Director: Denis
Villeneuve
Notable Cast: Ryan
Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie
Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, Jared Leto, David Dastmalchian,
Barkhad Abdi, Hiam Abbass, Wood Harris
The original Blade
Runner has reached an almost God like status as a piece of cult cinema over
the last 30 years. It was built on the recipe of such. It’s loosely based on a
Philip K. Dick story, it’s a film meant to be outlandishly detail oriented, it’s
science fiction that asks big questions and never answers them, and it has
multiple cuts that fans can pick apart for its details and philosophical
elements. For these things, it feeds into its own influential status in the
science fiction genre along with being somewhat abrasive in its slow, stylish
approach that often plays against the usual tropes which also makes it wildly
divisive among cinephiles. It’s either worshipped or treated with disdain. Which
gives it the ultimate cult status. When it was first announced that the sequel,
ultimately titled Blade Runner 2049,
would actually go forward with some of the hottest talent in the industry in
director Denis Villeneuve and star Ryan Gosling, it was almost not believable.
Could they pull off a film that retains the tone and style of the original (a
divisive aspect of the film) to appease the long time fans, but find a way to
advance the story 30 years after the fact? Oddly enough, the answer is very
much yes to both of those. Not only does Blade
Runner 2049 accomplish the feat of continuing the story without essentially
remaking it, but it might even be more ambitious in its style and approach than
the original. It’s also a film that may be even more divisive for the
absolutely intense style and slow burn approach it uses, so like the original,
it is not going to be for everyone.