By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Ana De Armas, Edward James Olmos, Mackenzie Davis, Sylvia Hoeks and Jared Leto.
Rating: Excellent.
Academy Award Director Nominee Denis Villeneuve brings “Blade Runner 2049”, the sequel of the 1982 film “Blade Runner” directed by Ridley Scott and I was very surprised and pleased with the results of this film.
Set in the year 2049, the movie tells the story of Agent K (Ryan Gosling) a young Blade Runner, who discovers a buried secret while he is working on a case.
This will lead him to former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who has been missing for 30 years.
Now K must find Deckard, who is the only person who can answer K´s questions about his true existence.
The problem is that K is on the hunt of Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) a blind Replicant and Founder of the Wallace Corporation and his Replicant Enforcer Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) who will do anything to stop K on knowing the truth.
K is in the race against time to find Deckard and to discover his true existence that will change the course of his life and humanity.
One of the things that I really liked of “Blade Runner 2049” was the fact that the filmmakers respected the world of the first film.
This is thanks to the screenplay written by Hampton Fancher, who happens to be the original writer of “Blade Runner” and Michael Green. Both of them wrote a very powerful, true and unique screenplay with rich characters.
From the minute the movie started I was blown away and the direction by Denis Villeneuve again delivers and makes him one of the best filmmakers of the industry today.
His direction was precise and I love the way how he told the story and again the way that he respected the original world from the 1982 film.
The chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford works at all levels in this movie, Jared Leto´s performance as Niander Wallace is both terrifying and impressive, despite of the short amount of time that he is in the film but he plays a very important role in this movie.
The cinematography by Roger Deakins is astonishing as always and again he proves himself as one of the best cinematographers of the industry.
The way how he recreated the world with his strong color palette caused a huge impression and emerged us in the world of the original film that has that look. Not only Deakins did that with his camera work, but Villeneuve´s directing was outstanding and it made you part of that world.
I was very hesitant when a sequel of “Blade Runner” was announced and I was having my doubts. Again I was wrong and this movie is at the same level as the original.
Since the minute it started to the last I was delighted and every time I see a movie directed by Denis Villeneuve I learn something new and he continues to impress audiences.
It is very important to watch the first movie in case you haven´t seen it yet and please go with an open mind since it´s a movie that is almost 3 hours long but is for a reason.
“Blade Runner 2049” is indeed a masterpiece and hopefully can score nominations in next year´s award season, specially in the technical side and hopefully Roger Deakins can win this year the Oscar for Cinematography.
With that being said “Blade Runner 2049” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend it.