By Travis Johnson
There’s little plot to be gleaned from the new Blade Runner 2049 trailer that we didn’t already know – Ryan Gosling’s android hunter, K, is searching for Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard – but it’s all about the details, the texture, the vibe, and there’s plenty of that stuff to soak up.
The jury’s still out on whether a sequel to Ridley Scott’s epochal 1982 cyberpunk classic, but the marriage between the stylistic cues of the original and the demands of contemporary big budget filmmaking seems to be a happy one – we get the smoky streets and cyclopian arcologies of BR82, and the explosions and action beats required of a circa 2017 blockbuster. Indeed, it wouldn’t be surprising if there’s more action by weight in the trailer than the movie; Blade Runner is not an action movie by any stretch (although it contains a few scant action scenes), and Denis Villeneuve is about as thoughtful a director as we could hope to take on a project like this, so it’s safe to hope that 2049 isn’t just an action movie in a Blade Runner Halloween costume.
Even if it is, it’s a great looking costume, and it doesn’t hurt to have the great Roger Deakins’ eye in the mix. The balance between the necessary mirroring and throwbacks to the original and the newer elements seems on point (although Ghost in the Shell got there first with the giant holographic advertisements), although it’s worth being cautious of any sci-fi property that trades in nostalgia. There are some intriguing moments here that just sink the hook in – Dave Bautista seems to be getting used in a much more interesting way than anyone else has bothered to yet, Jared Leto’s presence at the “birth” of a replicant hints at a much more bespoke production process than we might have otherwise thought, and the whole shebang seems to hinting at a brewing war between humans and replicants, which is certainly one way to expand on the original’s themes of identity, free will and self-determination.
Of course, we could be well off the mark, but it sure is fun to speculate, isn’t it? Blade Runner 2049 is in cinemas from October 5, 2017.
