script and not the direction itself. Visually, Covenant looked great, it had other problems unrelated to the directing.
Click to expand...

I don't think you understand how scripts for big movies like this get written. The writers don't work in a vacuum for months, turn in the final product, and then that's what the director is obligated to make. Directors who don't write their own scripts still have an extreme amount of influence over the scripts. They often dictate story ideas, moments they want to capture, and other ideas to the writers as the initial draft is being written. They often give intense notes about what to change as rewrites occur. Many of the bad script ideas in Covenant and Prometheus began with Scott, a Director isn't just someone who dictates the visuals of a film. You would not have gotten the same script with Scott directing.
 
C

CloudyTuba

Member
I'm excited to see this but I'm probably going it alone sometime this weekend, maybe Sunday.

The first time I watched the original, I appreciated the design but the rest didn't really click. I watched it for the second time recently once the 4K release came out with my girlfriend. I appreciated the world building a lot more this time and it got me excited for where a sequel could take it. It felt almost designed for the purpose of being a snapshot into a world and little else. Felt like a tease and it made me hungry for more. Like seeing the first act of something much bigger. Really tickles the curiosity.
My girlfriend however could not get on board. She couldn't empathize with anyone. She tried the main character, but then he got rapey with Rachael. She started empathizing more with Roy, then he got all murdery popping eyes out and she wasn't feeling that anymore either. Her main takeaway was that she hated everyone. She's not wrong.

So she's probably not coming with me to see 2049 haha
 
S

Surfinn

Member
SillyNonsense said:
I'm excited to see this but I'm probably going it alone sometime this weekend, maybe Sunday.

The first time I watched the original, I appreciated the design but the rest didn't really click. I watched it for the second time recently once the 4K release came out with my girlfriend. I appreciated the world building a lot more this time and it got me excited for where a sequel could take it. It felt almost designed for the purpose of being a snapshot into a world and almost little else. Felt like a tease and it made me hungry for more.
My girlfriend however could not get on board. She couldn't empathize with anyone. She tried the main character, but then he got rapey with Rachael. She started empathizing more with Roy, then he got all murdery popping eyes out and she wasn't feeling that anymore either. Her main takeaway was that she hated everyone.

So she's probably not coming with me to see 2049 haha
Click to expand...

Yeah. I didn't like the rapey type stuff. Everything before that moment was perfect
 
R

Rydeen

Member
Inferno313 said:
I don't think you understand how scripts for big movies like this get written. The writers don't work in a vacuum for months, turn in the final product, and then that's what the director is obligated to make. Directors who don't write their own scripts still have an extreme amount of influence over the scripts. They often dictate story ideas, moments they want to capture, and other ideas to the writers as the initial draft is being written. They often give intense notes about what to change as rewrites occur. Many of the bad script ideas in Covenant and Prometheus began with Scott, a Director isn't just someone who dictates the visuals of a film. You would not have gotten the same script with Scott directing.
Click to expand...
I'm sure we wouldn't have, but I'm not going to be a pessimist about it. There's a lot of things that worked for me in this film, but there's also a lot that didn't. While the original film has a fairly simple plot to build it's questions, this was a very plot intensive film, which sometimes felt like it wasn't to the movie's advantage.

Like I said, I'm still mulling over my reaction to this film, giving it time to soak in, because while the original Blade Runner is easily my favorite film of all time, it took multiple viewings for it to soak in just why it's so brilliant, and part of me wants to give this film the space to grow as well.
 
C

CopperPuppy

Member
Did a Final Cut rewatch last night in conjunction with the three shorts. Quick question (and spoilers for all three):

Obviously the premise of the film is that replicants aren't allowed on Earth and Blade Runners are used to hunt them down. That said, Watanabe's Black Out 2022 short starts with the premise that the Nexus 8 was given a natural lifespan (instead of the previous four-year span) and sold locally and off-world. At the same time, wasn't the purpose of the blackout to destroy a database being used to track down these new models? And then the fallout from the blackout was to ban replicants once again. What am I missing? Was it that the blackout resulted in replicants being banned entirely, so off-world as well?
 
G

gatti-man

Member
Rydeen said:
Technically even the theatrical "happy" ending works

2049 makes it clear the last of the Nexus Replicants had the extended lifespan, and obviously with the ability to conceive a child, it wouldn't seem too far fetched that the four year lifespan wouldn't apply. After all, Rachael was "an experiment", in Tyrell's words.

I'm still mulling this movie over. I have a lot of contradicting opinions rolling in my head as I think about it. It's a beautiful piece of craft for sure, but some things stuck out to me as odd concessions to the studio/producers that even the original movie didn't have. Like did we need subtitles for what the woman was yelling in the stairway of K's apartment when she's just window dressing for the scene? There's also a lot of odd Spielberg/Lucas like scenes of levity that never would've flown in the original film.

I guess deep down I wish we would've gotten Scott directing this instead of Villeneuve. It could've used the same script even. I'll have more complete thoughts on it later.
Click to expand...

Based on Scott’s recent output I disagree
 
T

teepo

Member
Inferno313 said:
I don't think you understand how scripts for big movies like this get written. The writers don't work in a vacuum for months, turn in the final product, and then that's what the director is obligated to make. Directors who don't write their own scripts still have an extreme amount of influence over the scripts. They often dictate story ideas, moments they want to capture, and other ideas to the writers as the initial draft is being written. They often give intense notes about what to change as rewrites occur. Many of the bad script ideas in Covenant and Prometheus began with Scott, a Director isn't just someone who dictates the visuals of a film. You would not have gotten the same script with Scott directing.
Click to expand...

those bad ideas in covenant and prometheus that began with scott didn't come about because he was sitting behind the camera, they came about because he also served as the executive producer for both films.

and it's a blessing scott didn't direct this because he would've had too much leverage
 
J

jack_package_200

Banned
Armond White's review

The replicants in Blade Runner 2049 present no political allegory (unless panic-stricken viewers see Antifa clones — inhuman despoilers of liberty — under every bed), but their conflict with K revives a problem that already existed in the first film, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: The man-vs.-robot concept is banal except to those who admire Dick’s dystopian fantasy as prophecy.
Click to expand...
 
A

Addi

Member
foolia said:
Worse than Wonder Woman and Spider-man: Homecoming.

FALSE GAWD
Click to expand...

That's the problem with rotten tomato. Decent enough films have a better chance of a really high score than more artistically ambitious ones. That said, when you only need a 60% score (3/5, 6/10 etc) to get a fresh review, I find it weird that it has so many rotten reviews.
 
S

SuperEpicMan

Banned
I really loved the original, but it has been years since I have seen it. For those who have seen the new one, is it worth trying to rewatch the original before going into this one, or is it mostly stand alone?
 
M

Moonkid

Member
SuperEpicMan said:
I really loved the original, but it has been years since I have seen it. For those who have seen the new one, is it worth trying to rewatch the original before going into this one, or is it mostly stand alone?
Click to expand...
Personally I wish I rewatched the original before going into this one. It's been a while since I saw the first one too and while all the details are still fresh in my head, 2049 very much felt like a continuation of what the original started.
 
old

old

Member
Good movie. Definitely will stay with me for a while.

I couldn't hear what Luv said to Deckard at the end.
 
G

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
I watched the original last night after probably a decade in anticipation for 2049. I watched with my wife and bro(since they hadn't see it yet) and I have to admit, the original was quite convoluted and confusing. I feel it's a bit overrated, because the story doesn't necessarily flow all that well either. The atmosphere and music are as amazing as I remembered.

I expect 2049 to be an upgrade in every way.

edit:

old said:
Good movie. Definitely will stay with me for a while.

/snip
Click to expand...

Can you please keep this stuff in the OT?
 
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