2049 Vs Blade Runner

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Blade Runner 2049, starring Ryan Gosling as the titular Blade Runner, is the long-awaited sequel to the 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner. The original film, which was lambasted for its slow pacing and lackluster action, became a cult film after multiple re-cuts and re-releases over decades. It was beloved for its stunning visuals, philosophical ponderings, and innovative synth-heavy soundtrack. The sequel, set 30 years after the original, embraces the original film’s legacy with beautiful sets and visuals, but its plot is much more susceptible to sci-fi pitfalls and ennui.
Blade Runner 2049’s marketing shows a film much different from its product; in reality, it is not an action movie but a futuristic detective film with sparse, brutal, and unglorified action sequences. Gosling plays Officer K, a Blade Runner, which are detectives who hunt down …show more content…

Few characters are developed to their full capacity and the wasted potential is obvious and distracting. Hoek's character, for example, has no personality past her villainy, despite the movie’s hinting that she is more than that. Hoek’s and Leto’s characters are a far cry from the enjoyable, alive villains of the original movie; instead, they often act off-camera, their exact motivations unclear. They are thus hardly characters, being mere tools to surprise the viewer and move the plot along. A romantic subplot between Officer K and Joi (Ana de Armas), the two most interestingly created characters in the film, tries to elicit emotion from the viewer yet stumbles in its penultimate scene.
The film is still largely enjoyable. Oscar-worthy cinematography and an attempt at deeper thinking, accompanied by Gosling’s superb acting, make a film that stands up to further scrutiny, with a tight, reasonable plot better than the majority of modern sci-fi that, in the end, justifies its runtime, despite its pitfalls.
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