NOVEMBER 6, 2017
Few people remember this, but I was around in 1982, and Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi film “Blade Runner” laid at huge goose-egg at the box-office. Thanks to polarized reviews, the original grossed less than $35 million, which might be part of the explanation as to why it has taken so long for a sequel to reach the screen.
Luckily, the new film, “Blade Runner 2049,” is in the very capable hands of one of the best of the younger generation of filmmakers, Denis Villeneuve, who has directed several of my favorite films in recent years — “Prisoners,” “Sicario” and “Arrival” — and brings a certain offbeat sensibility to a project that can really use it.
In case you’ve forgotten, the original “Blade Runner” focused on a rainy Los Angeles vista set far in the future (2019!!) in a world where synthetic humans (called replicants) have been created to work on off-world colonies. However, a group of rebel replicants have escaped and are heading back to earth. The task of rounding them up is given to “blade runners,” the best of whom is Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a burnt-out cop.
Like every great film noir (and make no mistake, “Blade Runner,” from its lighting to its world-weary hero, is noirish through and through), there is a tone of cynical resignation — our hero may have a momentary victory defeating the bad guys, but ultimately the deck is stacked against him.
That tone is carried over 30 years later to “Blade Runner 2049” in which the rogue replicant hunter, now called K (Ryan Gosling) who happens to be a replicant himself, discovers the remains of a replicant who was actually pregnant, something that replicants are not supposed to be able to do. As the discovery could instigate a war between human beings and replicants, K is ordered to find the child from the pregnancy and destroy any evidence that would lead others to discover the truth as well.
K learns that the dead replicant once had a romantic connection with Deckard, so he sets out to find the connection between the two, but he is tailed by a henchwoman (Sylvia Hoeks) who is working for Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), the evil CEO of Wallace Corporation who wants to find the secret of replication among replicants.
As K is being followed, he hits the mother lode and comes face to face with Rick Deckard himself.
Gosling fits quite comfortably into the “Blade Runner” world, but his storyline is not exactly gripping — the investigation into the pregnant replicant is hardly the stuff of great drama. But once Ford appears, the jeopardy level is raised and the film really takes off. Even as a young man, Ford displayed a crotchety side to many of his roles, so that now when being crotchety is age-appropriate, his take works beautifully.
Yet (and it pains me to say this because I am one of Villeneuve’s biggest fans), this is not one of the director’s most distinguished films, largely because its length is simply crushing. (Two hours and 43 minutes — really?) So much of it seems extraneous. Is there really any need for a character to enter a large room and have the camera follow her crossing for the next 20 seconds? Factor in 10 or 20 entrances, and you’re talking about real running time here. “Blade Runner 2019” would have been so much more effective without that 40 minutes worth of bloat.
But if “Blade Runner 2049” will be remembered for anything, it will be for the breathtaking cinematography of Roger Deakins. The British cinematographer is a legend in the film world, having photographed such iconic films as “The Shawshank Redemption” and “No Country For Old Men,” as well as Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” and “Sicario.” His use of shadow and light is breathtaking, as well as his choice of colors. In several memorable shots from the film, he decides to use a mustard-like palette, which, while unexpected, proves to be extremely effective. Despite memorable work in many classic films and 13 previous Academy Award nominations, Deakins has never won an Oscar. Let’s hope that a much-deserved 14th nomination for “Blade Runner 2049” is the charm.
As mixed as I may be about the final result, I’m glad that “Blade Runner 2049” was made. The world that was created in Ridley Scott’s original was worthy coming back to, and with Roger Deakins behind the camera, it’s as striking as ever.
GRADE: B
