“I have seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”- Roy Batty
I knew this was coming. I’d heard the rumblings. I’d heard about the return of Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott to the fold. I’d heard that Ryan Gosling had LA LA LAND-ed a role. I was excited. But for some reason, I still never thought I would live to see the day…
When it comes to daring science fiction films from the past, BLADE RUNNER is always at the forefront of my memories. The STAR WARS and STAR TREK films are my go-to franchises for rousing space adventures, the first two ALIEN flicks and John Carpenter’s THE THING still terrify the bejeezus out of me and the PREDATOR and TERMINATOR movies provide me with glorious Arnold action cheesiness. But BLADE RUNNER holds a special place in my memory banks. Not only do I absolutely adore the production design and the score from Vangelis, not only do I find merit and enjoyment with every version/cut this story has been through since its incept date, not only do I have a profound respect for all of the actors injecting as much otherworldliness into their performances (intentional or not, replicant or otherwise)…I find myself constantly returning to this movie and always finding some little detail or facet that I have never seen before and am in utter awe of it.
Granted this is only an “announcement” trailer and we have yet to get a solid idea of what the story will be, but I’m already sold. I’ve been a Gosling mark since 2011 with DRIVE, so his apparent role as a Blade Runner-ish person will hopefully be as engaging as Harrison Ford’s Deckard. Speak of the devil: Deckard is old! Maybe that’s torpedoed my belief in the “replicant” theory, maybe not (perhaps Deckard was a brand-new model of the “immortal/long life” variety). Where’s Rachael? I dunno. Sean Young’s nowhere on the cast list (which may actually be a good thing given that it’s present day “crazy Sean Young”), but will the fate of Rachael be acknowledged at all? No Edward James Olmos making unicorn origami? Boo, bring back Gaff (so say we all)! Holy crap! Did the world go to even more shit or what?! Is Gosling traversing Fury Road? Whoa! Bautista and Jared Leto are also in this? I’m calling it: Leto’s a replicant. Not just in the movie, I think he’s a replicant for real. It’s the only possible explanation.
Even though I never thought a true-to-form sequel to the 1982 original would ever get made and even though I wasn’t really demanding one…I’m pretty excited about this. The original film set up an interesting world, interesting characters and left me satisfied while still having plenty of questions in the end. While this film may try to answer some of these questions, I still have plenty more going in to keep me curious and hopeful for a great follow-up. My tears of joy are officially lost in the rain.
BLADE RUNNER 2049 comes to theaters October 6, 2017…unless you see a tortoise in the desert and decide to flip it on its back. And if you have a problem with that…buddy, we need to talk…
