The first film concerns a man trying desperately to retain his soul; this one depicts a Replicant vainly trying to attain one. Denis Villeneuve directs this masterful sequel to one of the greatest science fiction films of all time by re-creating a sadly beautiful world of counterfeit realities and soul-crushing despair.
I HAVE SEEN SPOILERS YOU WOULDN"T BELIEVE...
PLOT: The
story involves a Replicant Blade Runner named K (which is short for his serial
number) hunting down a rogue android and retiring it. Upon searching the
residence he finds evidence that turns out to be a buried Replicant who died in
childbirth many years ago. The first act plays like a police procedural as K
tries to solve this mystery which could upset the delicate societal imbalance between
ersatz slaves and their human masters. As the LAPD try to solve and suppress
this secret another organization is at odds with the investigation: Niander
Wallace has usurped Tyrell Corporation long ago and wants this secret to in
order to breed more Replicants for use Off-World. K with the help of his hologram
companion discovers that Rachel is the mother, the Nexus model that escaped
with Deckard in 2017. So the task is now to find Deckard with Wallace's
psychotic Replicant not far behind. Herein begins the narrative friction but
there's so much more beneath the story's skin.
IN UTERO: If Rachel gave birth then where is this
hybrid child? As the investigation deepens into the murk of memory, K soon
believes HE is the child. What many viewers miss completely is that as he, a
Replicant, begins to consider the possibility that he was born (not
manufactured) he attempt to act like a human. In short, K hopes he has a soul.
He fails his baseline testing with the LAPD, he begins to fall in love with his
hologramatic partner (whom he can never touch), and he even makes love to what
he believes to be a human girl. But this is revealed to be completely
ephemeral.
K's memory becomes reality when he discovers a small carved
wooden horse with a birthdate inscribed on the bottom. This date matches one
found at Rachel’s' burial site. He has a distinct memory of hiding this toy as
a child but cannot distinguish between faux memory and real experience. This is
the subject of nearly every PKD story and novel! He soon interviews the woman
responsible for creating emotional memories for Replicants and she determines
that his memory is real.
In an earlier scene, K visits Gaff (Deckard's aging partner
from the first film) and Gaff avers that he knows nothing of Deckard's fate
while lazily crafting another origami clue: a horse! Now things began to come
together. Or do they? BUT, if Gaff knew of this memory then he knows of the
child. Which makes sense because he also had access to Rachel's file
previously. Though his fate is elided, we can deduce that Wallace would have
eventually found and tortured him for information.
"She won't live.
But then again, who does?" Gaff's mysterious comment from BLADE RUNNER now has an added
significance: is he insinuating that he knows Rachel won't survive
childbirth?
THE UNICORN:
This brings me to the Unicorn clue in the first film. A Unicorn is a mythical
creature so it's not possible to have a memory of one, right? But it is a
symbol of virginity; as in, Rachel's a prosthetic virgin! I believe the Unicorn
isn't a memory but the name of Rachel's unique file/Nexus designation. So
Deckard could be imagining a Unicorn when thinking about Rachel’s potential for
love and Gaff would also make an origami Unicorn to tell his partner he knows
about the file. After all, Gaff can't read Deckard’s mind! So the Unicorn is an
objective fact not a subjective memory or dream.
THE TIN MAN:
K is an intelligent creature of design. He is not human. The film leaves no
doubt concerning this fact. But Ryan Gosling portrays our protagonist in seemingly
one dimension...like a robot. Again, this is misconstrued by many viewers: of
course he seems heartless and soulless because he isn't human. He is a Tin Man
that desires to be human. This is the key in understanding the entire premise
of BLADE RUNNER 2049! When he tracks
down Deckard in the ruins of Las Vegas, where the aged and all-to-human Deckard
slowly lives out his life of unsplendid isolation, K believes he is meeting his
father. Villeneuve leads the audience into believing this to be the most likely
explanation too. But K is in for another rude awakening! K unwittingly leads
Wallace's Psycho Nexus unit to Deckard who is captured and taken to Wallace. K
is left non-functional in the rubble after the fight. Sometime later he is
discovered and revived by a band of Replicants trying to break their
programming and human bondage. This is the Rebellion. K is told that the memory
of the toy horse is indeed an implant: he is a Replicant.
THE POWER OF
MEMORY: It is intimated that other Replicants have this same memory and
also thought, through their journey towards freedom and self-discovery, that
they were Rachel's child. This leads to a really intriguing premise: that the
surviving child (now a woman in her early 30s) has purposely shared her
memories in order to help Replicants break free from slavery. So she must have
access to people in Wallace's organization...or work for him herself. I can't
stress this enough: she is designing memories from her own experience (she
knows what she is) that may help Replicants become more human and less likely
to be dominated. K is told that the closest thing to being human is
self-sacrifice, so he makes the ultimate compassionate decision and not only
saves Deckard but takes him to his daughter. K gains nothing from this except
his own demise. Unlike Roy Batty's death, K's is silent amid gently falling
snow...but no less powerful. K has gained his soul but lost his life.
FORM/STRUCTURE:
The look of the film is quite different from Ridley Scott's masterpiece. Gone
is the penumbral noir-ish lighting as Roger Deakins fills the screen with harsh
colors and vibrant decay, garish illusions amid squalor. He doesn't recreate
the world exactly; he reimagines it 30 years later. It's beautiful in its
decomposition! Villeneuve also tells the story in a straightforward way
utilizing only one flashback: K's childhood memory. This is shown because
Villeneuve gives us the modern set-piece from the exact same angles so we know
K is walking through a place he thinks he's already been. A Replicant with Deja
vu! This also encourages the audience to believe what K is beginning to suspect
which helps to surprise us later. The sound design and score is evocative of BLADE RUNNER utilizing many of the same
effects and sound cues to set us firmly in Deckard’s world that is now 30 years
older. There is no cross-cutting or convergent narrative just this tangible and
violently transcendental journey. Editing and framing pays homage to the
original without seeming like trickery. And yet, Villeneuve doesn't dazzle with
style; he's quite reserved and utilitarian...like a Replicant himself. It all
comes together quite nicely.
BLADE RUNNER 2049
is a masterful film and worthy successor to both Ridley Scott's seminal film
and the spirit of Phillip K Dick's novel. This is a film that begins, like K,
without a heart...before we discover that the Tin Man had one all along.
Final Grade: A+
