Sequels have a reputation for being vastly inferior to their predecessors and are oftendismissed as pointless cash grabs. The critical scorn for sequels is especially strong when they are following up a film that is widely considered a classic that cannot possibly be improved on. Think of2010: The Year We Make Contact —the 1984 sequel to2001: A Space Odyssey(1968);The Two Jakes —the 1990 sequel toChinatown(1974); or any of Disney’s live-action remakes of their own animated classics.
At first glance,Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classicBlade Runner(1982), which practically single-handedly created the “cyberpunk” genre, would seem like yet another textbook example of a film that can never be surpassed in technical mastery or thematic complexity by a sequel. And yet, that is precisely what Canadian directorDenis Villeneuvemanaged to accomplish 35 years later inBlade Runner 2049(2017).Featuring a more complex narrative, grander scope, and larger and more diverse cast of characters than its predecessor,2049more than justifies its existence by going more in-depth on the themes of humanity, memory, and artificial intelligencethat are only slightly touched on in the original.
Blade Runner 2049
‘Blade Runner 2049’ Raises the Stakes and the Scale
Like the original film,2049centers on a blade runner, K (Ryan Gosling), whose job is to hunt down and kill (or “retire”) older model replicants, or bioengineered humans. After “retiring” an older replicant (Dave Bautista), K comes upon a buried box on his target’s property containing the bones of a deceased female replicant. Further analysis of the bones reveals that this replicant was able to do something long thought to be impossible for replicants: give birth.
Fearing that the existence of a replicant offspring could cause a war between humans and replicants, K’s boss, Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright), asks him to find and kill the child. Meanwhile, Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), the power-hungry head of a massive replicant-manufacturing corporation, dispatches his stoic replicant enforcer, Luv (Sylvia Hoeks), to find the child so he can use it to further his ambitions of colonizing other planets.
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Although the plots of both the originaland2049are essentially cat-and-mouse games, it would be inaccurate to characterize the sequel as a simple rehashing of the original à laStar Wars: The Force Awakens(2015).Whereas the narrative stakes of the first film are confined to a few characters—namely, Deckard and the small group of replicants he’s hunting—the very future of planet Earth (and beyond) is at stake in2049. This increase in narrative stakes is augmented byRoger Deakins' Oscar-winning cinematography, whose emphasis on grand and sweeping vistas of the cities in worlds within the film stands in stark contrast to the dark and claustrophobic atmosphere of the original noir-influenced film.
‘Blade Runner 2049’ Is More About Replicants Than Humans
In addition to raising the stakes of its in-universe narrative,2049also builds on the first film’s themes. BothBlade Runnerfilms revolve around a deceptively simple philosophical question: Do replicants deserve to be considered “human,” even though they’re technically machines? In the original movie, this existential conundrum is explored through the eyes of the human Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who begins to doubt the morality of his mission to kill replicants. Although there is an ongoing debate amongBlade Runnerfans (and even Scott and Ford themselves) about whether Deckard is unknowingly a replicant himself, there is no such ambiguity surrounding K, whose replicant identity is disclosed in the opening scene. (His one-letter name is just the first initial of his serial number.)
Telling the story through a replicant’s eyes allows the viewer to empathize with them even more than in Ridley Scott’s film. But2049takes this humanization a step further by centering on a plot device only briefly mentioned in the original: the process of implantingfalse or borrowed memoriesinto a replicant’s mind.2049plays on the ambiguity between real and fake memories by suggesting that K might himself be the missing replicant-born child after noticing that a memory from his childhood seemingly parallels what he has learned of the child’s life.
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K hopes that the memory was not implanted, as he feels that being born naturally, rather than created artificially, would give his existence a purpose beyond the one for which he was designed and programmed: killing other replicants. In other words, he hopes that the memory is real because it will make him feel more human, or, as he says in the film, because “To be born is to have a soul.” However, as the film progresses, K comes to realize that humanity is not an immutable ontological state that can only be obtained by those possessing certain physical traits (i.e., a memory-creating brain) or being born in a certain way. Instead, it is the very capacity for introspection, emotion, empathy, and desire that makes him just as human as, say, Joshi or Deckard.
More Human Than Humanity Itself
In fact, K is arguably even more “human” than Wallace, who is incapable of introspection or empathy and is driven solely by a desire to dominate and control. Even characters who, at first glance, seem almost comically one-dimensional, such as Luv andK’s subservient holographic AI girlfriend, Joi (Ana de Armas), display more capacity for emotion and personal connection than Wallace.
These character complexities convey perhaps the most important message: not only does one not need to be physically human to display humane traits, but even a physical human canlosetheir humanity if they lack empathy and introspection.Blade Runner 2049is available for rental onAmazon Prime Video,Apple TV+, andFandango At Home.
