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.
 |
| Los Angeles Police Department Officer Kay (Ryan Gosling), pausing for a quick meal, little realizes that he's about to be approached by a trio of seductive "doxies" interested solely in the photographs that he has been studying. |
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.
