Video Form: https://youtu.be/tJdxmthi88E
To say that sequels are destined to be worse than the original doesn’t seem to be a fair statement, but it happens more often than not. For every Empire Strikes Back and Godfather Part 2, there are a dozen Speed 2: Cruise Controls. However, once every blue moon there comes a film, so good, so powerful that may just be at the same level or even above the original. This is The Dark Knight, Aliens, T2 and now Blade Runner 2049. Watching it reminds us why we watch movies. It takes you places, it immerses you in its atmosphere and when it’s all said and done it feels as if we’ve undergone some sort of profound experience. To expand on a story, especially a film with a solid following such as Blade Runner is no easy task. It’s definitely the road less traveled for a reason. But Denis Villeneuve and his team achieved this, as Blade Runner 2049 successfully expands on every single theme and character from the original. The same questions and ideas appear in our minds: The Struggle with one’s own humanity. What makes us human?
“You’re special”. Depending on the movie, the protagonist’s arc is one of the most important aspects in a story, if not the most important. K is a replicant from the get go, at least as far as he knows. The other cops in the Police Department don’t like him, he struggles with his identity and tries to find out who he really is. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for? He’s the character that’s down on his luck and is faced with an unexpected situation that forces him to change. This makes him extremely relatable. Besides, he’s really good at his job and it’s like we’re solving a mystery alongside him.
Let’s take a close look at the original Blade Runner, more specifically the Final Cut of the film. It didn’t do great at the box office, but developed a following over time. A lot of people regard Blade Runner as one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. However, there seems to be quite a bit of people that dislike the movie or find it merely OK. The vast majority of the people that don’t like it, say that that the movie is either too slow or too boring. Most can’t tell the difference between the two, but it’s important to differentiate. Slow is not necessarily bad, and both Blade Runner movies benefit from this. It builds up the atmosphere and lets it sink in. Boring, however, means uneventful. It means that whatever was supposed to happen either didn’t or wasn’t executed properly. Blade Runner 2049 is slow, but never boring. The original, however, well there is an argument to be had here. Blade Runner is a movie that undeniably thrives because of its beautiful set design and atmosphere. 2019 Los Angeles has and always will feel like a real, breathing place. It’s beautiful film noir. However, there’s no real mystery in Blade Runner, so it’s a movie where you kind of just have to enjoy the imagery and the atmosphere. Deckard in the original film isn’t really a particularly likeable or even interesting character if you take away the dream sequence. The movie’s focus is in the wrong place, because the interesting character is Roy Batty, as he’s the one with the interesting arc.
Deckard starts out and ends the movie as pretty much the same person or replicant. Is he a replicant? Ridley Scott says he is and it’s great that in 2049 they just brush over it because it’s not important to this story. Which brings us to why Blade Runner 2049 is the greatest sequel ever made. Besides thoroughly expanding on themes, characters and even going as far as topping the cinematography, set designs and score of the original, Blade Runner 2049 focuses on what it has to. It’s not concerned with setting up for a sequel or even answering questions from the original because it’s not relevant to this story. It didn’t feel like a compromised studio movie. It takes everything that worked in the original and expands upon it and discards the things that didn’t work. Blade Runner 2049 is the greatest sequel ever made because it was made by a filmmaker with a vision that clearly loves the original and had a unique story to tell. And so was Godfather Part 2 and Empire and T2, Aliens, Fury Road, Toy Story 2, The Two Towers. They are all the greatest sequel of all time. There is no one best sequel ever made. The only thing there is, is benchmarks and prime examples for new filmmakers to follow. Blade Runner 2049 is one of those examples.
Video Form: https://youtu.be/tJdxmthi88E
