Blade Runner 2049

[thedungeondelver]

Yeah, not doing well at the boxoffice, this one. Ford, Gosling and Villaneuve all said they'd do a sequel if the script was there but honestly $150m and will maybe make that back (which means it lost money)...not gonna be a sequel.

[grodog]

Yeah, not doing well at the boxoffice, this one.

I'll probably go see it again, it seems worth the second viewing to me. Perhaps it'll be one of those slow starters until word-of-mouth gets out there (and perhaps stronger?), since Ford may not be a major draw for viewers who haven't seen the original (some kids behind me in the theatre didn't know who he was ).

Ford, Gosling and Villaneuve all said they'd do a sequel if the script was there but honestly $150m and will maybe make that back (which means it lost money)...not gonna be a sequel.

I'm not sure there's much left to do a sequel on, unless

they're going to go all action-hero with the insurrection of the replicants against humanity---which is definitely counter to the mood and tone of both films, even if it may be a natural evolution for the storyline.

If "all" that they have created is Blade Runner 2049, I'm certainly satisfied with that.

Anyone know if there is additional content for a director's cut lying around on the editing room floor? I haven't heard much discussion of a DC release for Arrival, so I'm not sure if that's really Villaneuve's thing or not?

Allan.

[thedungeondelver]

If "all" that they have created is Blade Runner 2049, I'm certainly satisfied with that.

Yeah; I mean, one of the routes they discussed was the possibility of Deckard/K traveling to another country, but to what end? Although the idea of exploring the world of Blade Runner is achingly tantalizing.

Anyone know if there is additional content for a director's cut lying around on the editing room floor? I haven't heard much discussion of a DC release for Arrival, so I'm not sure if that's really Villaneuve's thing or not?

Allan.

Villaneuve has stated that there is no "director's cut" and no unsolved enigmas for his vision: everything you see is right there on the screen. This doesn't mean that there isn't cut material (every film ever made has unused scenes either due to time or technical constraints, or because they didn't fit the story - see the 4-hour workprint of David Lynch's Dune - and I'm sure BR2049 is the same), just that it isn't key to the story and its lack of presence in the film doesn't point up any "Missing" information.

Still, I wonder if

Agent K lying in the snow, is he dead or is he just resting?
is the new "Is Deckard a Replicant"

.

[grodog]

If "all" that they have created is Blade Runner 2049, I'm certainly satisfied with that.

Yeah; I mean, one of the routes they discussed was the possibility of Deckard/K traveling to another country, but to what end? Although the idea of exploring the world of Blade Runner is achingly tantalizing.

Agreed, but to that I'd add off-Earth colony worlds as where I'd want to see them go---to show us some of this:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

and perhaps show

some idea of what "going home" meant, assuming that off-world is where Luv meant home was---which seemed to me to be the implication that Niander Wallace suggested while interrogating Deckard.

Villaneuve has stated that there is no "director's cut" and no unsolved enigmas for his vision: everything you see is right there on the screen. This doesn't mean that there isn't cut material (every film ever made has unused scenes either due to time or technical constraints, or because they didn't fit the story - see the 4-hour workprint of David Lynch's Dune - and I'm sure BR2049 is the same), just that it isn't key to the story and its lack of presence in the film doesn't point up any "Missing" information.

Gotcha, thanks.

Still, I wonder if

Agent K lying in the snow, is he dead or is he just resting?
is the new "Is Deckard a Replicant"

.

Could be, could be. But where answering that Q would take the overall story, I'm not so sure: does a yes or a no propel the main conflicts/philosophical examinations of Blade Runner (both versions) forward at all?

Allan.

[benjoshua]

I saw the movie today and enjoyed it. It is a bit long and the plot unfolds slowly, but it makes you think. I found myself assaulted more than usual by the contrast of the world presented in the movie with reality as I walked back to my car. I believe the original Blade Runner was not highly revered at first, but began to grow in acceptance with time. I believe this movie will be viewed as good or better than the original in time. It's certainly a worthy sequel.

[Melan]

Expected generic meh preying on fan nostalgia, got a perfectly fine movie that actually looked right, sounded right, and felt like a proper Blade Runner sequel. You know it is good when it feels like a good Philip K. Dick story (with on-your-nose Kafka references).

Not all of it is good. The Harrison Ford arc felt forced; this is the kind of thing which makes sequels feel like they take place in smaller worlds than the originals did (you can see this in the original Star Wars trilogy). There were inevitable concessions to the new Hollywood superhero blockbuster style. The big bad guy is more dorky than menacing. I am not completely convinced by the way the plot goes this or that way in places.

But it has the style of the original nailed down, in a larger-scaled, more monstrous way. The sounds are aggressive, the modern landscape is alienating, and society is FUBAR (is the city still populated by humans, or are they mostly replicants of one sort or another?). There is lots of neon. There are gratuitous throw-away lines spoken in the Hungarian vernacular (quite a lot of the movie was shot at studios near Budapest, and I recognised Deckard's place as our former public TV building). I am sold on this movie.

Well worth watching; I'm thinking of trying to catch it again while it's up on the big screen.