Film Blade Runner 2049

Ubik said:
Yeah, the movie pretty much ignored the internal logic of the short story to amp up the dramatics at the end (not entirely unjustified since the story as written wouldn't have worked as a large budget film). But it was well told and most changes were good.

Other thing this has going for it is that Hampton Fancher co-wrote. Bringing writers back after that length of time away is by no means a guarantee of success, but it's reassuring at any rate.
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Agree. It also bothered me a bit that some of the changes were obviously made to please the mass audience. Would have liked that it went more subtle without so much war implication. But, some of the changes were definitely better and the general spirit of the book remained in the movie so I would be nitpicking if I would hold what I say against it. The movie was a great 2 hours emotional journey.

That short animated story as a prologue is a good watch. Will go for a rewatch of original Blade Runner these days, it's been a while since I watched it and I think it's about right time to see it again.
 
Saw it too. It's very faithful to the themes and aesthetic of the original, right down to every other scene being twice as long as it needs to be. Probably a better story too, even if a particular element of it is pretty bonkers.

I didn't hate it either. It's a very good sequel all things considered. Probably wouldn't watch it again though. It felt very long. And the synth drones got really tiresome after the 2hr mark.
 
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I rewatched the original film last night for the first time in a decade as a preparation and yeah, it's a very faithful sequel. It's a shame that the score wasn't something more interesting than a bombastic nondescript Vangelis imitation. I guess it could have been a lot worse though seeing as it was Zimmer.

Ana De Armas, Syliva Hoeks and MacKenzie Davis. Why have I never seen any of these gorgeous ladies in anything before?

Jared Leto though, eugh, luckily he wasn't in it too much.
 
R.N7 said:
I rewatched the original film last night for the first time in a decade as a preparation and yeah, it's a very faithful sequel. It's a shame that the score wasn't something more interesting than a bombastic nondescript Vangelis imitation. I guess it could have been a lot worse though seeing as it was Zimmer.

Ana De Armas, Syliva Hoeks and MacKenzie Davis. Why have I never seen any of these gorgeous ladies in anything before?

Jared Leto though, eugh, luckily he wasn't in it too much.
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Watch Knock Knock. She bums Keanu Reeves.
 
Watched the original last night in prep for tonight's sequel viewing. The missus was very underwhelmed. Apparently there was no story. :(

I must admit that it's very slow and can't believe William Sanderson was still in his 20's when they made this. He grew into his face.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
Watched the original last night in prep for tonight's sequel viewing. The missus was very underwhelmed. Apparently there was no story. :(

I must admit that it's very slow and can't believe William Sanderson was still in his 20's when they made this. He grew into his face.
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Nor should you believe it. He was 38. :smirk:
 
CassiusClaymore said:
Watched the original last night in prep for tonight's sequel viewing. The missus was very underwhelmed. Apparently there was no story. :(

I must admit that it's very slow and can't believe William Sanderson was still in his 20's when they made this. He grew into his face.
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I thought William Sanderson was an ingenious piece of casting due to his likeness to film noir character actor Elisha Cook Jr, who specialized in playing losers like J.F. Sebastian.

I must say that I missed the dark, gritty film noir qualities of the first one in 2049.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
Watched the original last night in prep for tonight's sequel viewing. The missus was very underwhelmed. Apparently there was no story. :(

I must admit that it's very slow and can't believe William Sanderson was still in his 20's when they made this. He grew into his face.
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My wife loves Jared Leto and Ryan Gosling so when she saw they were in the new movie she wanted to go see it. She hates sci fi so I said lets watch the original and if you enjoy that we can watch the second one.

Made it half way through before she gave up on it.
 
To be fair, the original was ridiculously slow. The good ending was the saviour for me in it.
 
Everyone saying the original was pretty slow...I thought the story moved too fast if anything, like they had zero trouble actually finding any of them. I guess you mean the scenes themselves. A high budget series is needed to explore the world more imo. Looking forward to seeing this sequel based on what people are saying though.
 
VeevaVee said:
Everyone saying the original was pretty slow...I thought the story moved too fast if anything, like they had zero trouble actually finding any of them. I guess you mean the scenes themselves. A high budget series is needed to explore the world more imo. Looking forward to seeing this sequel based on what people are saying though.
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Yeah there really isn't much detective work in the 1st one.
 
R.N7 said:
I thought William Sanderson was an ingenious piece of casting due to his likeness to film noir character actor Elisha Cook Jr, who specialized in playing losers like J.F. Sebastian.

I must say that I missed the dark, gritty film noir qualities of the first one in 2049.
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Elisha Cook Jr, immortalised as the hotheaded dirt farmer loudly blasted into the muck by Jack Palance in Shane. He featured in one of Bogart's noirish thrillers of the 40s as well, but I'm not sure which one: The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep or ....

I wonder what those great character actors of the Hollywood golden age, their careers defined by their faces, thought of being typecast, destined to be forever slugged by the hero, shot by the villain or spurned by the leading lady. Did they fume in frustration? 'Just once I'd like to win the fight, or get the girl, or strike it rich' Perhaps they were just grateful to make a living.
 
Will Absolute said:
I wonder what those great character actors of the Hollywood golden age, their careers defined by their faces, thought of being typecast, destined to be forever slugged by the hero, shot by the villain or spurned by the leading lady. Did they fume in frustration? 'Just once I'd like to win the fight, or get the girl, or strike it rich' Perhaps they were just grateful to make a living.
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I actually read this in the voice of William Sanderson playing E.B. Farnum talking to Ralph Richeson's Richardson.

Perfect. especially the 'Did they fume in frsutration?' bit. :lol:
 
Will Absolute said:
Elisha Cook Jr, immortalised as the hotheaded dirt farmer loudly blasted into the muck by Jack Palance in Shane. He featured in one of Bogart's noirish thrillers of the 40s as well, but I'm not sure which one: The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep or ....

I wonder what those great character actors of the Hollywood golden age, their careers defined by their faces, thought of being typecast, destined to be forever slugged by the hero, shot by the villain or spurned by the leading lady. Did they fume in frustration? 'Just once I'd like to win the fight, or get the girl, or strike it rich' Perhaps they were just grateful to make a living.
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Here's one of many scenes in which he gets put down by Bogart.



According to John Huston, who in 1941 directed him in The Maltese Falcon:

[Cook] lived alone up in the High Sierra, tied flies and caught golden trout between films. When he was wanted in Hollywood, they sent word up to his mountain cabin by courier. He would come down, do a picture, and then withdraw again to his retreat
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Don't think he was that bothered about it.
 
I really enjoyed it. I didn’t mind the pacing except in the scenes with Ana de Armas. I thought the ending was just right and glad they didn’t try and recreate the Hauer speech.

Jared Leto was the bum note, his performance was all wrong.
 
Archie Leach said:
I really enjoyed it. I didn’t mind the pacing except in the scenes with Ana de Armas. I thought the ending was just right and glad they didn’t try and recreate the Hauer speech.

Jared Leto was the bum note, his performance was all wrong.
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Better than the original ?
 
It felt very much like a Chris Nolan movie. Great to look at but if you pull away the shiny surface there's not actually that much going on underneath. And at almost 3 hours long it definitely dragged a bit for me. A very solid 7 but all this talk of the best sci fi film of the decade is just relief I think that it's not Prometheus. And for the love of all that is holy, when are they going to realise that creating completely cgi humans doesn't work.
 
I have a feeling that this will won't be 'cool' to appreciate as a masterpiece of modern cinema, particularly as the original is so iconic. It is a great movie and a great sequel.

Visually amazing and the plot is very good- the script is better than I was dreading from the trailer- the pacing is slow relative to other films of this day and age but it's Blade Runner.. I'm glad they caught the feeling of the original.

List of complaints;

Jared Leto's presence is a bit souring
That fecking aggressive synth noise

Everything else left me feeling very happy about it and I was dreading how they would bastardise the 'brand' as only Sony could do.
 
Mockney said:
I certainly haven't yawned during a sex scene in a while.
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I gaze into my crystal ball and see a grey and withered Mockney, down from the retirement home to spend a weekend with the grandkids. The young people are in the pub and he is alone.

Slumped on the couch, he flicks through the TV channels. Suddenly, he stumbles upon an explicit sex scene - one in which every bodily orifice is being misused. He doesn't pause and there is no change in his facial expression. Next channel. He thinks there may be bowls on BBC 2.
 
As much as I enjoyed the ride when I saw it, I don't think it will leave a lasting impression on me and I'm not sure if I'll ever fancy watching it again. Compared to the original, the aesthetics are forgettable and there's no lingering atmosphere to soak up, the things that made the original so memorable.
 
I think that's fair. I really enjoyed it but probably won't rush to watch again. The running time alone is fairly prohibitive to multiple rewatches.

I think Villeneuve was more faithful to the original than Scott would've been so glad he directed it. He's building quite the catalogue.
 
Nobody wants to say it's better than the original but it feels comparable.

New and fresh sometimes wins out in the short term.

Leto was borderline terrible. Average is kind. His first scene was great in terms of introduce a feeling of intent and dread. Then he felt like a cartoon in all later scenes.

Just watched it again with a mate who's girl wouldn't watch it. Music irked less the second time around. Which felt odd.
 
jungledrums said:
Director's cut no good?
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Ok but not an actual Director's Cut as Scott was too busy so it was edited according to his instructions more or less. The Final Cut isn't that different but it is an actual Director's Cut with a few extra/different scenes and it has also been digitally remastered. It is beautiful.
 
It’s never going to get a fair shake as the sequel but it’s a really good film when measured on its own merits. Flawed but then the original had Sean Young and honestly Vangelis’ score doesn’t sound as great at times as people pretend.
 
Prophet_of_Doom said:
I think it's a sad indictment of where the film industry is right now that it's already being hailed as a masterpiece, even by the supposed experts.
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Obviously they have a different opinion to you then. If it were a focus-group-tested annual Disney shitshow that they were calling a masterpiece then you could complain but this was a quality movie that was clearly crafted by professionals at the top of their game, confident in the material and ready to let scenes breathe.

I don't see how you can say it's a sad indictment of the industry for it to be appreciated?
 
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