Blade Runner 2049 is the follow up to the 1982 seminal science-fiction film Blade Runner and is a more than worthy sequel to the classic film. The movie picks up with Ryan Gosling’s K, a replicant who works as a blade runner for the LAPD in the year 2049 hunting down older replicant models. Without revealing any plot details, K receives a mission that ends up sending him to find Rick Deckard, a returning Harrison Ford in his best performance in a long time. Director Denis Villeneuve, replacing the original’s Ridley Scott, has established himself as the best working sci-fi director in the business with this film and last year’s Arrival because of how well he explores themes and creates characters rather than throwing explosions at the screen. Villeneuve perfectly takes Hampton Fancher and Michael Green’s dense screenplay and makes it feel as streamlined as possible since the plot is not what makes this movie spectacular. In this film, Villeneuve creates an atmosphere that keeps the audience engaged for the entirety of the 163 minute run-time.

However, Villeneuve could not have done this without the help of legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. It would be an absolute crime if Deakins, a 13-time Oscar nominee, does not finally win his long-awaited Oscar. Every frame of this film is breathtaking and is worth the price of admission alone. Deakins has created the most beautiful film that I have ever seen in the theaters and maybe ever. Additionally, the atmosphere of the film is deepened and more engrossing because of the score by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch. The two composers created a score that makes the movie feel ethereal and evokes the cyber-punk feel of the original but makes it fresh for audiences today.

The cast of the film also is an extreme strength of the movie. Gosling, in his first big-budget movie, holds his own and is a great anchor for the rest of the cast to function around. Jared Leto appears in 2 scenes as Niander Wallace who is supposed to be the main villain of the movie, and he works well in the role that he was given, but is not on screen enough to come close to Rutger Hauer’s antagonist from the original. Ana De Armas plays Gosling’s love interest and companion for the movie as a computer program named Joi, and it is extremely interesting how their relationship explores the central question of artificial intelligence in the movie since they are two non-human characters who act in such a human way. The main scene-stealer of the film is Sylvia Hoeks, who plays Leto’s right-hand woman Luv and acts as such an interesting foil to Gosling’s character. Returning as Rick Deckard, this might be Harrison Ford’s best performance since 1993’s The Fugitive and is completely deserving of an Oscar-nomination. What Ford does in his around 15-minutes of screentime is unbelievable since most of the acting he does is with his face. There is a scene in this movie that, without spoiling it, contains the best acting that Ford has ever done.

Blade Runner 2049 is without a doubt one of the best films of the year. It is a film that will be up for numerous technical awards at the Oscars and should be in the hunt for a best picture nomination, with a best director for Villeneuve and a best supporting actor for Ford. Blade Runner 2049 immediately establishes itself as one of the greatest sci-fi films and sequels of all-time, while also being a film that will remain on your mind long after you leave the theater.

Blade Runner 2049: 9.5 out of 10

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