Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Review

SPOILERS

“Sometimes to love someone, you got to be a stranger.”

   If I had to pick my favorite film of all time I’d have to choose Blade Runner. It was ahead of its time and is probably the most influential film of all time. Before ‘Blade Runner’ almost all the sci-fi films were too bright and utopian like. The original Blade Runner is such a classic and over time has formed a huge fan base for the film. So many people worship the film, like myself, that they put it so high on a pedestal that it’s practically impossible to reach. When it was first announced that there would be a sequel many fans were both excited and skeptical. It was my most anticipated film of the year. All the trailers left me in awe. Then when I finally saw the film I was simply flabbergasted because I never thought I would say this, but it is the best sequel since “The Godfather: Part II”... correction it is the best sequel in film history. I will even go as far to say the best film of the 21^st century.

   The film is about Officer K who is a replicant Blade Runner. So essentially he takes out older models of his kind. He discovers a replicant who has been buried for years and finds out that this replicant has given birth, which should be impossible. So he searches for the replicant child. Officer K discovers some things along the way like for instance the body he found was Rachael and the father of the child is Deckard. Now there will be major spoilers below.

   What I love to look for in films and literature is symbolism and philosophical ideas. It’s certainly everywhere in “Blade Runner 2049” from the eyes, water, memory, physical connection, and life. The film is very layered. Some viewers found the film too heavy to be enjoyable, but I didn’t. I loved every bit of it.

    So what is the meaning behind the eyes in the film? Many believe that the eyes are the gateway to the soul, if there is in fact a soul, but let’s say there is for the review. Being human means to have a soul. Both the original and 2049 bring up the subject what it means to be human. That means to be human one must have a soul, so our eyes are the windows to that soul. The film focuses on this ideology throughout. Officer K states, “To be born is to have a soul”. When Lieutenant Joshi tells K that essentially it doesn’t really matter that he doesn’t have a soul and he’s not really missing out on anything special. The focus on his eyes proves that he does in fact have a soul. The first image we see in the 2049 is that of an eye and it definitely sets the tone to the whole film. I will focus on a few characters where eyes play a big part on their development.

    In the beginning Officer K arrives at Morton’s protein farm. Morton is a Nexus-8, which is an older replicant model. They battle it out and Officer K ultimately wins. He scans Morton’s eye and a serial number is then provided. He rips Morton’s eye off completely and brings it back with him to the precinct. So basically when K scanned Morton’s eye he was judging his soul. Then when K took the eye with him it could symbolize the destruction of his soul, which brings us to Freysa. Throughout the film she has been spying on K during his search for the child. When she finally reveals herself to Officer K we discover her right eye is missing just like Morton after the fight. Freysa though removed her own eye, which in return removed the serial number also. Doing this would now make it challenging to verify she’s a replicant without violating her rights. She’s taken her own identity back by taking her eye out, but she’s so engrossed on this one singular vision of the cause she’s behind. She’s so blinded on pursuing this cause that she doesn’t really even consider on the individual.

   Joi is the love interest of Officer K in the film. She’s a hologram owned by K. Joi, like most of the characters in the film, is longing to find her humanity. She’s looked on as less than a replicant. She even merges with Mariette to make love with K. Her eyes make an interesting point in the film. When K sees an ad for Joi her eyes are completely black, which probably means she does not have a soul or a personality “yet”. The black eyes make her look like a product rather than a human. This dwells on the last thing Luv said about Joi that she is a product. When you buy Joi you can make her into anything you want her to be. It even said on the ad “everything you want to hear”, which is basically what she did with K. Telling him he was special leading him to believe he was the replicant child, but she does care for K greatly. She sacrifices herself to save him and the last words Joi tell K was “I love you.” She was the noblest character in the entire film. She gave herself completely, without hesitation and without conflict. Joi’s love helped K showing what sacrifice is, which ultimately helps save Deckard in the end.

   Luv works for the Wallace Corporation and is Wallace’s right hand. She’s his favorite replicant he’s created and often calls her his favorite angel. Luv does everything for him. He ordered her to keep a close watch on Officer K and help him find the child. We see Luv’s eyes up close when she is wearing glasses commanding drones to attack on the wasteland to help K out on his investigation. This scene is where she wants to outshine all the replicants and possibly even Wallace himself. She wants to impersonate her creator and she begins to copy him by having no empathy. When Luv destroys Joi she simply calls her a product to destroy Joi’s humanity that K felt she had. This can be compared to when Wallace says replicants are a disposal workforce. During Luv and K’s final confrontation she tells him, “I’m the better one”. She stabs K, which echoes how Wallace stabbed a newborn replicant who could not procreate. She proceeds to kiss K when she thought he was dying also echoing Wallace when he kissed his creation. She’s trying to be a god, but all she is in the end is just Wallace’s shadow.

    Niander Wallace is the founding CEO of a replicant manufacturing company. Wallace is blind, which is rather ironic because Tyrell, who created replicants before Wallace, had his eyes taken from him before a replicant murdered him. Wallace can’t see with eyes, but rather through drones that are connected to him through a chip in his neck. So he doesn’t view anything by his soul, but rather by technology. These drones can show him more than five things at once and this makes him more godlike than human or simply that he has lost his humanity. His name basically translates to “new man”, which is quite fitting since he is creating a new breed of man in order to be their god in a way. He even calls his creations his angels. It can also be said that Wallace is similar to Tiresias from Greek mythology. Tiresias became blind when Hera cursed him and Zeus compensated him by giving him the gift of foresight. Due to this gift by Zeus many did not like what Tiresias had told them even though what he told them was true. Like so many of us we have a difficult time to accept the truth. You can see the similarities between Wallace and Tiresias, when he interrogates Deckard. He is the antagonist of the film even though he would bring humanity further forward, but once again afraid of what the future may bring.

     In the Greek mythology Tiresias died after drinking water, which brings us to the second most symbolized thing in 2049. Water is everywhere in 2049 from rain, the reflecting water in the Wallace Corporation building, the massive water reservoir, and lastly snow. Just like in the original, LA is dark, gloomy, and rainy. The heavy rain represents the imperfect future where beautiful things continue to decay. Many consider rain to represent difficulties in life. This would explain many rain always poured hard when a character was going through conflict from within. Like when Freysa tells K that he isn’t Deckard’s child it’s raining. So he’s processing whether he should join the cause and do what she’s asked, which is kill Deckard because he knows too much, or try to go back to the way things were. Then its pouring when he sees the Joi ad and realizes what he must do.

    In the Wallace Corporation there is a lot of reflecting water in certain rooms. In Wallace’s personal room he has a little cement floor with a couch, table, chair, with a little walkway, and it’s all surrounded by still water. The reflection of the water surrounds all the walls. It’s both striking an unnerving in a way. Water has always been a powerful symbol for humans since it’s critical for life. It’s easy to say that this may symbolize the womb since this is where Wallace creates his replicants. When the viewer first sees a replicant born there is a ton of water shown on the replicant’s body and all over the floor.  

     The massive water reservoir is where Officer K decides to save Deckard and has a fight with Luv. The water is bursting everywhere with these strong, powerful, violent waves that are constantly hitting them. This could actually emphasize Luv, K, and Deckard as being unstoppable and impossible to contain. Freysa couldn’t stop Deckard. Wallace couldn’t contain Luv. She’s programmed to obey, but she doesn’t because she has a desire to become more godlike than Wallace. She has the desire to be better, which is probably why she screamed at K that she was better than him. Lieutenant Joshi also couldn’t contain K even though she thought she did. He was disobeying orders because of his desire to be loved, special, and needed. This self-belief overpowered his programming and helped him evolve. While they’re at the reservoir Luv believed she killed K, but K emerges from the water almost reborn. He kills Luv by drowning her and saves Deckard.

    Snow is a symbol of rebirth, purity, forgiveness, and transformation. It’s snowing where K brings Deckard to see his daughter. K lets the snow flurries fall on his hand, which I believe symbolizes K’s purity from his rebirth. K lies on the ground and embraces the snow falling on him. Earlier in the film, he appeared unsure about the snow, but eventually comes to accept it in the end much like his identity. He’s finally found meaning in his life. He finally achieves enlightenment. K knows that he will die, but he also knows his life has had purpose. He’s more human than a human. Deckard goes in to finally see his daughter, which will end in forgiveness.

    Earlier in the film, when Deckard is captured and is being interrogated by Wallace. The interrogation is going nowhere so Wallace brings a replicant lookalike of Rachael. Deckard tells him her eyes were green, but in the original they were actually brown. Originally I thought well maybe he’s simply rejecting the idea of another Rachel to protect their child. Then I thought could it be so simple that Deckard simply wanted to anger Wallace. As I continued to ponder this I realized that maybe Deckard merely remembered wrong. A big point of the film is how memories cloud our perception of certain events. In the original it reflected how attachment to memories makes one human. In 2049 it explores how memory constructs our personal narrative and how imperfect or clouded it can be. That memory can’t make one human and sometimes our memories are false. Officer K’s memory of the small wooden horse causes him to believe that he is the replicant child, which he’s not. Those memories were merely implants created by Dr. Ana Stelline. She explains to K that it’s against the law to plant human memories in replicants because of what happened with the older models during the Tyrell years. She goes on to say that artists always put a little bit of themselves in their work, which is true since K’s memories are hers. She placed bits of her memories in replicants to give them the capability to dream and eventually become free.

    Physical connection or the desire for touch is delicately inserted throughout 2049. Dr. Ana Stelline is locked in an isolation unit and is unable to touch the holograms from the memories she constructs for the replicants. Wallace must feel and touch all his creations due to his blindness of sorts. K tries to make the relationship with his holographic girl Joi more real by upgrading her so that she may come with him anywhere. He still can’t fully touch her like he could a human or replicant. Joi even reaches out to try to feel the rain, but it goes straight through her. Officer K lets some bees land on his hand, which I will get to later. Deckard tries to touch his child, but can’t due to her isolation unit. Even hologram Elvis sings “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, which has the line “take my hand” in it.

        Before Officer K finds Deckard in the hotel some bees land on his hand. This is important for two reasons. First it foreshadows that he is not Rachael and Deckard’s child. In the first film when Deckard interviews her, he asks, “You’re watching television. Suddenly you realize there’s a bee crawling on your arm,” and Rachael immediately responds with, “I’d kill it.” When K lets the bee fly away unharmed it foreshadows he’s not hers. The second reason why this scene is important is because this if the first living creature he’s seen that isn’t artificial besides humans. Bee’s are known for their pollination so when K first discovers Rachael’s body he finds a flower on her grave. Deckard got the flower from his bee yard and left that flower there. In the end, Officer K saves Deckard life and reunites him with his daughter. Disobeying all orders, receiving meaning, and possibly even attaining a soul.

     Denis Villeneuve has created such a masterpiece with Blade Runner 2049. Not many directors could accomplish this. Expanding more on the original material and loading the film with heavy ideas. It’s ambitious, hypnotic, fascinating, and such an experience. I kept going to the cinema to see it because I couldn’t get enough of this film. Ryan Gosling proves he’s one of the best actors in the business today. Harrison Ford gives one of his performances since “Witness”. The whole cast was phenomenal. Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch’s involvement with the soundtrack was spectacular. One of my favorite scores I’ve heard in recent years. Roger Deakins’ best cinematography to date and that’s something since he’s the best at what he does. It’s a visual masterpiece. This is definitely a film you must see. I’m so glad this film exists. Who knows over time I may actually like this more than the original.

100 out of 5