In 1982, Ridley Scott redefined science fiction with his adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in his groundbreaking neo-noir Blade Runner. Now 35 years later, we have finally been able to enter into that incredible futuristic realm that Scott created, this time through the eyes of one of the greatest filmmakers working today, someone who also redefined science fiction cinema with last year’s incredible Arrival. I could write a traditional review about Blade Runner 2049, but I’d much rather present a clear and detailed discussion of the various reasons as to why Blade Runner 2049 is one of the best (if not the greatest) science fiction film of the 21st century. Long story short: I really loved Blade Runner 2049.

Blade Runner 2049 takes place in the year 2049 (obviously, but I felt the obligation to just mention that in case someone was daft enough to believe that there were actually 2048 Blade Runner films preceding this. But I digress), and is once again set in a futuristic version of Los Angeles. The main character is K (Ryan Gosling), a replicant who is given the task of being a blade runner, essentially (much like the original film), a police officer who is responsible for the “retirement” (read: “brutal execution”) of older replicant models, who are just used as slaves to the human race. However, when K discovers that there is a chance that a child was born to a replicant, he is forced to find that child and exterminate him or her to prevent the malicious replicant architect Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) from taking advantage of the situation and breeding an army of replicants to serve his ambitions of a new world order. Then K runs into Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), because continuity is important, apparently.

What I found about Blade Runner 2049 is that the story, much like the original film, is relatively simple and straightforward. There is a central task, and this film follows that storyline with very few diversions.The focus is almost entirely on the main story rather than serving to be filled with twists and turns and elaborate developments that distract from the central story. There is an inherent simplicity behind it, which is made even better by the fact that the story itself focuses on a version of our world that is so uncanny – it seems so real and recognizable, yet it is so slightly different. Good science fiction is able to captivate viewers and export them to different worlds and universes, whereas great science fiction films transport their audience to a world that is very possible and well-within our reach. There is absolutely nothing far-fetched (or rather completely implausible) about Blade Runner 2049 other than the fact that the central driving factor of this film and its predecessor is the search and extermination of androids. This doesn’t feel like a science fiction film necessarily, but rather a very clear portrayal of a potential future and the fact that it doesn’t rely on over-elaborate science-fiction tactics makes it that much more believable that we are heading towards an existence where this film is very much in the realm of possibility.

Blade Runner 2049 follows its predecessor as being a film that does something many films strive to do but fail – it has some of the best world-building in science fiction history. I don’t mean to talk down to other franchises, but sometimes a focus is made on showing a vast and varying universe within the story rather than focusing on developing a realistic and well thought-out world that the story can take place in. Blade Runner 2049 is a film that aligns itself well with Blade Runner not by being a carbon-copy or even relying on the same structure or plot progression, but rather through developing the world of the characters so meticulously and with such intricacy. It is difficult to explain the appeal of what was done here, other than the attention to detail given through this film was second-to-none. However, I doubt that that is a very convincing argument, and it is only the baseline of what makes Blade Runner 2049 so brilliant.

Science fiction films don’t need to have good performances, just passable ones. Luckily for us, Blade Runner 2049 has one of the best performances in a science fiction film in recent years, and it is on behalf of Ryan Gosling who has never failed to convince me that he is far more than just a popular heart-throb, but rather one of the most talented actors of his generation. Playing a character known only as K (the importance of that will be discussed a little later), Gosling carries this film completely and convincingly. He is mesmerizing as the protagonist who questions his own existence and tries to rise above his preconceived position as a replicant charged with killing his own kind. Gosling continues to leap from masterpiece to masterpiece with flawless dedication and perfect poise, as he continues to define himself as someone we will undoubtedly consider a cinematic icon in the future (and if you think that is grandiose and a bit presumptive, then you clearly do not see the true brilliance in Gosling as an actor).

There wasn’t any need to bring back Harrison Ford, but I am so glad they did. Rick Deckard is an icon of science fiction cinema, and Ford’s performance in Blade Runner was absolutely flawless, and we were given the opportunity to see his character continue to be developed in Blade Runner 2049. However, just a warning to anyone hoping to see Blade Runner 2049 for Ford – he really only shows up mid-way through the second act, and gets his best work in the third act. This is, without any doubt, Gosling’s film, and Ford only exists to drive the final parts of Gosling’s story forward by being the connecting factor between Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, a tool of continuity. However, that isn’t to say Ford isn’t great – he truly is, and he is the emotional core of the film. Without giving anything away (not that there is really anything to give away, as Blade Runner 2049 is one of the few films that doesn’t really get ruined by spoilers, but I’ll still refrain from revealing too much for the few people who don’t see where this film is going. It is not predictable, but you’ll figure it out soon enough), Ford is given some of the most emotionally-resonant moments and the final scene somehow brings his character full-circle.

I wouldn’t exactly call Blade Runner 2049 a traditional science fiction film, just like how Blade Runner itself is an anomaly of a film because it is an outsider in a genre it helped define. Many of my peers have called Blade Runner 2049 (as well as its predecessor) a “neo-noir”, and that is precisely where the strengths of this film lie. It has the sensibilities of a classic film noir transported to a futuristic setting. There is very little doubt that K and Deckard fit in well with the likes of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe (which makes me wonder what Humphrey Bogart’s Blade Runner would’ve looked like). However, having said that, it still remains a mesmerizing and beautifully complex piece of speculative fiction, and the combination of superb world-building and a keen sense of the future, as well as the location of a simple and straightforward story within a large and fascinating universe, makes Blade Runner 2049 one of the most unique and original science fiction films ever made (and I say that without an iota of hyperbole).

Now onto the man himself who made everything possible. Denis Villeneuve is an absolute maestro of modern filmmaking, and there have been very few joys brought to be as a cinephile than tracing his career from when he was an acclaimed but slightly obscure young auteur working away in French Canada making acclaimed but underseen films that were so much bigger in spirit than their reception would suggest, to perhaps the most notable genre filmmaker of recent years. Prisoners, Sicario and Enemy were all absolute wonders, and I knew right from the start of each of these films that they were films made by a master. However, Arrival was the film that I feel cemented Villeneuve as a new cinematic icon, and it allowed him to follow it up with Blade Runner 2049, which officially thrust him into the canon of great genre filmmakers. Villeneuve still feels like a bit of a newcomer in the cinematic landscape – not to imply that he is a rookie, but rather that in the last four years, he has made five bona fide masterpieces and risen in status as one of the most in-demand filmmakers, the likes of which is only possible after decades for most filmmakers, which makes him an exciting presence and shows that he is only starting the prime of his career. However, let’s hold out hope that he does well with Dune, a project that toppled two other equally audacious filmmakers.

More than anything, we cannot look at Villeneuve as just a filmmaker in isolation, but rather as someone who clearly loves movies, with the same being said of the creative team behind this film. The reason I say this is that stylistically, there is some incredibly nuanced intertextuality I noticed in this film, with some of the most obscure cinematic references scattered throughout – references to other works so obscure and subtle, I am not entirely sure if they were even intentional. However, I am a postmodernist scholar, and I believe nothing is wholly original, and it would just be so wonderful if Villeneuve really did pay homage to the famous shot in Luis Buñuel’s An Andalusian Dog when K has his hand covered in insects, or the fact that our protagonist is named K, which struck me as far too similar to the tragic hero in Franz Kafka’s The Trial who was also a solitary figure who was searching for the truth and questioning his own identity, who was known simply as Josef K. There were literally dozens of intertextual references to cinema, music, and literature throughout Blade Runner 2049, and while I’d expect most of them were unintentional, I’d like to believe that Blade Runner 2049 is a love-letter to cinema, made by people who are in as much awe of the art of filmmaking as I am.

If we are talking about the creative team, we cannot in good conscience not mention the single most impressive aspect of this film – the cinematography. Is there any name in modern cinematography more exciting and notable than Roger A. Deakins? For decades, he’s provided some of the most enduring, stunning and utterly unbelievable film photography, and yet has shown himself to always be capable of overtaking his own incredible technical prowess. Without any hyperbole at all, Blade Runner 2049 features some of the most beautiful cinematography I’ve ever seen – whether internal and intimate or external and vast, Deakins’ cinematography is mesmerizing. It draws you in and holds you with a firm, unrelenting grasp as this film takes you through an unforgivingly exciting journey. How one film can be so utterly beautiful is honestly beyond me, and I can’t wait to see how Deakins is going to top himself next because he constantly shows that he is unpredictable but consistently brilliant. If there is one takeaway from this film, it is that Deakins is an absolute master, and the cinematography of  Blade Runner 2049 may very well help define the genre.

Finally, Blade Runner was a film that stuck with me not because of its style, but rather for its substance. Blade Runner 2049 follows the same pattern in looking at a series of moral and ethical questions, particularly through perhaps my favorite literary subject matter, which can be phrased in the following question: what is it that makes us human? I am terrified to get too in-depth with this topic right now because I could write entire theses on this very topic. However, Blade Runner 2049 is much like its predecessor in trying to answer this very difficult question, which is all about human existence. Of course, there aren’t any definitive answers, but there are notable statements made pertaining to precisely what human nature is. Watching Blade Runner 2049 as a cinephile is an enthralling and exciting experience, but watching it through a slightly existential, philosophical lens allows one to see the hidden nuances of this film and realize that Blade Runner 2049 asks the same difficult questions that the original film did, and unlike many films that try and understand human existence, it leaves the audience without answers. It may be best to describe this concept through the popular question surrounding Blade Runner – is Rick Deckard a replicant? This isn’t just a mindless question to stir superficial thoughts – it is a complex inquiry into what makes us human. Moreover, on that note, Blade Runner 2049 does answer this question…to an extent, and even then, rather than answering it definitively, it just adds fuel to the burning fire of this debate.

In conclusion, Blade Runner 2049 is a magnificent film. There are so many reasons to love this film – the performances are great (especially from Jared Leto, who was gloriously reduced to only occupying two scenes of this film, thus sparing us from his often questionable talent in blockbusters, as callous as that is to say), the story was straightforward and effective and more than anything else, it is hypnotic in its sheer beauty. However, be warned – Blade Runner 2049 is an extremely long film. It clocks in at nearly three-hours, and for some, I’d assume this is a test of endurance, as much of this film is a slow-burning, careful film with a pace that isn’t exactly slow but measured. It is a film about the beauty of existence, with the majority of this film being long, meaningful meditations rather than action-packed excitement. This isn’t to deter anyone to see Blade Runner 2049, but rather to prepare everyone. For some, it may be torture, but for those who can see the deep and hidden nuances, it is so rewarding. I really wish more sequels could be like Blade Runner 2049, an absolutely marvelous and utterly incredible film that will undoubtedly be entered into the canon of great science fiction films. Just amazing work, work beyond mere comprehension. It is just that good.