"Blade Runner 2049" was released in North America three weeks after the release of the mainland, this foreign media said that the "science fiction god work", was praised as "beyond the previous work" "one of the few films that can really be better than the original", only deleted one minute, will be 162 minutes long on the mainland screen, almost unchanged.
Its predecessor, Blade Runner, released in 1982, can be described as a classic in the history of science fiction films, and can be listed in the top 10 of any film history science fiction film.
Blade Runner poster
Therefore, the possibility of shooting a sequel to such a movie is also the most likely to be said to be "dog tail sequel", but since the film was released overseas, whether it is the media, film critics or fans of the previous film, they have praised the creation of director Dennis Villeneuve, and from their comments, this film can also enter the annals of film history like the previous work.
According to good friends who have seen Blade Runner 2049 in advance, the look and feel of this sequel is that "it is beautiful and good, as exquisite as the artwork in the exhibition hall, even if you can't fully understand the details of the plot, even if you can't find the right words to describe it, you are willing to enjoy it all the time." Judging from this description, this Hollywood blockbuster challenges the understanding of the word "blockbuster" in the hearts of most audiences, without a small climax of fifteen minutes, nor a scene like saving the world to fight the villain.
But this is not a big deal, the biggest problem with watching this "non-popcorn" science fiction film is that the audience can't remember who Blade Runner really is, and what kind of story the previous movie tells. Especially for most young Chinese film fans, 1982's "Blade Runner" is an uncompromising old film, and the story background, character identity and theme point of view in it may mostly be seen from film criticism articles.
Again, in order to let everyone better watch this two-hour movie, we intimately summarized the past and present life and background knowledge of "Blade Runner", helped everyone do the homework that needs to be done before watching the movie, and cleared all obstacles before watching the film.
<h1>What is Blade Runner</h1>
The official plot of "Blade Runner 2049" is that "30 years after the previous work, the new generation of Blade Runner K, played by Ryan Gosling, finds the previous generation of Blade Runner (Harrison Ford), who has disappeared for many years, and jointly solves the earth-shattering conspiracy that is about to subvert human society." So the protagonist of this sequel, as well as the identity of the protagonist of the previous game, are blade runners.
Ryan Gosling plays Blade Runner K
The meaning of Blade Runner was explained clearly at the beginning of the previous film released in 1982, along with the goals of these killers:
Humans created a colony of replicants to enslave them in extraterrestrial colonies, engage in dangerous exploration, and colonize other planets.
The Replicants in Blade Runner are the Chain Six, all created by Terry, who are no different from humans, who are more agile, powerful, and intelligent than the engineers who created them.
The story of the previous game takes place in November 2019, when a chain of Six combat units mutinied in the Xeno colonies, and replicants were declared illegal on Earth and must be executed. And this kind of special police team that specializes in catching replicants, called the Blade Runner Force, is ordered to investigate the invading replicants and then execute them immediately, and this execution is called - retirement.
Harrison Ford plays former Blade Runner Deckard
Harrison Ford in the previous film and Ryan Gosling in this one are both Blade Runners, that is, their goal is to find and execute replicants.
<h1>The story of the previous game</h1>
In this sequel, the new generation of Blade Runner K (Ryan Gosling) wants to find the previous generation of Blade Runner Dyka (Harrison Ford), so why did Deckard disappear, and why did K look for him?
Back in the previous game, Deca was ordered by the police to arrest several replicants who came to Earth, that is, he was originally on the opposite side of the replicants. But the reason why he eventually disappeared was related to the replicants he captured.
In 2019, when the previous story takes place, Dika asked the question: Why did these replicants risk being killed to return to Earth, back to the Terry Company that created them.
The answer to this question is the only difference between the "Chain Six" replicants and humans: when they are made, they are not endowed with feelings, but slowly, they will develop their own emotions, including love, hate, hope, and so on. To prevent them from having the same feelings as humans, the makers set up insurance from the start — the replicants only had to live four years.
That is to say, in the last Blade Runner, a few replicants came to Earth and found the Terry company that created them, just to find out how long they would live, and then look for ways to prolong life.
<h1>What kind of person is a replicant?</h1>
Let's not mention the few replicants that Deca is going to kill, but first of all, he wants to talk about the big beauty replicant he met at Terry's company, the great beauty replicant hired by Dr. Terry, Rachel.
Rachel doesn't know she's a replicant at first, she thinks she's just an ordinary human, because she clearly remembers what happened when she was a child, and a childhood photo with her mother.
But in fact, when replicants are created, they will also be implanted with a memory, which belongs to others completely, but they do not know it at all, thinking that they have lived a childhood. As for the reason for giving them memories, it is because "if you give them the past and create their emotional dependence and comfort, you can better control them." ”
Decca rudely pokes Rachel through her replicant identity, but he also falls in love with the beautiful and sad Rachel, who learns that she is a replicant and that Deca's mission is to get rid of the replicant while he is in danger.
Because of love and gratitude, Daika chose to let Rachel go.
The other replicants who came to Earth were not as good as Rachel's. Two of the female replicants struggled when they were "retired", especially the agile Pryce, whose bloodied body fluttered beyond recognition after being shot, even stronger than the human desire to survive.
Pryce struggled fiercely before dying
Roy, the replicant leader who fell in love with Pres, was handsome and tall, and his physical strength was extraordinary, and after seeing Pres being killed, he bid her a deep farewell that was no less than that of ordinary men and women.
Chief Roy
This Roy, who excels even in the human community, the Roy who says "We are not computers, we are flesh and blood", but he watches his girlfriend die and he is about to finish four years of life.
Roy is undoubtedly the most difficult replicant that Deca faces, the fight between the two is fierce and difficult to win or lose, although Deca made Roy suffer, Roy also made Daika scarred. But in the end, Roy, who knew that his limit was approaching, still saved the "enemy" Daika, who was about to fall from a high altitude, and before dying, he told this poetic monologue:
I've seen things that you humans can't imagine
I witnessed the battleship on the edge of the constellation Orion, on fire
Watch as C-rays gleam near the chaotic stargate
All time will be submerged in the torrent of time
Like tears falling into the rain
Roy's last expression before he died
This is a very classic line in "Blade Runner", and it is also the climax of the philosophical idea of "why humans are human beings, and how life proves existence".
<h1>Why exactly did Deca disappear</h1>
As mentioned earlier, Deca killed several powerful replicants, but decided not to kill Rachel, and not only that, he ended up wandering the world with his beloved Rachel.
Perhaps because he saw the dying replicant Pres struggling desperately, her reluctance to live made Daika confused; perhaps it should be because the leader of the replicants, Roy, actually complained with virtue and saved himself in danger; or perhaps because roy's monologue before his death also made Deka sympathetic to the fate of the replicants.
But these are not the last straws, the last shot of "Blade Runner" makes the whole movie have the biggest reversal, when Daika rescues Rachel, she finds a paper-folded white unicorn on the ground, and this unicorn is what he often appears in his dreams. After that, Daikara did not go back with Rachel's head.
This white origami is the key clue to the film
What does this scene imply, that Daika's dreams and memories are also implanted? Could it be that he is also a replicant?
The film hints but doesn't have an answer, but the mystery of his identity is definitely related to his disappearance.
<h1>What happened after Deca disappeared</h1>
The story of "Blade Runner" takes place in 2019, the story of "Blade Runner 2049" takes place in 2049, what happened in the 30 years after The disappearance of Daika, and why the Blade Runner K played by Ryan Gosling wants to find the old Blade Runner, of course, this is not a complete blank. Before the release of Blade Runner 2049, director Dennis Villeneuve invited two other directors to shoot three prequel shorts that revealed the key events of the 30-year period.
The first is the animated film Blade Runner: 2022 Dark Havoc, which takes place in May 2022, three years after Blade Runner.
At this time, the chain six replicants are already in the past tense, Terry company has developed a large number of chain eight, and unlike the previous generation of replicants, the chain eight is set to a natural lifespan, that is, how long to live. The contradiction of human supremacy has since erupted, and replicants have been hunted down in large numbers.
For the sake of their own lives, there was also a series of fierce and rebellious actions, and finally the great power outage broke out, and the replicants were banned from production, and Terry Company went bankrupt.
The biggest significance of this short film for Blade Runner 2049 is that it hints at the origin of the concept of "great power outage", which is mentioned in the film "before the big power outage", that is, the period before the first termination of production of replicants in 2022.
The second short film, Blade Runner: Dawn of replicants 2036, directed by Luke Scott, son of Ridley Scott, takes place in 2036, and "Dawn of replicants" refers to the rise of another Wallace company after the collapse of Terry and the start of creating a new type of replicant. The owner of this company is Wallace, played by Jared Leto. This character also has a lot of scenes in Blade Runner 2049.
In this short film, Wallace has been able to produce a more perfect chain of Enneagram replicants, and he takes the new replicants to the legislature, telling them that the replicants he has created are absolutely subordinate to their masters, so they demand the repeal of the Anti-Replicant Act. The ninth generation of replicants here is the most mainstream generation in Blade Runner 2049.
The final short film is Blade Runner: Nowhere to Escape 2048, which takes place only a year before Blade Runner 2049, and the protagonist of the short film is Sapo, a replicant played by Dave Batista, the "Destroyer" of Guardians of the Galaxy, who appeared in the animated short film Blade Runner: Dark Havoc 2022, before the power outage, as a chain of eight replicants who had escaped from Kasharan to Earth.
26 years later, Sapper, whose identity had been hidden for many years, revealed that he was a replicant in a brave act and became the target of police pursuit. This plot seamlessly connects blade runner 2049, in which Saber, played by Dave Batista, is also present, and K, the blade runner played by Ryan Gosling, also discovers a shocking secret in the pursuit of Sapper, so as to find the previous generation of blade runner Daika.
Sapper in Blade Runner 2049 is also a clue character
<h1>Who are the other characters in Blade Runner 2049</h1>
Turning here, even if you haven't seen 1982's Blade Runner, you can clearly understand that Gosling plays the new generation of Blade Runner K, Harrison Ford plays the previous generation of killers - the older Dika, Jared Leto is the wallace company owner who makes replicants, and Dave Batista plays the chain number eight replicant who is hunted down. However, there are three new important characters in Blade Runner 2049, and they are all women.
Just as the previous generation of Blade Runner Daica finally found Rachel's lover, the new generation of Blade Runner K also has a beautiful lover, and the Cuban actress Anna de Armas plays Joey who is K's confidant and his lover, although she has an unwavering companionship for K, but her identity in the movie is quite special, and the relationship between the two people also has a poignant complexity.
"Mrs. Shimoki" Robin White is K's superior, and in the trailer she tells K that "the order of the world is built on a wall, and if either side does not exist, it will provoke war." She is an absolute champion of the human order, demanding that K "erase everything", that is, K must obey her orders and hunt down replicants "shoot and kill".
The "most terrifying" female character in the film is Luff, Wallace's assistant played by Sylvia Hox, and because of her loyalty, Blade Runner K's discovery of the secret truth and the search for the previous generation of killers, Dyka, have become difficult.
It can be said that in the previous game, Deca faced three female replicants, two of whom he wanted to hunt, and Rachel was the one he loved, but this time K faced three women who had three different relationships with him before.
<h1>What you need to know before watching Blade Runner 2049</h1>
Understanding the characters and story causes of Blade Runner 2049, we need to talk about it in advance, the visual style of this series of movies, there are two terms, "cyberpunk" and "wasteland aesthetics" are worth mentioning.
Cyberpunk itself, in fact, is a branch of science fiction, a virtual reality (cyberbo) theme with an orderly rebellion (punk) temperament. Because of 1982's Blade Runner, the term "cyberpunk" became a certain fixed visual style in science fiction movies.
As for what kind of feeling the cyberpunk city is, it is probably that the architectural three-dimensional sense is very strong, there are various aerial tracks between the tall buildings, and the city is always wet and gloomy. In the words of a certain netizen, "Cyberpunk is a highly developed world of science and technology, the whole sky is gray and often rains, everywhere it goes is a display, the loudspeaker puts ZF notices or advertisements, the police take lives, and the pedestrians on the road rush to numb and sluggish eyes." Everyone is born with a file, there are rich areas and slums, because genes are classified as three, six, nine and so on. Huge hoses inserted into the back of the head, artificial humans, various detection instruments, huge symbolic tall buildings. ”
<h1>See these screenshots of Blade Runner ↓</h1>
In 2017's Blade Runner, in addition to the cyberpunk style continuing to remain, more turned to "wasteland aesthetics". As the name suggests, the screen is full of dusk, the smoke is filled, and many scenes are shrouded in smoke, fog, sand, rain and snow, and the picture is not very clear and beautiful. Take the 2015 hit "Mad Max 4" as an example, the visual performance of that movie is a typical "wasteland wind".
Then use a few stills from "Blade Runner 2049" that were jokingly called "sandstorms" by netizens to explain:
The meaning of explaining this is to remind you before watching the movie, this movie is really not the kind of imaginary doomsday disaster science fiction film, including the "existentialism" it explores, including its inextricable connection with the previous work, and even its picture, all of which give the audience who are spoiled by superhero blockbusters a test, if you look at "Blade Runner 2049" with the attitude of appreciating ordinary Hollywood blockbusters, you may be disappointed by the dim images.
The film's cinematographer is Roger Deakins, a 13-time Oscar-nominated master for Best Cinematography, who created the visual basis for the sequel that transitions to the previous one, but is distinctly different from the previous one and is more at the heart of the film's story. In Blade Runner 2049, all uncertainty tends to be mysterious, so this futuristic tone is the right language, in line with Blade Runner K's situation and the huge secret in this movie that concerns the fate of replicants.
At the end of the article, it is recommended that you choose to drink a cup of coffee or strong tea before watching the movie, not because the plot will let you sleep, but this may be the most "elaborate" movie you have seen on the big screen this year, and if every picture is missed, it is a pity.