Blade Runner 2049

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

i missed out on it in cinemas, i hope when i travel to birmingham on the 26th i would be able to see it there

It’s been haunting me. I sold it short in my initial reaction. I might give it a second go-around Sunday.

I want a line-item account on how they spent the money.

Namely the cgi. Specifically that most ambitious bridge across the uncanny valley.

The Art of BR2049

Movie magic:

How does that make everyone feel about any model they ever built.

Pretty much hipster cool

I do still think theres a difference with the original in how the environment was treated though. Kubrick comes up a lot when talking about Scott's influences back in the day but I think what stands out just as much for me is Tarkovsky, especially Stalker that would have been fresh in the mind in the early 80's. The latter scenes with Deckard and Roy bring the Zone to mind for me very strongly.

Both Stalker and the original Blade Runner for me actually have a very romantic view of their environments, the clutter and decay are often shown not only in a threatening but also a poetic fashion becoming almost organic. 2049 though to me feels more purely Kubrick like in the harsh modern minimalism of its setting.

Excellent point, and one I tend to agree with. Villenueve's style has been pretty austere in the past, and I figured he would be attempting to strike a balance between his Kubrick-inspired sparseness and Scott's original gritty approach. I could have done with a touch more grit, but I found a decent compromise between the two styles. I am already chomping at the bit for the bluray release...

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The ironic thing is I think 2049 does make more direct references in Tarkovsky in some respects, the orange haze of Vegas for example matching the orange tint of the monochrome non Zone sections(which are deliberately blander) of Stalker.

The difference for me though is that the original like Stalker has a more romantic view of its main location, the grit and decay gives it personality. 2049 though I think even when there is grit its shown in such a uniform way(the future sprall of LA, the junk heaps near the orphanage) that it becomes minimalistic with a more alienating effect. I'd want to visit LA of 2019 or the Zone, I wouldn't want to visit LA of 2049.




I hearing that the original working cut of the film was 4 hours long and was heavily edited on studio orders. That might address a lot of the issues I have with the film, maybe a longshot but perhaps a directors cut? that could potentially drive more home sales and get some more money back even if it might cost a bit more.

I was so skeptical that you could ever sequel BR, but it's a masterpiece. Bravo, another cult classic. Arrival director was perfect choice it. Uncompromising difficult to follow brainy noir detective movie. Then add an extra layer of knowledge required from the original movie, very demanding from the audience. At least arrival required no previous knowledge. This formula, just like the original, is a commercial flop. The only compromise was a trailer giveaways, but those should never be watched anyway.

The imagery was crazy good and expensive, the attential to detail and originality of the world. Every character was nailed; with ford being the weakest one.

chalk Villeneuve as an artist. I'm cautiously optimistic about his future. unfortunately, i think he burned though a lot of his good will from arrival's success to get this movie made (they lost ~80 million on this movie). He won't have that clout on his next venture, and i'm sure the execs will keep him on a tighter leash. i'm much less depressed about losing Cameron to maximizing profit, we got fury road and BR2049.

Joi was important. Just as the human saw the replicants as fake and less than; some replicants saw Joi as fake and less than e.g., hooker replicant insulting Joi as so. Hooker calling her unreal. To be human, is to be hippo critical.

IMO, deckard is 100% replicant. Scott has clarified this, it was the whole point of the first movie.

Wallace claiming deckard was programmed to love, is wallace messing with his mind. It's a huge insult at the core, denying that replicants have free will. Deckard later retorts by saying Rachael's eye were green (they were brown). "i know what is real". The last of the tryell replicants nexus 8 undeniably had free well, evidenced by much higher rebellion rates. the replicants were n6s in the first movie (some theories speculate that rachael was one of few n7s). The n8 (farmer) called the n9 (k) creepy because of how obedient they were. Deckard was an n6 replicant.

it's the demo that goes got theaters that dictate what movies get made. https://imgur.com/a/i5GRB. older people stay at home. you can get a 4k tv for $600 now, so it's harder to to get people to spend $ at the theater. also more impulse control as you get older and a willingness to wait to spend $5 on a stream with cheap booze and food vs $12/person +f food at theater. movies are made for chinese consumers and young men; but the silver lining is we get great television. Kubrick movies would not be commercially successful today.

it's interesting you thought the new one is more of an action movie. i actually thought the opposite. action/minute is definitely drastically down in the 2049, i was very surprised on how little action it had for it's budget and length of movie. It's definitely one his trademarks from arrival.

I agree with you, and miss odd originality and clutteryness of the first film. I think original had a better balance of fancy rich and the having the lived in feeling. Also the cultural salad bowel of future LA. eg this clip: . i'll have to say clutter vs minimalist athetic is a bit subjective.

i guess i feel not many people appreciate this sequel, i haven t seen it yet, but it feels like people have no interest in cult classic sci fi s these days, all people want is popcorn style dc comics superhero stuff with mighty explosions and such, i have to say i have had enough of this tbh, people should start to appreciate that sequels like this one should be movies to look forward to, just look at the box office, it made only 1.5 mil this week compared to 56 mil for thor ragnarok, man different times....... are people blinded by this superhero stuff?

Its not in the constant action mold of course but compared to the original there is obviously more of it and more of a focus on the specifics of the fight scenes. In the original even nominal action in Deckards confrontations with the relicants rarely developed into any kind of extended fight, Pris's gymnastics probably being the closest but even they were brief.

Its also I think its clearly more of a thriller, greater dramatic focus is put on the unfolding of the more complex plot. In the original the details of Deckards investigation and the replicants plans are clearly secondary to the advancement of the characters.

it has much more obvious "good/bad" morals to it as well for me, I mean the hero might not be whiter than white but he's clearly better than Deckard and his killing is shown bloodlessly rather than the brutal deaths of the replicants in the original, Wallace and Luv make for pretty standard villain/henchperson, the latter having a slight bit of depth but both being obviously evil.

I mean taken by general standards I liked the film but I don't think its a classic(more than 8/10ish range), I spose partly that might be me not being as big a fan of big budget Villeneuve(not seen any earlier stuff) as many,. Arrival I did like a lot(more than 2049) but not to the degree of some of the praise, Sicario honestly I didn't think was that good and suffered from some of the same problems I have with 2049, confused plot with undercooked characters and lengthy scenes that thought they were more interesting than they actually were.

If anyone wants to really geek out on the props / physical SFX, Adam Savage seems to have done a run of behind the scenes vids pre release:

Nice nod to the emphasis on analogue amongst the digi in this prop pawing. (Kinda gels with the previous Scott emphasis on environmental details etc)...



How to make giant waves in 8 weeks...



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Slightly off topic, but if you know someone with a VR rig, this novelty is worth checking out. Some pretty neat 'volumetric capture' used to inject actors into the 3D world, a fairly suitable mini story (if nothing stellar), and what seems to be some asset re-use from the movie. (Well the main location in Jared Leto's pad, and his static silhouette at one point...)