It's no mean feat to deliver on the hallowed promise of an original film which changed science-fiction cinema forever, but filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has done just that.
Of course, I adore sci-fi so my heart was open to this whole notion from the get-go; but the team Ridley Scott and Villeneuve assembled - from Roger Deakins behind the lens to Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford front and centre - it's top notch.
- Ford, Gosling, Villeneuve discuss making Blade Runner 2049
- Las Vegas shooting: Blade Runner 2049 premiere scaled back
The visual aesthetic of California in the year 2049 is potently intoxicating. Each new searing palatte sets the senses alight and the imposing score, while not as memorable as Vangelis' original, is both reverential and fresh, adding that extra sensory layer a big screen experience should demand.
This story harpoons strands of the original's plot, weaves them into a fresh one and constantly kept me guessing - which is exactly what I intend doing in this review in order to preserve the story, allowing it to reveal itself in the inner sanctum of your nearest cinema.
So yes, Gosling is a Blade Runner, his job like the Blade Runner before him is to hunt down rogue replicants - a race of androids created as slave labour on a dying planet populated by a seething mass of humans trying to scrape together an existence.
So there you have it.
The fact this story is so ridiculously nourishing while still leaving me pondering some really big questions will remain one of cinemas great mysteries.
There is nothing I love more than to be sucked into another world, a future world drenched in haunting eerie possibilities where you find yourself at the mercy of an ambush of unanswered questions. My brain still hasn't stopped whirring, neither has my heart.
Five stars.
* Blade Runner 2049 is in New Zealand cinemas now.
Newshub.
