Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Dir: Denis Villeneuve
- Ridley Coote
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
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It is no secret that Denis Villeneuve is considered to be one of the best directors working today. His body of work speaks for itself. This film, from 2017, seems to bring a surprisingly mixed response from audience members. There are a great many who love it, such as myself, but plenty who feel only apathy to it. For my money, it's a brilliant modern sci-fi film.
The soundtrack is composed by Hans Zimmer, which really should be all I need to say about it. His reputation and other work no doubt sets its own president. This happens to be one of my favourite scores of this current century. It builds on the original, another favourite of mine, and infuses both modernity and some of Zimmer's trademark sounds, making it something entirely new and epic.
Roger Deakins' cinematography is some of the best you'll see in science fiction. This is one of the most visually stunning films ever, in my opinion. It's beautiful, and utilises a mix of neon cyberpunk and future dystopian locations to create some utterly compelling visuals. The use of colour and framing is marvellously good.
I think that the narrative seems to be aging better and better as time passes. It builds on that of the original, while also driving itself on with several intriguing plot points which feel unique to the film's iconic predecessor. There's several different twists and turns, and they all feed into the overarching story very nicely. The ending hits a lot harder than you imagine it will, particularly with the help of that aforementioned masterful soundtrack.
People often joke about Ryan Gosling's performance in this film for being one of his 'brooding man who doesn't talk much' roles, but, in fairness, he actually does a good deal of acting in this. Some it is definitely subtle, but he has so many really strong scenes throughout the film, especially in the final third-or-so.
Harrison Ford has a relatively small role in the film, certainly relative to how much he was advertised before the film came out, but he gives such a memorable performance. Yes, it's very much his modern forte; the grumpy, disillusioned, old man, but he does it so well.
Ana de Armas does a wonderful job in her supporting role, despite playing a fairly passive character, for periods of the film. I think she displayed some exemplary acting in a number of scenes, and her impressive display helped make this film even more memorable. She steals almost every scene she's in, and it's not hard to see why; she is just excellent.
The best of the rest of the supporting cast performances come from Robin Wright, Sylvia Hoeks, and Jared Leto, while the likes of Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, and David Dastmalchian, also deserve credit for their appearances. I do want to heap particular praise onto Dave Bautista for his very small but incredible performance at the beginning of the film.
Overall, this has become a marker for modern science fiction quality, as well as how well a legacy sequel can be done, if it's done with care and respect to the original. It looks, sounds, and feels, exceptional. It's the legacy sequel we never knew we needed, but the one a lot of people are so thankful we got, myself included. It's excellent.
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