Blade Runner 2049
Probably my favorite movie of all time. I feel like I’ve seen something incredible every time I’ve seen it, but in vaguely different ways each time. One of the greatest movie theater experiences I’ve ever had, and I went in not knowing anything or having seen the original. Never been happier leaving a theater, and it kept my Dad entertained for 3 hours without him asking any questions the whole time — truly an impressive feat.
Gosling can give the most nuanced and emotional performances without saying a word. His ability to convey complex emotions with just his face is remarkable. Great casting, cannot imagine this movie with anyone else as K.
Deakins is doing his thing at such an amazing clip, I’m blown away more every time I see one of his movies. This world feels so lived in, every frame is so packed full of meaning and complexities. He makes this a movie I could watch on mute and enjoy.
Villenueve pulls off the greatest heist of all time. How he got hundreds of millions of dollars to make an art house film with this level of precision, I’ll never understand, but I’m so grateful for it. His ability to create a world that is so interesting to the eye, while also slipping in exposition as the story moves along is so masterful. Some might call his movies slow, but I think you really, truly do get what you put into them. If you just let go and let the movie take you on whatever story he is telling, he comes through every time. You should just trust you’re in the hands of a story teller at the same level of the Kubrick’s, Scorsese’s and Spielberg’s. He hasn’t let us down and only grown in ambition.
Between the booming music, the incredibly rich world, precise storytelling, this is a movie about a guy finding his own purpose, at its core. There’s a lot of other ideas floating around, and while Villenueve let’s them get their time in the sun, he never loses sight of that. Everything is character driven and serves to further a character’s story. It would have been so easy to just zoom out and get lost in the weeds of dystopian-80’s-futuristic-techno-hell LA and all that comes with it, but this movie keeps it so centered while giving the audience enough to chew on in the margins to make it magical.
Villenueve is the most consistently impeccable filmmaker working right now, and this is my favorite of his. I honestly hope to change that opinion after he finishes Dune, whether that takes the top spot or whatever he’s working on next. So far at least, he’s the only director I know of, that if someone were to say their favorite movie of his is the most recent after every movie he’s made, I couldn’t complain. Anything he makes is appointment viewing at the largest screen I can find.