The sombre existential quest and cautionary tale, astutely handled by Denis Villeneuve ( Arrival), is an irresistible visual feast through and through, but it never loses sight of its human story - even if its central characters aren’t. In the reviews section at Variety, Blade Runner 2049 made the 'Critics Pick' list, with movie critic Peter Debruge hailing it in his review as a 'rare sci-fi sequel that takes its time to go deep. After all, Blade Runner 2049 is a sequel to a movie that was released in 1982. What ensues is a heartaching soul-searching journey (quite literally as it turns out) as K makes his way across a decaying dystopian landscape, gorgeously and hauntingly captured by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. Scott sounds pretty optimistic about the future of the Blade Runner franchise, but its future is far from a sure thing. In the long-awaited sequel, Blade Runner 2049, set 30 years after the events of the first movie, there is plenty of detecting - this time done by Ryan Gosling’s K, a burnt-out LAPD cop assigned to what’s essentially a missing-(synthetic) person case.ĭon’t worry, readers, no spoilers here. But the Hollywood gods saw fit to give us one, and fortunately, they put Denis Villeneuve in charge. Photograph: Allstar/Warner Bros The sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic manages to be both visually stunning and. “I felt that I was a detective who did very little detecting,” Harrison Ford famously once griped about his replicant-hunting character, Rick Deckard, in Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi thriller which was a critical and commercial dud on release but has since been elevated - thanks to a director’s cut reissue - to an eternal classic. Like Casablanca and The Matrix, Blade Runner doesn’t need a sequel. ‘Elegiac sadness’: Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049. Starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright