3.5 stars. Rated R, for violence, profanity, nudity and sexuality
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.6.17
I suppose we should be grateful
that things haven’t deteriorated nearly as much as the original Blade Runner suggested ... given that it
was set in 2019.
That said, the film’s envisaged
weather anomalies no longer seem as unlikely.
It’s also amusing to recall that
Ridley Scott’s magnum opus was a critical and audience bomb upon release in
1982: wholly bewildering to viewers who couldn’t wrap their brains around retro
sci-fi noir, and who were disturbed
by the notion of Han Solo/Indiana Jones playing such a morally conflicted
character.
Funny, how things can change. Blade Runner now is regarded as one of
the all-time great sci-fi classics, praised for the same distinctive vision and
thoughtful narrative complexity that originally baffled folks. Scott has
tweaked and re-edited the film more times than I can remember, fine-tuning it
to match his original vision (which was compromised by unwelcome eleventh-hour
editing, prior to release).
While his film didn’t necessarily
beg for a sequel, the setting and core premise certainly invite fresh
examination. Few filmmakers are better equipped to do so than director Denis
Villeneuve, who helmed last year’s marvelously meditative Arrival, and co-writer Hampton Fancher, who helped adapt Philip K.
Dick’s source novel into the first film. Fancher is assisted this time by
co-scripter Michael Green, and they’ve definitely retained the brooding
atmosphere that makes the setting so compelling.
The setting’s persuasively
chilling authenticity, in turn, comes courtesy of production designer Dennis
Gassner and visual effects supervisor John Nelson, carrying forward the
arresting tableaus designed for the first film by Douglas Trumbull and David
Dryer. No other word suffices: This new film looks amazing.
And very, very unsettling.
The story is again based in Los
Angeles, although the narrative expands to include the entire state. Every square
inch of land in Central California has been covered by massive hydroponic
facilities necessitated by a climate shift — nothing but furious rain, dust and
snow storms — that has destroyed any semblance of a natural growing season. Such
enhanced output also is required to feed an expanding population with an
exponentially huge homeless faction: The disenfranchised no longer camp out merely
on sidewalks; they also squat in apartment corridors, jeering at those
fortunate enough to have their own residences.
Advertising has run even further
amok, further amplified by a salacious element that suggests the complete
absence of spiritual content. There’s a sense of society’s very fabric coming
unstitched, with order barely maintained by officers working for the immense
police department building that looms above all else.
Well ... almost all else.
The activities by Officer Rick
Deckard (Harrison Ford) in the first film, as he hunted down and “retired” Tyrell
Corp. Nexus 6 replicants (androids), are a quaint echo of the past. Following
founder Eldon Tyrell’s passing in 2020, his company rush-produced Nexus 8
replicants — solely for off-world use — with open-ended lifespans. After a huge
electromagnetic pulse that shut down the entire West Coast for weeks in 2022, governing
authorities ordered all replicant
production halted, and all surviving Nexus 8 models “retired.”
Enter idealistic scientist
Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), whose advancements in genetically modified food
solve that particular global crisis, and allow his E&C Corp. to expand
across the globe and into the off-world colonies. After acquiring the remnants
of the bankrupt Tyrell Corp., Wallace “arranges” for the repeal of replicant
prohibition, and releases a new line of “perfect” Nexus 9s.
Which still leaves an unknown
number of Nexus 8s, many of which have returned to Earth and gone into hiding,
and must be dealt with by “blade runners” such as Officer Kay (Ryan Gosling).
Borrowing the first film’s prologue, Kay is introduced as he interviews a
suspected Nexus 8: an ordinary-looking bloke who is one of many menial workers
isolated in the E&C hydroponic fields.
Kay is thorough and inquisitive;
the encounter produces a baffling mystery that he brings back to his boss, Lt.
Joshi (Robin Wright), and which appears to involve old Tyrell tech. Kay’s next
stop therefore is the even more massive E&C complex, where a Nexus 9 dubbed
Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) helps him retrieve what remains of old Tyrell records left
partially damaged by the EMP.
At which point, the mystery
deepens even further, prompting Kay to wonder if Deckard is alive, and in
possession of possible answers.
Although the striking visuals
certainly keep our eyes busy, our minds are engaged by the same ethical dilemma
that fueled the first film: What makes a human being? At what point do
synthetic creatures deserve to control their own fate? And would this sentience
be dangerous? Such questions are a longtime sci-fi staple, hearkening back to
unsettling stories and novels by — among others — Ray Bradbury (“Marionettes
Inc.”) and Jack Williamson (his lengthy “humanoid” series), along with recent
films such as A.I.
Gosling is a fascinating study as
the brooding Kay, definitely cut from the same cloth as Ford’s Deckard.
Although resolutely loyal to LAPD imperatives, Gosling’s often haunted gaze
suggests a mounting dissatisfaction with the black/white extremes that govern
his activities; we sense his growing recognition of shades of gray.
The one bright spot in Kay’s life
is his girlfriend, Joi, played with radiant cheerfulness by Ana de Armas. She’s
sweet and solicitous, embracing her role as comfort-bearer with loyal
earnestness. She’s a complete contrast to Hoeks, who plays the replicant Luv
with faux cordiality and a superficial smile that most definitely isn’t echoed
by her cold, reptilian eyes. She feels ... dangerous.
Leto’s Niander Wallace is even
worse: a sinister recluse in the Howard Hughes mold — an out-of-control
scientist with a God complex — who holds court in Gassner’s deliciously baroque
and grotesquely overstated rooms, many of them made more unsettling by rippling
water elements (water being a rare commodity in these poisoned surroundings).
Leto moves with a disturbingly slow step, the set of his body feeling less
human than those of the replicants that surround him.
Given the degree to which
Harrison Ford’s presence has been trumpeted during the media ramp-up to this
film’s release, it’s no secret that Deckard does indeed resurface. To what
degree, and in which context, is left to the viewing experience. Suffice to say
that Ford honors his original performance, while adding an even deeper wariness
reflected by the actor’s having aged pretty much the same amount as his
character.
Villeneuve’s intelligent approach
to the narrative notwithstanding, his film is seriously marred by profoundly
slow pacing: too many long pauses on silent reaction shots; too many slow
montages of California’s urban and rural wastelands; too many measured, weighty
and protracted conversations between characters. The 163-minute running time is
beyond self-indulgent; it approaches torpor, particularly during lengthy
stretches when little of consequence takes place.
The original Blade Runner has momentum and excitement, both of which are sorely
lacking here. Much as I hate to say it, this sequel is profoundly slow, at
times even boring.
Matters aren’t helped by the
so-called score co-credited to Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer, which is deplorable;
it sounds like somebody repeatedly mashing — and sustaining — three dissonant
notes at the low end of the world’s largest church organ. The result may rattle
teeth, but it ain’t music. I longed for the far more melodic delicacy of the
original film’s score, which makes this sequel’s inspired reprise of one
Vangelis cue — at a key moment — a poignant (and welcome) relief.
Thoughtful, intelligent
mainstream sci-fi films are rare in a cinematic environment laden with
superheroes and Star Wars-style space
operas, so Blade Runner 2049 deserves
to be cherished in that respect. But even though it’s an honorable extension of
its predecessor, Villeneuve would have been far better served by allowing
editor Joe Walker to do his job, tightening the film by at least half an hour.
The
result would have been vastly superior.
1 comment:
Blade Runner was lightning in a bottle. I very much doubt that this movie is going to match up to it.
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