I'm not sure yet where my feelings on this one will land but on a first impression Blade Runner 2049 is impressive, especially in the way it uses visuals to set scene and story, with several of the shots having an immediately iconic feeling[*] - it's one of the most beautiful films to come along in some while - and in the way it handles its relationship with the original: a convincingly similar visual style and mood, coverage of the same themes (perhaps to a fault, to some degree) and building on the outlines of its events,[**] and for all of that neither parodically repeating its beats nor winkingly referential, as its own story, Gosling's K and his trajectory and the way it intersects with the wider arc of replicant consciousness and self-determination, holds the attention.
[*] Maybe not surprising given that the director is Denis Villeneuve, of Arrival and Sicario.
[**] Although it's interesting - even though it's faithful to the themes and enigmas of its 1982 predecessor, including in the details and perspectives that it adds to its story, somehow the original remains very much its own thing rather than being retrospectively altered by this new chapter.
[*] Maybe not surprising given that the director is Denis Villeneuve, of Arrival and Sicario.
[**] Although it's interesting - even though it's faithful to the themes and enigmas of its 1982 predecessor, including in the details and perspectives that it adds to its story, somehow the original remains very much its own thing rather than being retrospectively altered by this new chapter.
