Blade Runner 2049 Replicates

Blade Runner 2049 movie poster

Some people are quick to respond to the idea of a film sequel with equal parts cynicism and skepticism.

Given major Hollywood film studios' current reliance on big-budget franchises (eight Transformers movies and counting) to boost revenue and woo audiences away from the comfort of the plethora of on-demand entertainment available through cable or OTT streaming services like Netflix, that's totally understandable.

Personally I'm not one of those people, as a film fan I try to take an individual film on its own merits.

There are many examples of sequels that are as good as, or exceed the original movie; even when the first one is considered a classic.

In my personal view, The Godfather II is a superior film to the original and I rank Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant sequel as one of the top five films of all time.


As much as I loved the original Star Wars, the sequel The Empire Strikes Back, is a much better picture in terms of the quality and depth of the story, character development and the overall film.

By any measure, it's a huge risk for a producer, director or screenwriter to attempt a sequel to a film considered a classic in its own right, but in my humble opinion I think there's no question that executive producer Ridley Scott and French-Canadian director Dennis Villeneuve have succeeded with Blade Runner 2049.

As someone who came of age in the 70's and 80's, the original Blade Runner, which came out in 1982, is often described as "visionary" - but it truly was.

Director Ridley Scott's dark dystopian film based on the 1968 Phillip K. Dick novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", underperformed at the American box office when it first came out (I saw it in the theater), but many fans and critics alike were totally floored by its moody, atmospheric feel and unusual characters.

The popularity of the film grew exponentially after it was released on VHS then eventually shown on cable TV as a wider audience got a chance to see and appreciate it.

Like The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Blade Runner elevated the science-fiction film genre into an entirely new level with its breathtaking scenery, special effects, cutting edge production design and brilliant (and haunting) sound track.

Rutger Hauer as android Roy Batty in his unforgettable
3rd act scene in the 1982 film Blade Runner

To say nothing of the acting performances of Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and an absolutely unforgettable Rutger Hauer as the android Roy Batty.

The supporting cast, including M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, Brion James, Joanna Cassidy and James Hong was excellent as well.

William Sanderson's touching performance as toy designer J.F. Sebastian was amazing.

From my perspective, the original Blade Runner successfully tapped into anxieties felt by many people about the threat of nuclear war in the late 70's and early 80's.

For those too young to remember, this was at a time when elevated Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were a constant reminder of the vast nuclear arsenals of both countries.

Blade Runner came out a year before the widely-watched ABC television movie The Day After, which depicted the terrifying aftermath of a fictional nuclear war between America and the U.S.S.R - that was broadcast in 1983.

I think a lot of people were drawn to the original Blade Runner in part because it offered a glimpse of what a society that had survived the ravages of nuclear war, pollution and climate change, might look like - it offered hope that humanity would survive.

After seeing Blade Runner 2049 last night in IMAX, I think screenwriters Hampton Francher and Michael Green (Francher co-wrote the original film) successfully use the story to explore timely issues that our current culture continues to wrestle with today.

Topics like bigotry, the over-saturation of commercialization, the effects of drastic climate change, corporations allowed to run amok - and of course, the dilemma and ethical and moral implications of humans existing alongside artificial intelligence.

For those who plan to see it, don't worry I won't give away any plot twists or surprises.

A huge holographic figure from an ad talks with Ryan Gosling's
character "K" in Blade Runner 2049

But given the topics I explore in my blog I think it's important to note that Blade Runner 2049 offers glimpses of prejudice against androids in the first act (including slurs and graffiti) that instantly bring to mind the racism and divisiveness cultivated by Donald Trump.

One of the most interesting (and coolest) visual aspects of the first Blade Runner were the enormous video ads that were seen on the sides of buildings and large futuristic blimps or airships throughout the film in the background of scenes.

Those are reflections of the fact that director Ridley Scott originally learned his craft as a commercial director in London, and we get to see more of that in Blade Runner 2049.

The original Blade Runner was set in 2019, so thirty years later, improvements in technology (both in the story of the film and for SFX and visual effects teams) allow the ads in Blade Runner 2049 to exist as moving three-dimensional holographic images that are really stunning - and beautiful to watch.

For example in one scene, a luminescent three or four story-tall ballerina twirls and dances in the middle of a busy street at night crowded with pedestrians and vehicles; in another scene later in the film an enormous naked woman from an ad projected onto the side of a building steps out of the ad and crouches down to talk directly to Ryan Gosling's character "K" (pictured above).

Jared Leto as the ruthless Niander Wallace 

Without giving away anything, holographic projection of, and "physical" interaction with, humans figures prominently in Blade Runner 2049 in ways that are stunning, erotic and at times, creepy to watch.

As in the original Blade Runner, the only real government authority we see are the police who track down the remaining rogue Nexus-6 models of android "replicants" manufactured by the Tryrell Corporation.

In Blade Runner 2049 we are introduced to Niander Wallace, a sociopathic bio-engineer-CEO effectively played by actor Jared Leto who controls the powerful corporation that now manufactures replicants that, unlike the Nexus-6 models in the original film, are programmed to be completely loyal to humans.

Leto is solid as Wallace, a blind, enigmatic character who "sees" with the aid of small drone-like objects that follow him around, the main plot revolves around his desire to harness, and profit from, a disturbing secret that relates to Harrison Ford's character Deckard and his love interest Rachel, the stunning replicant brilliantly played by actress Sean Young in the original Blade Runner. 

Even more impressive than Leto in my opinion is his sidekick "henchman" (or hench-woman I should say) played by relatively unknown actress Sylvia Hoeks, in true Bond fashion she's graceful, intelligent, beautiful, ruthless and deadly - she really steals the scenes she's in and remember her name because this is a star-making role for her.

But before I wrap up, let's quickly review the good guys in the movie, which I intentionally saved for the end.

Harrison Ford's character Deckard appears in
Blade Runner 2049

As a guy whose grown up watching, and admiring, Harrison Ford from his first roles in American Graffiti, Star Wars and Apocalypse Now, I was eager to see what had become of the character Deckard.

Privately I worried that his presence in the sequel might be forced, awkward or klutzy from the standpoint of a screenwriter (Ford always delivers as an actor).


But the story in Blade Runner 2049 really delivers, and Deckard's appearance is a natural result of a logical, complex and well-structured plot.

It was an emotional moment for me as a fan of the original film and Ford, seeing the reality of both him and the character aging with grace and a kind of cinematic nobility - Ford (an avid tennis player) has clearly kept himself in shape and he looks good.

He also delivers a nuanced performance as Deckard reveals what he's been doing for the past thirty years - again, without giving away anything specific, he plays a critical part of the plot and the third-act resolution.

A plot that's bolstered with fine supporting actor performances by Robin Wright as LAPD Lt. Joshi and Ana de Armas as a hologram named Joi.

But, and I saved this for the end, this film unquestionably belongs to Ryan Gosling.

Ryan Gosling's character "K" sets out in search of
secrets across a futuristic landscape

Director Dennis Villeneuve (who directed Sicario and Arrival) has elicited what may be Gosling's finest on-screen performance to date.

Gosling's riveting performance is at once measured, introspective, subtle, moody and intense.

Yet he also displays emotional vulnerability and unleashes powerful physical intensity when needed - a modern reflection of Ford's incredible performance in the original film.

Gosling's performance perfectly captures the essence and style of the world of Ridley Scott's vision in a way that makes Blade Runner 2049 one of the finest sequels to a classic that I've ever seen.

To me one of the most impressive aspects about this film is that, like the original Blade Runner, the sequel never panders to any kind of mainstream Hollywood ideas about "commercial appeal".

It runs two hours and 44 minutes, and the producer, director, editor allow the film to take it's time to develop with long, unhurried scenes that allow the characters time to develop, and the plot to become carefully layered as it presents a new story set in the future, while merging plot elements with the original film.

New characters are introduced, and for fans of the original, old characters make appearances as well.

A giant holographic ballerina twirls in the middle
of the street in 2049 Los Angeles  

The sweeping camera shots by the master cinematographer Roger Deakins along with the a film soundtrack that incorporates the amazing music of Vangelis simultaneously takes us on a journey that wanders into the past original film, while moving through a future landscape and setting up a path forward for what will surely be another sequel.

Blade Runner 2049 makes clear that in some ways, the wall between humans and the artificially intelligent replicants who often display a humanity that is startling to behold, is growing even more fragile - a question we ourselves face as AI advances rapidly.

This amazing sequel manages to achieve the same epic emotional heights of the original in ways that make it something quite rare in American cinema today - a transformative and moving film experience that makes you work and offers no simple answers.

For film buffs and sci-fi fans, Blade Runner 2049 needs to be seen on the large screen - the extra few dollars to see it in IMAX is worth it.

It's not often that a sequel comes along that ranks up there with the original, and rare is the big Hollywood release these days that leaves you thinking as you leave the theater  - and searching for answers after the film is over.

This is one of those films that leaves you knowing one thing as you start your car in the theater parking lot, or wait for the subway or bus - that you have to see it again.

Sly's Unintentional Slight & The Big Short

Sylvester Stallone accepts his Golden Globe 

After last night's Golden Globe Awards, the film awards season officially kicks into high gear.

As I mentioned on the blog last Tuesday, actor Michael B. Jordan's performance in Creed is one of the reasons the latest installment in the Rocky franchise has been a financial success at the box office as well as a hit with critics who've lavished the film with accolades.

Including critic Chris Klimek who pronounced it the "Best Rocky Movie Since Rocky" .

The original Rocky earned ten Oscar nominations and beat out All the President's Men and Network to win Best Picture at the 1977 Oscars, where it also won Best Director for John G. Avildsen and Best Film Editing.

The glowing reviews for Creed were reflected in Sylvester Stallone winning Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes last night, but the actor quickly generated a backlash on mainstream and social media when he stepped up to the stage and thanked a bevy of film executives from MGM and Warner Brothers for green-lighting the original Rocky back in 1975 - but failed to even mention or thank director Ryan Coogler or his young costar Jordan.

Creed director Ryan Coogler

Coogler (who directed Fruitvale Station) is the African-American director who not only directed Stallone and Jordan in Creed, he's the one who conceived the idea and story for Creed and first approached Stallone about the project and persuaded him to do it.

Now Stallone is 69-years-old and was obviously emotional on stage as he received a standing ovation from his peers, so under such circumstances anyone might be expected to forget a few things.

But I think the point of the flack he's getting is based on the fact that he's been in the industry long enough to know that you thank the director and your costar who made your performance possible.

Especially before mentioning a long list of film executives from 41 years ago; taken in context of the film industry's efforts to recognize African-American talent from both in front of and behind the camera, it wasn't Stallone's best PR moment.

By all accounts Stallone formed pretty tight relationships with Coogler and Jordan during the shoot, and though he recognized his oversight at the Globes and went back on stage to thank them during a subsequent commercial break, in the merciless immediate-now of the Internet age the mere perception of a slight seen in the context of cultural insensitivity is a hard cat to put back in the bag.

Just ask Mel Gibson, who's infamous profanity-laced anti-semitic tirades against Jewish, African-American and Hispanic people have left him in Hollywood's doghouse for ten years.

I'm not comparing Stallone's oversight to Gibson's bigotry by any means, but Hollywood is under the spotlight for issues related to cultural sensitivity and someone of Sly's stature recognizing the creative achievements of people of color makes a huge difference to the industry - and he should know that.

Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling in The Big Short

Next up on the awards slate will be the Screen Actors Guild Awards which will be broadcast live on Saturday January 30th.

One of the cool benefits of being a member of SAG-AFTRA (as yours truly proudly is) is the opportunity to vote for the SAG Awards - which also means you get free screeners of films and television shows that are in contention for awards season.

So I was fortunate enough to get a DVD copy of The Big Short directed by former Saturday Night Live writer Adam McKay in the mail courtesy of Paramount.

The film is based on the 2010 non-fiction book 'The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine' by author Michael Lewis.

It examines the financial crisis that started in 2007 by looking at an eclectic group of Wall Street insiders who understood the deeper complexities behind the fragility of America's housing bubble and the inflated profiteering off of people's mortgages that was taking place and successfully used that information to reap huge financial profits by essentially placing bets on the implosion of the economy.

Adam McKay's adaptation of the book is an excellent film in the vein of movies like All The President's Men (which chronicled Watergate) and director Michael Mann's brilliant 1999 film The Insider starring Al Pacino, Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer which chronicles former Brown & Williams VP of research Jeffrey Wigand's efforts to testify in court and on 60 Minutes about the tobacco industry's intentional manipulation of nicotine levels in cigarettes in order to purposefully make smokers more addicted so they'll buy more cigarettes.

Where All The President's Men and The Insider are characterized by a serious dramatic cinematic approach to the heavy subject matter, The Big Short brilliantly infuses dark comedy as a means to break down the complexity of the mortgage crisis to help help average folks better understand what actually sparked the Great Recession.

Matthew Broderick breaks the 4th Wall in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

For example, the movie breaks the unwritten "rule" of acting by breaking The Fourth Wall at various points throughout the script.

For you non-actors who might not know, as an actor standing on a stage faces an audience, he or she is surrounded by three walls; one behind, one to the left and one to the right.

The fourth wall is an invisible barrier between the front of the stage and the audience.


Remember Matthew Broderick's character Ferris Bueller speaking directly to the audience in the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off? That's breaking the Fourth Wall.

Actors are taught not to break the fourth wall, meaning you stay within the script and direct your attention and focus on the actors in the scene, or the set - as a stage actor, you do have to project out towards the audience; but you don't acknowledge them.

As a film or television actor, you never (or rarely) look directly at the camera - if it's not very specifically called for, like breaking the Fourth Wall, even a slight glance at the camera lens during a scene is considered a serious rookie mistake on set and it will ruin a take that must then be re-shot.

Some films (or plays), particularly comedy, sometimes break that rule and have actors directly address the audience; The Big Short uses that effectively.

Actress Margot Robbie in The Big Short

At one point actress Margot Robbie (pictured left) appears in a bubble bath as a butler serves her champagne while she explains how sketchy subprime lending practices created massive profits based on non-existent money by intentionally offering mortgages to people who couldn't pay them back.

The scene is a pretty funny poke at the greed and excess of the uber rich that finds an innovative and sexy way to explain predatory lending.

In another scene celebrity chef and 'Kitchen Confidential' author Anthony Bourdain cuts up old fish to throw in a fish stew to explain how banks and Wall Street firms took really risky sub-prime mortgages out of bad Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO's) and mixed them in together with higher rated prime mortgages in other CDO's to hide them and sell them off to greedy investors who had no idea what they were buying.

CDO's are basically a bunch of assets pooled together to make a financial product which can be sold, in the case of the financial crisis, most of these CDO's were filled with people's mortgages. When the housing bubble collapsed and home prices fell and people began to default on their mortgages, the value of these CDO's plummeted.

The Big Short effectively explains how this massive financial crime happened and how some people made a lot of money by "shorting" the housing market - betting money that the housing market would collapse.

It's the kind of film that's as educational as it is entertaining and people need to see it.

Don't read too much into The Big Short being snubbed at the Golden Globe Awards last night.

The Globes are decided upon by the 83 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which is largely made up of freelance journalists.

There are some really strong acting performances in this film and my sense is you'll see those recognized by the SAG Awards and the Oscars - which are voted upon respectively by the approximately 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA; or in the case of the Oscars, the almost 7,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Big Short is a film for the people with a meaning that transcends entertainment and deserves awards recognition - and as the most important part of the awards season unfolds, I think it will.