Blade Runner 2049 [SPOILERS]

tomBitonti · Oct 9, 2017

Saw it the other day.

Before I make any comments, I want to make sure the SPOILERS is set correct for the thread ...

I'm not sure what is the correct practice. I've added [SPOILERS] to the title, but I'm only guessing about that.

Thx!
TomB

tomBitonti · Oct 10, 2017

Alright, Imthink I have the spoiler tag on correctly.

I’m still mulling over the story — it isn’t gelling for me.

I found the next to last scene — Joe on the steps — to be very familiar. Does anyone know of another movie with a similar scene?

Thx!
TomB

Istbor · Oct 12, 2017

tomBitonti said:
Alright, Imthink I have the spoiler tag on correctly.

I’m still mulling over the story — it isn’t gelling for me.

I found the next to last scene — Joe on the steps — to be very familiar. Does anyone know of another movie with a similar scene?

Thx!
TomB

No but my Grandfather died like that. Laid down on some stairs and never got back up...

I think that scene is done this way to imply Joe could be dead/dying, but as my friend who does not know the original movie at all, seems to think there must be another movie on the way following this one directly.

What part of the story isn't gelling for you?

tomBitonti · Oct 13, 2017

Istbor said:
No but my Grandfather died like that. Laid down on some stairs and never got back up...

I think that scene is done this way to imply Joe could be dead/dying, but as my friend who does not know the original movie at all, seems to think there must be another movie on the way following this one directly.

What part of the story isn't gelling for you?

Well, if Joe had never gone looking, Decker’s daughter would have remained safe. Why leave breadcrumbs if they could only endanger the cause? The premis of the story evaporates.

Thx!
TomB

ccs · Oct 13, 2017

Istbor said:
I think that scene is done this way to imply Joe could be dead/dying, but as my friend who does not know the original movie at all, seems to think there must be another movie on the way following this one directly.

For better or worse, he's probably not wrong. It'll probably involve the replicants uprising.

ccs · Oct 13, 2017

tomBitonti said:
Well, if Joe had never gone looking, Decker’s daughter would have remained safe. Why leave breadcrumbs if they could only endanger the cause? The premis of the story evaporates.

Thx!
TomB

I didn't gather that the breadcrumbs were left intentionally. Just a coincidence.

Janx · Oct 13, 2017

tomBitonti said:
Well, if Joe had never gone looking, Decker’s daughter would have remained safe. Why leave breadcrumbs if they could only endanger the cause? The premis of the story evaporates.

Thx!
TomB

Indeed. They tracked his cop car to Vegas, and he parked it right outside where the daughter is, and now there's a dead body to deal with.

I found the movie to be Meh.

It didn't help that it was too long and half-way through in the seats that are normally nice and recliney, that my back started killing me.

add to that the super annoying bass that would come out "wapwapwapwapwapwap!" I don't know if the theatre speakers were bad or if somebody in hollywood made a music decision that has made me want to shove my foot so far up their arse that when I retract it their butt cheeks make that same slapping sound.

The ending was unsatisfying. The creepy blind guy hasn't been dealt with. The replicants are still slaves. And as TomB notes, Joe has now left breadcrumbs for bad guys to figure out. It's not even clear how the daughter will be useful. She's trapped in a bubble. At most she can give memories that lead to a replicant uprising by programming them. How does a crusade for freedom inspired by their lack of free will sound?

At least in the original, the premise that bad people need stopping and were stopped by Deckard worked. The main flaw being the method of detection was ridiculously stupid. Asking questions is dumb. Running tests on their biology that is clearly superior is smart.

tomBitonti · Oct 13, 2017

ccs said:
I didn't gather that the breadcrumbs were left intentionally. Just a coincidence.

Then, Joe is mostly a bystander caught in Decker’s story. Only, not much going on with Decker: He is living alone in the ruins of Vegas while his daughter is safely secluded. Decker’s story had reached an end point. There was nothing there to resolve until Joe blundered in.

It seems to be an odd dramatic structure.

Thx!
TomB

MarkB · Oct 13, 2017

Janx said:
I found the movie to be Meh.

It didn't help that it was too long and half-way through in the seats that are normally nice and recliney, that my back started killing me.

add to that the super annoying bass that would come out "wapwapwapwapwapwap!" I don't know if the theatre speakers were bad or if somebody in hollywood made a music decision that has made me want to shove my foot so far up their arse that when I retract it their butt cheeks make that same slapping sound.

It's not just your cinema's speakers. The experience was the same in mine. Honestly, I found the soundtrack oppressive and intrusive throughout, overwhelming the on-screen action and occasionally the dialogue. Conversely, for the occasional on-screen text, they chose a size so small that I was squinting to see it on a super-large iSense cinema screen. Can't wait to see how it looks on a TV screen.

The story left me unimpressed. The main character's motivations were bland, and his actions predictable. The sudden arrival of a fully-formed replicant resistance near the end of the movie felt like a complete deus ex machina, and seemed tacked-on for no good reason beyond the hope of fuelling a sequel. The fact that the character who displayed the most emotion was a next-generation Siri was both bizarre and rather a sad reflection upon the performances of the rest of the cast.

Erekose · Oct 16, 2017

Saw it at the weekend and thought it was a grand spectacle that was very in keeping with the earlier film. Denis Villeneuve deserves a lot of praise

That said, I always felt that the first film tread a very fine line between replicants being humans (manufactured slaves) and "not quite" humans (i.e. in the book they are missing empathy). In the new film replicants are clearly a slave underclass that will rise up to defeat their oppressors (presumably in the next film if one happens).

Mind you I've always been firmly in the camp that Deckard is human and not a replicant - if he is a replicant his personal growth in the original film is undercut - and so I'm perhaps not Ridley's target audience given his feelings on the subject!

In the new film, Deckard is a little ineffectual but it is a continuation of his story rather than K's. Although K does have his own arc in the film.

I liked the ending but it could easily be "the end" or "the beginning" of a third film.

As an aside, I was very worried at one point that Deckard had been brought back just to die a la Han Solo . . .