Blade Runner 2049

I found the excessive 2hr 44 running time of Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 to be problematic. To me it felt like the slow pace of some scenes was giving the audience too much thinking time, diluting the philosophical questions the narrative throws up and making the plot seem more vacuumous than it actually is. And yet, having said that, the film has much to admire and is well worth seeing on the biggest screen you can.

The Production Design, Sound Design and Cinematography are all top class. Villeneuve and DOP Roger Deakins have crafted a film that is full of bold, powerful imagery from the rain soaked LA streets familiar from the original film to new locations in an expanded Blade Runner universe, especially striking is the orange-yellow palette of the Las Vegas desert seen here. The sound and music are intense throughout and help create an all encompassing experience that makes leaving the cinema feel like waking up from a dream. Not a bad thing at all!