It has been 30 years since Deckard and Rachel fled Los Angeles at the end of the first BLADE RUNNER and a replicant Blade Runner named K (Ryan Gosling) finds a shocking clue that may turn the world on its ear when he goes hunting for a Nexus 8 replicant named Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista). The forensics team has uncovered a skeleton of a female who died during childbirth and the identity of the corpse and the missing baby drives forward the story of BLADE RUNNER 2049. It leads K to the former Tyrell Corporation now owned by Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) who has built a race of obedient replicants in addition to coming up with a synthetic food that can be farmed on this wrecked Earth (where only those who can afford it can escape to the Off World colonies). K spends his free time with a holographic AI named Joi (Ana de Armas) while close attention is being paid to him by Wallace’s lead replicant Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) who is trying to find the same answers that K is ordered to cover up by his LAPD commanding officer (Robin Wright).

BLADE RUNNER 2049 comes off as a blend of Ridley Scott and Andrei Tarkovsky through the eyes of director Denis Villeneuve and director of photography Roger Deakins from a script from Hampton Fancher (who helped write the first BLADE RUNNER) and Michael Green. It is a very visual and lived in world with character development driving the story along with hints of the cues from the original BLADE RUNNER score in the music score by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch. The sequel story honors the world created in the first movie while also drawing more from the world of the Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. It is a worthwhile sequel that can stand on its own while your experience will be enriched if you have seen BLADE RUNNER before watching BLADE RUNNER 2049.

This initial review is ©10-7-2017 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com