More a walker than a runner

Film review: Blade Runner 2049

MANILA, Philippines — Blade Runner 2049 adroitly plays two games: On one hand, it pays homage to the original 1982 Blade Runner (which was set in an imagined 2019), and with the other hand, it stakes its own territory, establishing new vistas of superbly created visual topography. For the cinematography, set design and visuals alone, the sequel deserves to be viewed.

If you recall, that first Blade Runner was the Big Daddy of dystopian, futuristic sci-fi film treatments, spawning a host of copycats and setting the benchmark for a whole generation of films that traversed the same path of future worlds. But what I truly took away from the original film were images and tone, burdened by a storyline that was lightweight at best, and ponderous in its unraveling.

This, the new Blade Runner 2049 also shares — a very slow and deliberate pace of storytelling that may be challenging to some; while true-blue fans of the original will hail as uncompromising, and commend producer Ridley Scott and director Denis Villeneuve for not bowing to commercial or formulaic considerations.

Bleak and yet vivid, dark and dystopian, the film is suffused by a blue/gray palette that shifts to yellow/gold for some interior shots — and in terms of world building, this is highly successful. Filled with details and intricate touches to add to the overall feel of how a whole future world Los Angeles has been imagined, I would not be surprised if the cinematography figures in all of the award-giving bodies’ nominations this upcoming season.

Despite the false leads and red herrings, the story is really a single strand narrative that we are asked to refrain from revealing spoilers about. Needless to say, it is about replicants, and whether there was one that gave birth — a world changer, as it means replicants are not merely created in a commercial laboratory, and can blur the distinction between replicants and humans (shades of a future Planet of the Reps?).

As K, Ryan Gosling is a casting dream, giving us the right amount of detachment and “sangfroid” while keeping us involved and sympathetic to his mission. Ideally, he is today’s version of Harrison Ford’s 1982 Deckard. And no spoiler, but Deckard is back, and the film does pick up its pace when he finally makes his appearance.

Surprisingly, the bulk of the action sequences that do exist is centered on Deckard, and Ford acquits himself admirably, despite his senior citizen status. Jared Leto as the tech visionary, who is the main villain of the piece, isn’t given much to do, and it is left to Sylvia Hoeks as his henchman to provide the real sparks of malevolence and danger.

It’s a challenge to watch as it runs for over two and a half hours. More than the narrative, it is the visual spectacle and our fear of missing something that will spell success for the film, and earn it plaudits. A walker more than a runner — that works as it gives us a pace that allows us to better appreciate the gorgeous scenery.