Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) *Spoiler Free*

Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Spoiler Free

I wasn't sure what to expect from Blade Runner 2049 as a sequel to 1982's Blade Runner. The trailers didn't really say much in terms of what the film was about, and I'm not a huge fan of Ryan Gosling. (I have no justification for not being a fan, he's a good actor, and I really enjoyed his work in Nice Guys especially, there's just something hit'n'miss about him for me).

Having now seen the film I can understand why the trailer doesn't reveal too much in terms of the plot, other than Ryan's character, Blade Runner, Agent K, has some need to locate Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford).

Like director, Denis Villeneuve, I'm a fan of the 1982 film's theatrical version. Whilst I agree, the narration by Harrison Ford in that version is completely unnecessary, it does give you additional information about the Blade Runner world that you don't get from all the other versions - which don't have narration.

That said, if you haven't seen the 1982 movie, then the updated Final Cut version (which the director says also influenced the new film) is most in keeping with the sequel in terms of style and presentation.

I watched the Final Cut the day before seeing Blade Runner 2049 just to refresh my memory. That film completely holds up (except for the very specific dates if you're taking it as an actual future vision for our world - since we're living in the current time period of the original film). You could completely watch these two movies back to back and feel they were made a only few years apart.

Which is a long way of saying Blade Runner 2049 perfectly captures the look and style of the first film. It feels very much like the same world, updated 30 years ahead. Even better is that 2049 expands upon the first film by opening up the city, and even getting out of it to other locations (that, not so surprisingly, aren't green fields, blue skies and mountain ranges shown at the end of the original's theatrical release).

2049 also brings with it a lot of new technology ideas that all feed into the ongoing idea of both films of what it means to be human. Some of it you'll see and wish they had that now.

Blade Runner 2049 is much like the original in terms of pacing. It kind of strolls from place to place thoughtfully. There are certainly many good action sequences but that's not what this franchise is about. The original film is a classic because it wants you to think about questions that it doesn't really provide answers for. 2049 is as much of a discussion piece after you've seen it as the original.

If you're a fan of the original, I can't see why you wouldn't like 2049. For me it truly is one of the best sequels of any film. Plus they've clearly left it at a place that could lead to another film in the series - to which I have the same reservations as I initially had here - this movie is just so good. Is the sequel going to be able to live up to it? They don't need to do a sequel but it's obvious certain plot elements lend themselves to one.

I highly recommend seeing this film in a cinema if you can. It looks amazing on a big screen and you'll really get a sense of scale with some of the big holographic images seen in the trailer. Personally I can't wait to own this on Blu-ray - hopefully with a truck load of extras and behind the scenes, making of documentaries, like they did for the Final Cut.

Comments

TV Series Review: Velma (2023-2024) No Spoilers

A s a kid, Scooby Doo cartoons were something I used to watch fairly regularly. I wasn't a diehard fan but it was one of the better, of the many, cartoons I used to watch. I had heard about the new animated series, Velma , around the time of its release but it wasn't coming out on any streaming service I was subscribed to so it went off my radar pretty quickly. Quite by chance I signed up to a streaming service so I could watch DC Entertainment's, The Penguin, and noticed Velma was on that platform. I figured I may as well get my money's worth out of the subscription. I did know that Velma, herself, had been race swapped for the show, which made no real difference to me, though I do prefer classic Velma if pushed to choose. However the first episode of season one was a real shock to my expectations! No where had I heard this series was skewing very much into adult humor and themes. I was expecting something more along the lines of the original Scooby Doo show. Instead I

Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) No Spoilers

I f you're like me and didn't go to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in theatres you made the right choice. For context, I loved the first Aquaman movie . It's one of my favorites from the Snyder/DCEU era. It is a relatively well made adventure story, with some fantastic world building, amazing visuals, and included some commentary on environmental issues as well. Despite having, mostly the same creative team, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom comes across as a film that couldn't decide what it wanted to be, in terms of a sequel. On the one hand it wants to showcase the cool, fun, wisecracking, but bad ass, rock'n'roll version of Aquaman (Jason Momoa) with another rollicking adventure. On the other it feels like someone said it had to be epic with potentially world changing stakes so Aquaman would have to do 'King Shit' and be all serious, navigate deep sea politics, and generally try to be a responsible heroic good guy that he is when he's not being

TV Series Review: The Office - Australia (Prime Video) (2024) No Spoilers

W hile I'm a late comer fan of The Office, only watching after the original and USA versions were both available on streaming services, I did watch them in the order of release i.e. I watched the U.K. version first. Now, with the release of the Australian version of The Office on Prime Video, I think it's best to approach watching this new version understanding that it is not those shows. More importantly, remembering the US version was not well received or as popular as it has become since streaming became a thing. I personally remember people often saying the original version was better, back in the day. Of course, the Australian version has analogues for all the same characters you're familiar with from the previous versions, with their characteristics, so you can easily see who is the Aussie version of each character. While there are actually 13 different adaptations of the series worldwide, I was surprised to learn this is the first time the boss has been female. No

Optimus Robots, Self Driving Cars and Buses - Tesla's 'We Robot' Event and the Evolution of Optimus

Tesla Optimus Robot Serving Guests. Image: Tesla O n the tenth of October Tesla held their 'We Robot' event, which I guess is the new incarnation of their previous Tesla AI Day annual event. There were three much talked about reveals, the driverless taxis, a driverless bus, and Optimus robots moving around the event, fully interacting with people 'on the ground'. Tesla Driverless Taxi. Image: Tesla While it was cool to see so many driverless taxis, that you could get in and experience for yourself as they drove around the Warner Brothers lot, and the driverless bus was something of a surprise reveal nobody expected, my attention was on Optimus. Tesla Driverless Robovan. Image: Tesla It was in September of 2021 that Elon Musk first announced his plan to create an affordable, humanoid, domestic robot, that would eventually be in homes worldwide. That vision was underlined with a person wearing a robot suit, that wasn't as well received as Elon may have liked, despite

The Braille Skateboarding App - How it Changed My Mind on Switch Skating

My Profile on the Braille Skateboarding App. Braille Skateboarding launched it's new Skateboarding App worldwide on November 23rd, 2020. About a month prior to that they did a 'soft launch' via email for anyone living in Australia. I'm guessing this was to give the app a final test in the real world before launching it proper. Rather than explain what it is, watch Aaron Kyro, founder of Braille Skateboarding, run you through the app in the launch video below. In a nutshell the app is virtually everything Braille has to offer accessed right from your phone, from tutorials to the Braille Army Community. The app is free but you can unlock more features if you upgrade to a paid membership. Braille App Trick List. One of the apps unique free features is keeping track of the tricks you've learned and giving you an overall score so you have some way to measure your progression. There is an extensive list of tricks, covering all types of skateboarding, categorized by diff

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart

If I Could Talk to the Animals... Maybe AI Can Make This a Reality?

W e've always been able to talk to animals, and it's sometimes said, jokingly, you may have a problem if they start talking back, but what if they could? One thing that AI is good at is processing data and spotting patterns, common elements, and highlighting relationships which makes it ideal for all kind of research, so why not studying the language of animals? It seems like science fiction but so were real-time language translators not too long ago. What if you could understand exactly what your pets are saying to you and speak back to them (through a real-time translator) in their own language? While were not there yet, advancements in AI learning systems seem to suggest that the idea is no longer as far fetched and fanciful as it used to be. To be honest, using AI to decipher animal communication accurately, is something that never crossed my mind but I'm truly excited to know that this research is being done. Watch the Bloomberg Originals video, Could AI Unlock the S

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog