There are so many jewels in the crown of
this movie that it’s hard to know where to begin. (Review by Patrick Compton – 9/10)
Nearly 122 years ago, on December 28 1895,
the Lumiere brothers screened a film that many movie historians believe marked
the birth of cinema. It was a simple, one-shot documentary called The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station
(France).
The camera was placed near the track so
that, as the train approached, it gradually grew bigger in size so that it
seemed to its first audiences that it would crash through the cinema screen.
That feeling of awe and wonder concerning
the cinematic image has never quite disappeared, despite our increased
knowledge and sophistication, although very few films bring it out nowadays.
This is a roundabout way of saying that
Denis Villeneuve’s sensational sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult film, Blade Runner, really does provoke
something of that emotion audiences must have felt all those years ago. It is
truly a thrilling feast for the eyeballs and you really do need to see it at
Gateway’s IMAX theatre where the giant screen, surround-sound and 3D images
combine to give you a sensory ride you won’t forget.
The original Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott (who is executive producer
on this sequel), was adapted from the sci-fi novel by Philip K Dick,
Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Enthusiasts will
be interested to know that the man who scripted the original, Hampton Fancher,
has written this one as well.
For the uninitiated, a “blade runner” is
someone who “retires” (i.e. kills) rebel replicants, which are bio-engineered
humans who serve as servants or slaves. Harrison Ford played this role as Rick
Deckard in the first film before retiring after falling in love with a
glamorous replicant played by Sean Young. Now, 30 years later, it’s the turn of
a modern replicant, “K” (Ryan Gosling), to take over Deckard’s role, hunting
down wayward older-issue replicants who are suspected of plotting some kind of
rebellion.
After retiring one of the replicants, K
discovers evidence suggesting that a replicant has given birth. This remarkable
and seemingly impossible fact troubles him, forcing him to review his status
and the ethics of his job. “I have never retired something that was born,” he
tells his boss, Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright). “To be born is to have a
soul.” Nevertheless, he is asked to find and kill this child, if it exists,
because the notion that replicants may be able to reproduce is regarded as
dangerous and likely to lead to war.
That gives you an example of one of the
philosophical questions that this movie asks as K – who has been created to
unquestioningly obey orders – finds himself sinking into a morass of
self-doubt.
That’s enough of the plot, which has plenty
of distance to go as the movie plays out over an epic 163 minutes.
The movie’s biggest impact – at least on
first viewing – is sure to be a visual one, with Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans
Zimmer’s howling industrial score coming a close second.
The production design is remarkable, an
expressionist feast of angular lines and shadows, and there are also scenes
that could have been ripped from Kubrick’s The
Shining.
There are so many jewels in the crown of
this movie that it’s hard to know where to begin. One to watch out for is K’s
“virtual” girlfriend, Joi (Ana de Armas) who is a holographic creation
desperately yearning to escape her confinement and enter the “real” world.
Even a movie as intellectually cerebral as
this one has to have its bad guys, and these are brilliantly realised by Jared
Leto who plays the head of the Wallace Corporation (that engineers replicants)
and Sylvia Hoeks who plays his ass-kicking enforcer, Luv.
And don’t forget that you’ll be meeting
Harrison Ford and Sean Young once again ...
Blade
Runner 2049 is currently showing in Durban. - Patrick Compton
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