Evan Popplestone’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Every leap of civilisation was built on the back of a disposable workforce, but I can only make so many."
There's some ongoing debate as to whether or not Denis Villeneuve's long-awaited sequel lives up to one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. At very least, however, it's hard to dispute that it's a valiant effort.
It certainly retains and expands upon the philosophical and existential principles of the original as it explores the themes of identity, self-determinism and the ethics of having a consciousness - be it real or artificial. It's also an undeniably stunning film to look at, where nigh on every frame could be hung up on a wall as a slick piece of neon-dripping cyberpunk artwork.
At the same time, it seems to be lacking in certain aspects. The pacing doesn't help; while the original wasn't exactly the fastest moving of films, this one is almost glacially slow in many of its scenes. It also misses the subtle sense of warmth and humour that the original had, be it M. Emmet Walsh's gleefully sadistic hick police chief, or Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard character impersonating a nerdish inspector in order to apprehend a Replicant stripper.
The actors are clearly holding themselves back in order to accommodate the sheer dourness of the dialogue. Ryan Gosling is basically performing another variation of his Drive protagonist, Harrison Ford is a little too believably worn out as an ageing Deckard and Jared Leto is too one-note creepy in a sinister mastermind role. The one standout performance comes from Ana de Armas, who is genuinely touching and delicate as the AI Joi.
All of this sounds like I am ripping into the film. I am not. By most standards, it's an impressive piece of intelligent sci-fi. At the same time, it's not quite the masterpiece that I had hoped for.
