Blade Runner 2049 - SPOILERS FROM PAGE 3 - PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS!

DesVegas

A lot if the time I was thinking . . I wonder if @GavRichList can make those sounds with his board. Man alive she was sexy

beed84

Not sure if this is a spoiler for anyone, however, I'll conceal my thoughts anyway...

Niallseroreilly said:

Saw it in Imax last night... beautiful looking film.... as a massive fan of the original i was excited.... but i have to say i thought the story was a mess... didnt care about any of the characters... cartoonish villians... laughably bad performance from Jared Leto as Dr Evil.... ultimately the writing let the film down. Gosling was served a poison chalice with that role....playing a replicant who doesnt really show emotion stopped the audience from really caring about him.

Feast for the eyes, plotholes a plenty and ultimately a film that was madly in love with itself.

Pretty much agree with this. It was very laboured with unnecessarily long scenes that screamed 'look at me!' throughout. Although it was visually stunning, the characters weren't in the least engaging and there was far too much implied meaning for it to have any real effect. Disappointingly, I left the cinema exhausted with no lasting impression. For me it was a case of style over substance, which is a shame as it could've been so much more.

mellowsun

Niallseroreilly said:

Saw it in Imax last night... beautiful looking film.... as a massive fan of the original i was excited.... but i have to say i thought the story was a mess... didnt care about any of the characters... cartoonish villians... laughably bad performance from Jared Leto as Dr Evil.... ultimately the writing let the film down. Gosling was served a poison chalice with that role....playing a replicant who doesnt really show emotion stopped the audience from really caring about him.

Feast for the eyes, plotholes a plenty and ultimately a film that was madly in love with itself.

Spot on, glad it wasn't just me. The critics are loving the film but apart from the visuals and sound design, it was a bit of a mess.

One of the writers is also responsible for Alien: Covenant - big warning there then.

To be fair, it was pretty good up until K finds Deckard, then it goes downhill, with some daft Beyond the Thunderdome brief subplot and the ending is absolute cheese, and awful stealing the music from the end of the first film too.

RaymondLin

@mellowsun got to disagree.

This movie is deeper than almost every science fiction out there, besides the visuals. 

beed84

RaymondLin said:

@mellowsun got to disagree.

This movie is deeper than almost every science fiction out there, besides the visuals. 

Hmm, I think it tries too hard to be deep and meaningful. There are various sci-fi films out there with much simpler plots that have moved me far greater and have left me thinking long after I've seen them, whereas this just left me cold and a bit 'oh'.

thomasross20

Managed to get somebody to look after Sheena so I'm watching it in IMAX 3D at 10am! Not sure about using my hot dog voucher at this time, though... (Which I will...)

stickyfiddle

Niallseroreilly said:

Feast for the eyes, plotholes a plenty and ultimately a film that was madly in love with itself.

What plot holes?

There's a difference between not explicitly stating things for the audience (which happens A LOT in this movie) and plot holes. 

Jalapeno

Excellent use of a Friday night.  Loved it !

goldtop

Saw it last night. Visually gorgeous, some excellent acting (villainess). But... it's poor. 5/10 at best.

MHOs:

Everything about the Leto villain is style over substance. A couple of "aren't I horrifically weird and nasty" scenes but no discernible motivation. And then he just disappears out of the movie! Must have been then that RS decides to hurry up and get to the ending. The ending is unsatisfying and rushed, with too many loose ends (bad guy, replicant army?). The drowning scene is too long, too predictable and actually made me feel uncomfortable with the M-F violence, even though it was 'deserved' by what she had done before.

The bit I most liked, and that is most related to the PKD "what is it to be human/alive" theme was hinted at often but in passing and left underdeveloped. And in that, the relationship between a replicant and an AI hologram companion was the most promising (with the Elvis hologram performance being a nice joke). But it would have been so much more interesting if, when it's time to leave the apartment, the AI wanted to keep her immortality and avoid the risk of death. She could have played a sacrificial role in saving his life - an actual example of the point made several times in the movie (but only made in relation to the replicants).

Talking of saving his life, RS forgot to give any reason why the villainess didn't kill Gosling's character after picking up Deckard at the hotel. As unlikely plot moments go, this is Bondian in its hokiness.

I did like the suggestion/claim that Deckard had been pre-programmed to be attracted to Rachel in the original story, that Tyrell had bigger plans for replicants. But not sure if the idea we're supposed to get is that Tyrell/Wallace is just an evil corporation wanting self-replicating slaves for $$$ gain, galactic dominaton, who knows what purpose? This is another odd bit of underexplanation. As was the big power/data blackout thing (seems that backing up will always be an issue in the future).

The music and soundtrack. Well, there's Vangelis, there's whatever Johansson came up with before being sacked, and there's what we got. Some huge synth sounds to match the images, but no memorable theme at all. And there was no character in any passing music. You're not going to hear a 'drunk piano' sound or sultry sax theme that will ever take you back to this story. Loved the dialogue when there was nothing but reverb, as it rolled out across the cinema audience. Really took you into the scene.

Overall, I thought this was a thin story told in episodes that were either OMIGOD awesome scenes, or just small nods to the original noir-esque BR environment, and I think it was over-elaborated to the point where there was too much stuff going on to bring to a satisfying finale. The PKD theme - which is the real heart of Blade Runner - got squashed out of it.

Jalapeno

goldtop said:

Saw it last night. Visually gorgeous, some excellent acting (villainess). But... it's poor. 5/10 at best.

Firstly it isn't a Ridley Scott film - he's just a producer, the director is Denis Villeneuve

Villaness was disinterested in Officer K in the Las Vegas hotel as she had now Deckhart, at first I agreed, but then in the Rachel scene it became clear - Officer K was just a pawn.

I fell for the 6102021 distraction (but I did think the dream maker was the daughter immediately - the genetic disorder)

There's enough plot loose ends if someone in 30yrs wants to do another IMHO

thomasross20

10/10 though sudden end which sets up another. Brilliant cinematography, sounds and retro-enough vibe. Lots of "meaning" in there - agree with @RaymondLin's spoiler take on it all. Brilliant!! Probably the best sci-fi film I've seen in the purest sense.

stonevibe

An obvious plot, poor acting and way too loud.

Thought that Jared Leto's performance had no weight and it spoilt the character for me. I had no love for any of them in this film, certainly not like Pris and Roy in the original or even Leon for that matter.

Needs about 30 plus minutes cut out from it as it drags its heels and then just ends abruptly. 

mellowsun

Spoiler opinions on the ending

The film was very good until the last 1/3, then it got ridiculous. 
1) The convenient plot device of the one-eyed replicant/leader of the rebellion who turns up as the person who helped hide the daughter. 
2) The crappy bond-villain of Wallace, threatening to torture Deckard 'off world' into revealing the whereabouts of the convenient one-eyed rebellion leader/helper
3) Deckard feeling safe to visit his daughter at the end, despite having just caused havoc with a) K having just downed 3 ships and b) killed Luv, which surely would have been tracked and alerted Wallace
4) The terrible K's 'time to die' with Roy's theme at the end

The film was a turkey

Flink_Poyd

Popcorn in hand, waiting for it to start.........

RaymondLin

mellowsun said:

Spoiler opinions on the ending

The film was very good until the last 1/3, then it got ridiculous. 
1) The convenient plot device of the one-eyed replicant/leader of the rebellion who turns up as the person who helped hide the daughter. 
2) The crappy bond-villain of Wallace, threatening to torture Deckard 'off world' into revealing the whereabouts of the convenient one-eyed rebellion leader/helper
3) Deckard feeling safe to visit his daughter at the end, despite having just caused havoc with a) K having just downed 3 ships and b) killed Luv, which surely would have been tracked and alerted Wallace
4) The terrible K's 'time to die' with Roy's theme at the end

The film was a turkey

You are being very picky and if those are the things that you are unhappy about, this movie is beyond epic. 

beed84

Beyond epic isn’t how I’d categorise it. For me it was glossy, self-indulgent, arty bollocks with a crap story to boot. The first one wasn’t as great as people make out it to be either. Why it has such a cult status is beyond me.

littlegreenman

Just back from seeing it in IMAX 3D, loved it. Yes, there's a few things left unexplained or glossed over but it's only a sci-fi movie at the end of the day, and a very enjoyable one at that. The friend from work I went with usually talks a bit during movies but she didn't make a peep, which says a lot!

Easily the best 3D movie I've seen, the lack of "wow" 3D moments was a refreshing change, just used to make things a bit more real. Soundtrack was amazing, loud yes but not uncomfortably so.

Can't help but wonder though if the lack of resolution of the Wallace character, what happens with Deckard and his daughter, and the replicant army doesn't point to another sequel? As long as they keep the same team I think it could be a goer.

Flink_Poyd

Just back from seeing it. 
Did I enjoy it? Yes
Is it as a amazing as I wanted it to be? Not quite. 

The sound is loud, far too loud when it kicks in. Good for a rustling of the sweet wrappers though. It doesn't quite have that noir feeling of the original, it's had a bit too much grit polished out for me. It honestly didn't feel like 2h 40 odd for me, it's slow but didn't drag. 

 At the end everyone got up to leave and didn't say a word.

Stunned silence? Disappointed? Not quite sure what to make of it? Personally I felt conflicted. Enjoyed it but I didn't come out thinking "wow!"

Unlike someone else mentioned I did feel for K, he was searching for something and ultimately found he was just a pawn and being used. Although he knew this from being created as a replicant, the realisation that he wasn't what he thought gave me a bit of an "aaaw, bless" moment. 

The army of replicants bit just reminded me of Zion in The Matrix, not a great feeling at all to be honest. 
 
I liked the bit where K bursts through the wall, another nod to Roy I thought. 

The ending where he meets the daughter is a bit meh. 

As an addition I thought the score was pretty poor. It must be difficult to follow the original but for me it didn't really live up to the first at all. 

Headphones

Just back from it myself.

Certainly a few chords struck with the comments above.  Yes, it's very much in the vein of the original, the feel, the questions left in the air and the odd bit of excitement that's all the more solid for its rarety.

It's also true that a lot's not said or left unanswered (like the original) - but then isn't that the point?

And of course the core question remains unanswered - though it is more explicitly asked here.

Overall a worthy successor; an epic if you though the original was an epic, so-so if you though the original was so-so.

I'd say it was a very worthy sequel.

Flink_Poyd

Headphones said:

Just back from it myself.

Certainly a few chords struck with the comments above.  Yes, it's very much in the vein of the original, the feel, the questions left in the air and the odd bit of excitement that's all the more solid for its rarety.

It's also true that a lot's not said or left unanswered (like the original) - but then isn't that the point?

And of course the core question remains unanswered - though it is more explicitly asked here.

Overall a worthy successor; an epic if you though the original was an epic, so-so if you though the original was so-so.

I'd say it was a very worthy sequel.

Yup, a lot of ambiguity. A worthy successor that didn't tarnish the original or Prometheus it