Blade Runner 2049
2017 · Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Original language: English
- science fiction
- drama
The story
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
What it’s like
Amber-tinted haze, enormous slow crane shots and long static frames of towering monoliths dwarfed by fog, with Roger Deakins's photography leaning on smoky orange and dim teal, sudden flares of neon, and blackened sunsets over flattened, ash-coloured landscapes. The sound is a low, throbbing score of drones and brooding synth pulses by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, broken by long stretches of near silence that let rain, wind and distant traffic hum. The vibe is melancholic, hushed and vast, a slow-burn futurist noir best suited to a late night alone or a patient weekend watch with the lights off. Pacing is deliberate, often lingering on a single face or an empty room, and the emotional register is quiet longing and existential unease. Its central figure is a lonely replicant officer slowly confronting what he believes about his own humanity, and the arc turns on memory, identity and the meaning of connection. Violence is present but restrained: a few sharp, sudden fights and a handful of bloody moments, with some brief sexual content and no gore for its own sake. It suits viewers who want atmosphere and philosophical weight over action, and who don't mind a film that asks them to sit with ambiguity for nearly three hours.
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