Blade Runner 2049 (Film, 2017)

Blade Runner 2049 really is as good as the 5-star reviews make out.

I'll admit I was very nervous about the film. The original Blade Runner, while not without flaws, is a stone-cold classic, and sequels to classics are rarely satisfying. But my hopes were raised after watching director Denis Villeneuve's previous film, the fascinating Arrival, and I was not disappointed. At all.

I'm hesitant to write too much about the plot of Blade Runner 2049, so will only say that the film has a visual and philosophical approach so vast that it's quite simply staggering. I saw the movie on a large multiplex screen and it still didn’t seem big enough: I'm very tempted to go and see it on IMAX, just so that I can revel in Roger Deakin's beautiful cinematography. You could piece together the best shots in one slideshow, minus any plot or dialogue, and it would be a no less satisfying film.

My only criticism of Blade Runner 2049 is that it's one of those sequels that cannot help but influence your thoughts and feelings about the original film. I would rather the sequel’s makers had not tied the two together to the extent they have, and I think 2049 would have worked just as well without shoe-horning in the characters from the previous film. But there you go. It doesn't change my opinion that 2049 is a brilliant, beautiful film.

Time will tell if 2049 is judged to be a bona fide masterpiece, but it’s difficult to see how it could not be. How many other sci-fi films have such ambition, such audacity? Interstellar? 2001: A Space Odyssey? I like both of those films, but they are both imperfect, and I can see myself preferring to watch 2049.

And yes, there is scope for more Blade Runner sequels. The future may be bleak, but it’s also looking rosy.