Is Blade Runner 2049 Too Smart For Its Own Good?
No. It’s not that deep fam.
Blade Runner 2049 closed it’s first weekend under-performing significantly at the box office the online war has started to defend the movie as some sort of masterpiece of originality and smart film-making, perhaps taking it a little bit too far in the process. Don’t get me wrong, Blade Runner 2049 is a very well put together movie with a lot of cinematic heft and an idea deftly executed to make you think about it long after your viewing, but it is not “too smart” for mainstream audiences no matter how much you want it to be.
The original Blade Runner, like all cult classics, has gone largely unnoticed during it’s original release but quickly cultivated a feverish fan base. I would know, I am one of them. I love the movie. I respect it’s influence on a lot of sci-fi visuals that came after and the themes it manages to capture. It is a visual breakthrough and a milestone. It also manages to capture complex themes about humanity and what it means to be human. It is however not perfect.
Ambiguous in it’s creation (evidenced by about fifty five various cuts available), often a bit overly philosophical and at times incredibly confusing (intentionally), Blade Runner comes with a variety of flaws. While it’s still on my top ten list I wouldn’t disagree when someone pointed out these holes moving forward. But fan bases aren’t always rational (my favorite current example is Rick and Morty fans’ running theory that they’re intellectually superior for enjoying the show). The matter is, taste is subjective and you don’t really have to justify liking something and if you feel like you have to you should look inward on whether or not you actually like that one thing as much as you say you do.
Any sequel would be ambitious in it’s undertaking, considering how far Blade Runner has spread its roots in the visual style alone, but in that department there is no downfall. Every shot is hauntingly beautiful in creating a world that feels poetically desolate. Cinematography is this movie’s greatest asset (depending on your views on grunting Harrison Ford) and it does a lot of heavy lifting from the start.
Acting is captivating from the start. Everyone who has something to do in this movie does it well, Robyn Wright and Ana De Armas in particular taking two-dimensional characters and weaving them into this world of a nearly post-Apocalyptic Los Angeles. Ryan Gosling is solid as the lead and everyone around him delivers (except for Jared Leto because, what the hell was he even supposed to be). It’s a worthwhile visual spectacle worth experiencing on the big screen and exploring it’s story for a coherent plot that doesn’t just rehash the motifs of the original, but builds on them in new ways. But, it isn’t complex.
Even if you’ve never watched the original Blade Runner you can pick up where the movie is going and you can tie things together as you go along. The twist, when it comes, is a shock mainly due to how little revealing the promotional team has done (kudos to them in the world where we know what actors have had for breakfast each day of shooting). Yes, it tackles complex philosophical questions, but it also brings the audience in on the theme and explains it to them allowing them to make their own conclusions.
The plot of Blade Runner 2049 is straight forward. It isn’t some sort of a secretive conclusion that you will only come to if your IQ matches a certain level. It is still incredibly enjoyable on any level and you will understand the story it is trying to tell and questions it is trying to ask. Playing the “it’s too smart for you” card only displays your own insecurities around the lingering question that this movie may not be the epic once in a lifetime masterpiece we all wanted it to be. It’s still great, it’s still one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, but it isn’t too smart for itself by a long mile.
Yes, you have to think while you watch it and commit to it’s narrative, and that may be a hindrance in a reality where our own world is slowly approaching its own political dystopia, but it does all the heavy lifting for you, it asks all the questions the original only hinted at, with a subtle wink to the audience in a manner of “this is what you should think about.” It’s there on display.
It’s a Hollywood prestige movie masquerading as a niche picture, it’s budget robs it of luxury of being “too smart for the mainstream audiences.” It is a clever trick, one you will think about for days after seeing it if that’s your kind of movie, but it is not a magnum opus that changes cinema. It is a clever original idea (ironic it being a sequel) that steps out of the Hollywood comfort zone and it deserves praise for that, not for being “too smart.” Pretentious posturing like the latter may scare away audiences that will enjoy this movie otherwise and ensure that we have no more films like this in the future and we’re stuck with numerous Jumanji remakes or whatever Kevin Hart decides to ruin next year.
