Blade Runner 2049 - Essay Sample with Film Review

Blade Runner 2049 is a science fiction film that stars Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto and Dave Bautista. The film was released in 2017 and directed by Denis Villeneuve. The movie was a sequel to the 1982 Blade Runner Film. The principal photography of the film was conducted in 2016 in Hungary. This paper reviews the Blade Runner 2049 film, the review will entail a concise plot summary, a discussion of the Mise en Scene of the movie, an analysis of the director's style, and a personal reaction to the film.

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The film begins by declaring that it is the year 2049, during which bioengineered humans are acting as slaves known as replicants. One of the replicants known as K works for the police at the Los Angeles Police Department. He is a "Blade Runner," this refers to an officer who hunts down and kills rogue replicants. During one of his missions, he hunts down and kills a rogue replicant known as Sapper Morton at his protein farm. After killing Morton he discovers a hidden box that is buried under a tree, he carefully examines the box and finds the bones of a female replicant who died while giving birth through a cesarean section. This discovery demonstrated that replicants could sexually reproduce which was impossible. Joshi, K's superior believes that the information on replicant's sexual reproduction could lead to a war between the humans and the replicants. Therefore, she orders K to find the replicant child and kill it. K begins his investigation which leads him to find out the remains belonged to a replicant woman called Rachael. He also discovered that Racheal had ties to a former Blade Runner known as Rick Deckard, who is believed to be the replicant child's father. As he proceeds to investigate, he wrongly assumes that he was Racheal's son and that he was born and not bioengineered. He continues to find Deckard, unknowingly Niander Williams through his employee Luv is also secretly looking for Rachael's child. Once K found Deckard, Luv ambushed them and kidnaped Deckard after completely injuring K and leaving him to die. The replicant freedom movement save K and is inform him that the replicant child was a female and not male, he was also ordered to kill Deckard for the sake of all replicants. K goes to Deckard's rescue and kills Luv; he then stages Deckard's death to protect him from Niander Wallace and the Replicant Freedom Movement. K and Deckard, later on, find out who Racheal's daughter is, Ana Stelline. The movie ends with K dying and Deckard being united with his daughter.

The mise-en-scene of the Blade Runner 2049 is described as follows: The set-design of the film depicts that the movie was shot on both the location and on set. The location was shot on set when it came to scenes that involved flying and that required more props such as the scene when K was in the ruins of Las Vegas. The design of the movie depicted that the happenings of the film were occurring in the future. The lighting of the scene was portrayed gloomily to show how pollution and congested advertisements destroyed the earth. The actors' costumes described how humans wore in the future; the costumes also differentiated the humans and the replicants in the film. The make-up and hairstyles established that the movie was based in the future, the makeup on some of the actors such as Niander Wallace revealed his character traits. His skin appeared pale which signified that he was a cold-hearted person.

The director's style was based on film noir, as it encompasses crime and drama. The director was of the view that the movie should be of gloom and bleakness but also have traces of beauty. The film was to portray a shift from technology to humanity. The director also relied on cultural references; he intended to create a reality that was distorted with the aim of indicating to the audience that the movie is about a different world that is governed by different laws. One significant element of his style is the extensiveness of advertising in the film CITATION Nas17 \l 1033 (Jenkins, 2017). The director also applied the theme of the environment in the movie. He tried to show the relationship of the humans with nature. The director decided to mix a variety of themes and techniques to come up with his unique style.

After viewing the film, it is worth noting that the movie as compared to its predecessor Blade Runner 1982 is way better. The 2017 film has better sound effects, better actors and also the plot of the story is somewhat interesting CITATION Cla18 \l 1033 (Purdom, 2018). The movie brought out the actors' and actresses' roles in a clear and effective manner. The plot of the movie, however, tends to be unclear as there are certain scenes of the movie that do not contribute to the theme of the movie. Such as the inclusion of K's holographic girlfriend Joi. The theme of the movie is appropriately outlined. The soundtrack of the film is inappropriate; the best soundtrack should be a song that depicts the future.

As discussed above the movie is a science fiction film that is about humanity and bioengineered replicants. The film is exciting but ranks very low among other science fiction film. The film would suit anyone who has an interest in science-fiction, crime and a bit of drama.

References

Jenkins, N. (2017, October 3). TIME. Retrieved February 11, 2018

Purdom, C. (2018, January 19). Take a closer look at how Blade Runner 2049 subtly updated its predecessor. Retrieved from AV CLUB: https://www.avclub.com/take-a-closer-look-at-how-blade-runner-2049-subtly-upda-1822229274