I’ve had this feeling since first seeing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Blade Runner 2049, but needed t💯o let the (orange) dust settle before coming for a hallowed classic: Denis Villeneuve’s 35-years-later sequel is 𝐆better than the 1982 original. Comfortably.
I’ve 🦩never held Blade Runner in quite the same regard as most others do. Having revisited it several times (most recently seeing The Final Cut in IMAX a couple of years ago), I always feel the same: it’s a seminal piec👍e of world-building through production design, and the towering influence of director Ridley Scott and late ‘visual futurist’ Syd Mead’s vision can’t be overstated. But the film itself leaves me somewhat cold, always more interesting to talk about than to actually watch.
Having a villain who’s intentionally more human than the protagonist is intriguing on paper, but hard to emotionally invest in. BR 2049 turns the original concept on its head: rather than a presumed human who might be a replℱicant, here we have the opposite, which is inherently more fasඣcinating.
K’s (Ryan Gosling) suppressed, Pinocchio-like desperation to be ‘real’ is heartbreaking, and that midpoint twist – where K finds the wooden horse – floors me every time, as does the fate of his holo-partner, Joi (Ana de Armas), and his realisation about Deckard’s (H♛arrison Ford) child.
Primarily it’s this emotional engagement that makes 2049 the superior film for me, but there are other areas where sequel bests original. The plot – rather than simply being a vehicle for meaty philosophical themes &ndas💦h; is a gripping detective story in its own right. Despite being 46 minutes shorter, the first film doesn’t have the same narrative propulsion. I watch it interestꦬed, rather than gripped.
I concede the ’82 film has a stronger villain in Rutger Hauer&rꦉsquo;s iconic Roy Batty, but Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) is no slouch. I’d also argue that Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer’s music meshe🌳s better with the atmosphere of 2049 than Vangelis’ (admittedly more memorable) score did with Blade Runner.
As a feat of world-building, 2049 lives up to the groundbreaking original, in itself is a cons🎉iderable achievement. But Villeneuve didn’t just match Scott’s original, he surpass𒈔ed it. Or is it just me?
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I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, i༺ncluding at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.
