Blade Runner 2049 Review (SPOILERS!)

I would recommend watching the film before reading this review.

As mentioned in my Non-Spoiler review for Blade Runner 2049 (2017) I talked about how the film is a visual wonder within a complex mystery of a narrative. Filled with good performances and intriguing themes. But I also said it had issues such as pacing and objectification which, I felt, held it back from being a masterpiece. In this SPOILER review, I'll be going into the elements can't really be talked about in the previous review of this film.

Ryan Gosling/K/Joe

I used K's (Ryan Gosling) chosen name for the Non-Spoiler review mainly because I thought the name K would possibly spoil the reveal of his true nature, as no normal man would just be called K. Yes, Ryan Gosling's character is a Replicant. A new breed of Replicants that are designed more obedient compared to the more rebellious models from the original Blade Runner (1982). I was surprised that this was revealed in the first 1o minutes of the film, where the replicant (Dave Bautista) that K is hunting criticises him for hunting his own kind. I thought that would have been a huge reveal around the final third, but I can see why they revealed it so early, as the story requires the audience to know that. I think the film did a good job of using the fact that K is a Replicant as a metaphor for racial hatred, particularly in the police service. Where he's hated by his co-workers but also by other Replicants by working for the police force as a Blade Runner.So I really liked that they incorporated that into his character. And I loved how Gosling was able to convey the emotional arc for the character, going from believing he's a Replicant saviour and then finding out that he's not but still fighting for what he believed in when he has nothing left. And then there's his death scene at the end, which I felt was up there with Roy Batty's (Rutger Hauer) death from the original. Watching the snow fall whilst he dies. Appreciating the beauty of it the way he never did as a machine for the Police. So yes, I loved K and I think Gosling was superb in this film.

Harrison Ford/Deckard

Where the publicity campaign for this film really misrepresented the film is with Office Deckard (Harrison Ford) who was promoted to have a much bigger role in this film. But, unfortunately, Ford only appears in the final third of the film.More like a glorified cameo in some ways. However, he makes good use of his screen time. He has a really good scene with him and Ryan talking about Deckard's child and how he could never see them so that they could be hidden. Really showing how lonely and sad Deckard has become due to the events between Blade Runner and 2049. Another great scene is where he's talking to Wallace (Jared Leto) about Rachael (Sean Young). A very emotional scene that Ford sells wonderfully. Even when he sees the Replicant designed to look like Rachael (We'll talk about that soon) he does a really good job of conveying so many emotions with his look. Sadness, joy, despair. Ford still has terrific acting chops. Although... in one scene with him and K, they're fighting one another in an abandoned casino. And Ford's punches are so unbelievably fake. Like something from a John Wayne film, when fight choreography wasn't as polished as it is today. 

Ana De Armas/Joi

In the film, Joi (Ana De Armas) is a holographic model. Designed to be a girlfriend experience for men. In this case, for K. Now, in some ways, this character worked and, in some ways, she didn't. I understood why K had her about. Because of a part of him, no matter how loyal he was to the police, that still wanted to experience some form of human nature. In this case, love. And their relationship actually into something real. You get the feeling that they actually do feel something for one another, through the experiences that they go through in the film. Even past the programming of having to be the ideal girlfriend. And when she dies it feels like a genuine loss. That's mainly down to a great performance by Ana De Armas. But, that being said, I wasn't exactly a big fan of how after she died K was reminded by an ad of Joi that she wasn't real. And that she was simply programmed to say whatever he wanted her to say. Now whilst that was a good trigger to get him to fight for the replicants. Something that was real. That did ruin the relationship they had for the audience. Which was a big downer. But Ana De Armas still did a good job as Joi and her chemistry with Gosling was superb.

Jared Leto/Niander Wallace

I think Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Suicide Squad) might be cursed. Because in the promotional material he was put up to have a much bigger role in this film than he did. But in the end, he only had two scenes. Little similar to what happened to his role in Suicide Squad (2016), although that was mainly due to mass re-editing. Leto's character was a bit weird. All he seemed to do was talk in a monotone voice and spouted mumbo-jumbo. I thought he over-acted a lot in this film. But that being said he did okay with some of the more creepier and power-drunk elements of the character. Where he kills a Replicant he's just created because it's not to his standards. I thought that was quite interesting and Leto did alright showing how his character more or less thinks he's God. In fact, his whole character was more or less about humanity's relationship with God. And how disposable we are compared to him. But in other times he just seemed like he was in his own world. Rather than focusing on what was happening around him. His character didn't really fit in with the rest of the film, in my opinion.

The Child/Replicant Messiah

So the main mystery is behind this child. A child who was born from a Replicant. Something that everyone believes to be impossible. And basically becomes the story that begins a Replicant insurgence. Showing how they're more than just slaves. They can have their own lives. But I was a little let down by the big reveal of who the child was. Throughout the film, the audience is lead to believe that K is the child. And it was handled very well. Making him question all of his life choices, his programming and his job. But when it's revealed that the child was a girl and that everyone had the child's memories, it took away that special element from the character. Making him not so special. Then, at the end, K pieces it together and reunited Deckard with his daughter, who was Dr Stelline (Carla Juri), I still wasn't a huge fan, because I really wanted it to be K. But I completely understood how it worked. As she designs memories for replicants so she could have easily planted that memory into all of them. Again, an emotional scene at the end where Deckard looks at her through the glass.

Rachael/The Tarkin Effect

The one last thing I want to talk about is the scene where Wallace shows that he has created a replicant who is the spitting image of Rachael, from her facial features to her wardrobe. In a way to entice Deckard into telling him where the child is. This was a really good scene for many reasons. It speaks to Deckard's emotional state, as a man who just wants to go back to the way things were, and it also says a lot about how both Wallace and humanity feels about replicants. Disposable models that they can create or destroy as they please. But what really got me was the CGI work done to recreate Sean Young's face from the original. It's not as good as the recreation of Peter Cushing's (Dracula, Star Wars) face was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) was, although there is some debate as to whether that was good or not. But it seems to be the growing trend in Hollywood now that we can recreate other people's faces now (Although it still needs work).

Conclusion

As I said in my Non-Spoiler Review, this is a visually beautiful, well-acted film. But it also has many layers to it, such as the discrimination of different types of people, what it means to truly be alive and man's relationship with God. However, it does have its faults which hold it back. Such as the objectification, such as with Joi, whose entire relationship with K is just a lie, and Jared Leto's Niander Wallace who is something of a mixed bag. But I highly recommend seeing this film on the big screen as it's a cinephile's dream come true in terms of visuals and story-telling.

So that was the spoiler review of Blade Runner 2049. What did you think of the film? Was there something I said that you don't agree with or missed out? If so then discuss it in the comments below. And if you liked this review then please subscribe to this blog for more content. Thank you for reading.