Blade Runner 2049

     This film begins 30 years after the events of the first Blade Runner film of 1982.  LAPD Officer K discovers a secret that has the potential to bring society into chaos.  Officer K realizes he must find Rick Deckard.  He is a former LAPD blade runner but he’s been missing for 30 years.

      I have not seen the original Blade Runner so I cannot compare the two films.  The one aspect of films like this one that I don’t like is the darkness used for many of the scenes.  This allows details to be eliminated and only darkness to come through.  It seems like a technique to avoid filling in the scenery??  I know it’s dark and dreary but the sky still has light?  There are many scenes where I don’t know what’s going on and why?  I don’t know who are the created people and who are the real people except for Officer K and Deckard?  3* (This movie is OK)   

164 min, Drama directed by Denis Villeneuve with Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Mark Arnold Vilma Szecsi, Wood Harris, David Dastmalchian, Tomas Lemarquis, Sylvia Hoeks, Edward James Olmos, Jared Leto, Sallie Harmsen, Hiam Abbass, McKenzie Davis.

Note:  Imdb 8.1 out of 10, 87% critic 81% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 3.7* out of 5* with 2568 reviews, Metacritic 81 out 100 with 54 critics 8.2 out 10 with 1855 reviews, The Guardian 5* Mark Kermode, Common Sense Media age, parents 16+ kids 15+.

Special Note:  Filmed in Budapest, Etyek, Hungary; Sapin, Mexico, Iceland and Nevada, California.  David Bowie was the first choice for the role of Niander Wallace but he passed away before the start of filming.  In this society, wood is rare and valuable.  K finds a carved wooden horse and Wallace’s house is made almost entirely of wood to show the extent of his wealth.  Wallace is blind and Jared Leto decided to use opaque contact lenses that made it impossible for him to see.  The aerials over the abandoned solar farms were filmed at a real location.  A thermosolar power station near Seville, Spain.  There was a very high level of security and secrecy throughout production.