[Warning: The following review essay contains plot and character spoilers of the movies Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Read at your own discretion.]
Blade Runner 2049 as Symbol, not Prophecy
While I’m not sure I would recommend it to the impressionable, if, like me, you are a fan of the original Blade Runner, evading the sequel is simply not an option. There is a seamless esthetic continuity from the earlier to the latter film which shows a deft cinematic hand at work, and makes it a shoe-in for us nostalgic devotees of classic sci-fi. To be sure, the original film’s semi-comical portrayal of California-style corruption, cultural fragmentation, and class polarization has shifted further towards pure negativity, as fits a future world enduring steady economic and ecological degeneration, a world in which anyone who can afford the ticket moves off world. Thus, before we continue, I’ll remind you that your best bet, if you want a good night’s sleep and pleasant dreams, is to avoid dystopian films altogether. Still, for reasons soon explained, Blade Runner 2049 might just be worth the grief.
In what should have been an embarrassment, the original 1983 movie, set in the year 2019, is already short of its prophetic mark. There are, as yet, no off worlds for the rich and famous to escape to, though surely they are chomping at the bit and ready to pack. There are no “replicants” cloned quasi-humans serving in our military or walking our entertainment districts. Neither are there any “blade runner” police units designed to track down rogue replicants and liquidate those who fail an “empathy test.” None of this has caused the least concern to the producers of the 2017 sequel. Rather, the…