Blade Runner 2049 & the 20-Year Sequel - Movies with Mikey
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Mikey discusses the artistry of Blade Runner 2049 and how it improved the original film.
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![How the world of Blade Runner 2049 was created | Production Design [No Spoilers]](/img/1.gif)
I saw this movie in IMAX with 3 of my friends and we joked before that even if it's "probably" bad it will be fun to see such a mess. After the film, we quietly walked over to a nearby diner and all sat in silence looking at the menu until one of my friends said "So...that movie was fucking amazing, right?" and then we all gushed over it for hours.
Such a stunning piece of art that had so few people see it.
good actors, good director, sequel to a good movie and you thought it would be bad ?
So amazing how people have such different experiences with the same movie.
Me and my friends came out of the IMAX screening saying "that was a god damn drag wasn't it?"
n
You never know. With expectations that high, falling short seems nearly inevitable. Instead, we witnessed a miracle.
Pr0style
I sort of had both experiences. My first viewing was in IMAX, in which I fell madly in love. Then I saw it in some "diet IMAX" format called XD, and given that I had eaten some junk food and was reclining, I was just getting sleepy most of the time. I saw it two more times in a regular theater and loved it again.
For a little perspective, my 2 favorite movies are this and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928.) The thing is, I can't just flip on Joan of Arc casually and enjoy it. It's not that type of movie. I have to be in the right mind set. To some extent, the same thing applies to Blade Runner.
Went to imax with a buddy. We had the same experience and agreed we’d go back to the imax 3 days later to watch again.
“Dying for the right cause is the most human thing we can do” is a line from the film. K dies for a good cause which makes him (in the film’s eyes) the most human of everyone in the story. He wanted to be the child, a human, the whole movie which he wasn’t, but in his last moments laying on the steps after helping Deckard reach his daughter he feels human and to him that was enough. He ultimately found what he was searching for.
K dies so that Deckard, who wisely and painstakingly concealed his daughter's identity, could waltz through her front door - because?
Nothing in the world had changed to reduce the threat Stelline would be in if discovered.
Deckard pays no heed to the multiple ways Wallace may be surveilling the compound.
I just don't get it. Deckard was right to hide away in a wasteland - so what changed that made it worthwhile putting his daughter's' life at risk? In fifteen minutes Wallace will storm the building and take her hostage, testing her until he can discover the secrets of replicant birth.
Yep, the humans were mostly depicted as evil or powerless. Thus, there are no real stakes. What are we preserving or fighting for in this movie's world? Why does anything matter? Why do I care? Oh, I don't.
Wonderful comment 👍 hadn’t thought of that, great call
It also fits for Joi, who dies while trying to save K. So the most Human people in the movie are a Replicant and a Hologram. It fits so perfectly.
@@6Churches No one claimed the end result of the film was objectively good. Nor is it guaranteed to be objectively bad. They might escape, and live for a long time, or they might get captured. That wasn't the question the film was answering. And there's also something to be said about quality of live over quantity of life. Both Deckard and his daughter were living lonely lives in exile because of what was going on, Deckard had his dog, and his daughter had the hologram room, but both of those things are poor substitutes for real familial relationships. Besides, there was that entire underground movement of replicants that may have been able to keep them safe, or make a difference. Essentially, the movie also asks the question whether a long life in misery is better than a short one fighting for a better world. And I feel pretty confident it answers that one.
Missed opportunity to have the video be 20:49 just had to pad it 48 more seconds
....
Ysmildr good videos are never too long and bad videos are never too short. Still, I agree, but perhaps this way it accomplishes what every great video attempts which is to leave us wanting (how ever small) more. :)
Ysmildr that would have been great
Just needed a bit if catawumpus at the opening. Or maybe a fake sponsorship at the very end.
Ha! That would have been dope as hell.
The part that floored me about this movie was that Kay found his free will just by THINKING he was the special. Whatever he does after he learns that he wasn't Deckards' son was less impressive to me than the fact that he, who was supposed to follow orders and be a robot, was able to lie to potentially protect others and to find the truth about himself. All it took was for him to think he was naturally born, and that's amazing.
I did woo-ooh.....
Do Sicario... I think we all need more Villlenuve. My fav director alive and working today.
The lies he made when he thought he was naturally born were in the name of self-preservation. When he learns he wasn't, that makes his choices from that point on more meaningful because they were no longer to keep himself alive, but in self-sacrifice for what he believes is the right thing to do.
More Villlenuve is always good. Sicario is fantastic, Arrival is great and Prisoners is equally amazing.
I agree. Villeneuve is solidly on my radar. He and Yorgos Lanthimos are my favorite working filmmakers.
t c yeah, wouldve been awesome probably. Sad he is no longer here...
Yep, what a basic, bland trope.
My interpretation of Joy is that she *wasn't* a free thinking individual, but she passed as one. She's programed to behave like a free thinking individual but her prime directive is to make the person who buys her happy. she has a personality and is capable of having and executing on ideas but it's all designed to give the allusion that she's a forreal girl and you fall in love with her. K buys in and through her charm and charisma so does the audience. But her prime directive is dictating that she must make K happy and she ques into the fact that being a born person would make him happy, so she sets out to foster that seed of hope, even giving him a name, Joe, that eventually gets them both killed. After she gets stomped and K learns definitively that he's no the child, his lowest moment, he encounters that giant Joy hologram add (who calls him Joe (because that's her programed default name for dudes)) and he realizes that he was brought to this point because he was convinced by apparent personhood that was ultimately false. He now faces the question of "if she was so convincingly sentient and yet ultimately was not, what does that mean for me, an also manufactured person? Are my feelings of self awareness just built in smoke and mirrors to create a better user experience?"
Maybe the answer is if you can't tell the difference between real and artificial intelligence, does it even matter? So I guess in a way I guess Joy was a free thinking individual and I just convinced myself out of my own thesis.
Colin Luton Is there a wayto save this comment forever somewhere? XD
Yes. A definitive and resounding yes.
This comment brought me Joy
I agree with you that if you can't tell the difference, it doesn't matter, but I would just point out one thing - Joi goes beyond trying to make K happy - think about the scene where K is unconscious in the crashed Spinner - Joi is glitching heavily, but still desperately screaming at him to wake up. That could easily just be a programmed response to prolong the useful life of the consumer she is slaved to, but it's still interesting I think.
I also find it incredibly interesting to debate all of this said before but if she is a product - wouldn’t it only help the company that makes her to have the software find creative ways for the AI to be destroyed so they have to replace it?! This movie is too wonderful ❤️
I look forward to the sequel in another 30 years when my nephews can debate the whole thing with me when they are my age I am now!
My family hated this film. I was ugly crying at how insanely sad, while at the same time uproariously joyful the ending was.
To them it was a boring movie where people got hurt and not much happened.
To me it was a visually beautiful movie that said some metaphorically beautiful things.
I already loved this movie, but with the additional layer of the message *to itself* that I never even considered, I think Mikey made me love it even more.
Draukagrissah
Poor family.
Sounds like those family members have their taste in their arses.
Kind of like the first one... it offers so much hope and so much fear at the same time
You need to appreciate philosophy on some level to love these movies beyond 'cool effects'.
Ugly cried too
This guy gets it!
To me the most important line in the film is when K asks if Deckard's dog is real (that reflexive question people obsessively ask in both films about every animal) and Deckard just shrugs and says 'I dunno, ask him.' He, like the film, doesn't just leave the answer ambiguous he outright dismisses the relevance of the question.
JOI is one of the most compelling characters in the past few years. she takes the whole "created person vs born person" thing a step further with "genetic mind vs designed mind" and if that makes her thoughts/emotions real or genuine at all, or even a designed mind feeling something as abstract and unexplainable as loving another being. shit's wild
DrAlexHarper I interpreted it as she only reflect what you want and expect, and didn’t love him, you got what you paid for. As seen in the commercial with the huge JOI version, and also the meaning behind her name. Absolutely a great movie
I actually think the point of the huge JOI advert was the opposite, because it is juxtaposed with the "because you haven't seen a miracle" speech, indicating that the reason he is motivated to act after that scene is because he HAS seen a miracle - his JOI was real, and she can't be replaced by the supposedly identical one from the advert.
But I think the point of the character is... does it matter if it's real or not when you just can't tell?
Alex Marcelo or you don’t have anything to lose, when you know everything is just fake anyway, so why don’t you help what’s real. But I need to see the movie again, only seen it ones, maybe I missed something.
Agreed. Joi is "just" some software, she's "just" telling K what he wants to hear, and at the start of the movie he shows that he knows this, when he tells her "you don't need to say that" and similar. And yet, when we get to the point where Luv kills Joi by stamping on the emanator, we've seen Joi choose to risk her life to go outside with K, we've seen her express deep concern for K even though he's unconscious in the crashed Spinner, and she uses her final words to desperately express love for K. This may very well just be excellent simulation, but if the simulation is indistinguishable from the real thing, then as you say, it doesn't matter if she is "real" or not. By that point, K is clearly past thinking of Joi as a disposable piece of software, and that's arguably all that matters.
I think the philosophy of both movies is “it doesn’t matter.” Where they both present the idea of “What makes us human,” they both have their own distinct but equally valid and unique answers, backed up by their respective films.
Blade Runner (The Final Cut) seems to say that Empathy is what makes one human. That’s why that film has such a tragic villain that is more relatable and in the right than the hero. That’s why Deckard isn’t actually that likeable in the film. That’s why they use Voight-Kampff tests, to try and gauge the empathy of the replicants. At the end of the movie, it doesn’t matter if Deckard is or isn’t a replicant; he’s human. His empathy for Roy changes him and proves that regardless of how he got there, he has the same fears and will have the same regrets and death as Roy, but he still saved him because he had a soul.
Blade Runner 2049 says that Love is what makes us human. That’s why the love scene with Joi is so powerful and perfect, it’s a microcosm for the whole movie. It doesn’t matter that she’s an AI, that he’s a replicant, that they’re not actually touching; so long as they can say “I am,” their feelings are as valid as any others. Memories are merely the perceptions that bring us to be who we are now. It doesn’t matter. That’s why Niander Wallace is blind, he lacks that part of a soul to see the value in people. He doesn’t care about love or empathy, and treats those things as features of his products.Eyes are a prominent part of the themes of both movies, being the windows into the soul. Everything focuses on the soul of each person and their inherent humanity.
Dammit Mikey. You took a movie that already means more to me than any other movie I've ever seen, and elevated it even higher. This movie is a once in a lifetime sort of movie, I don't think anything will come close to it and that's a damn tragedy in my book.
Amanda Rochon probably not,it was amazing
watch this video about the movie.
ruclips.net/video/O4etinsAy34/видео.html
you would love the movie even more than you do right now
Amanda Rochon 100% agreed. Greatest film ever made.
There is an interview with Denis Villeneuve where he says he finds the question if Deckard is a replicant or not fascinating. But the answer to that question not so much.
Tomek Zietkiewicz
And I absolutely agree with him.
Yes.
What about the question of - why, after spending thirty years in hiding to protect his daughter's identity, does Deckard give up this wise plan to waltz right through her front door, when she cannot leave her chamber and Wallace corp. are still seeking 'the child' ?
Because she was with Rachel, now he must protect her
@@6Churches Because he was already exposed and it was only a matter of time before another Blade Runner found him and he faced torture until he revealed the info anyway.
@@LicoriceLain kinda. Maybe. But Deckard has all the same skillsets and could conceivably disappear a second time.
Plus the police chief has just been murdered and the organisation is in chaos.
I like the symbolism with the snow falling on K when he dies.
It's my interpretation, but bare with me: it is said that every snowflake is different from one and other, that each of them is unique and has its own shape. K is not the special, he's not unique, he's not the chosen one son, his destiny is to get buried/overshadowed by things that are more special than him.
And yet... just like the tears in rain, nothing lasts forever. Because pretty as they are, snowflakes MELT.
They'll be forgotten too at some point, in the infinity of time. All the historical figures, Earth's history, statues, they'll disappear and be forgotten eventually, nothing escapes that. The universe is *HUUUGE* and Father Time is brutal.
He might not have turned out to be the special, but K had something that Stelline did not: a life.
He could actually move around the world. He had a love interest. He actually experienced life on Earth instead of being trapped for most of his life inside a sterilized room. No matter how important Stelline is or what she'll do for the Replicant uprise... she NEVER had a life as human as K's was. At least K died after having a life.
DeepEye1994 that is an amazing thought. So dope.
And the irony was that K is an artificial being with real snow landing on him, and she was in the room, as ‘real’ as she is with artificial snow landing on her. Best movie.
Amer Terros holy fuck quit blowing my mind to pieces haha I’ll have no brain left, I agree best movie...
Who implanted Stelline's memory in K and for what motive?
DeepEye1994
*Did he die at the end?*
Interesting... I've never interpreted it that way before.
I really think we're still going to be talking and thinking about this movie twenty years from now. What a gift that is.
Which, if the 20 year cycle continues we'll get another. Although, how do you explain the X-Men movie series?
I might still be talking about how annoying the plot holes are.
1) Who implanted K with Stelline's memories, and why?
2) Why did Deckard think it was safe to visit his daughter when Wallace corp. are still actively seeking 'the child' ?
I have never clicked on a video this fast ever
So pretty much break even after marketing, distribution and exhibitor costs... plus corporate overheads...
Me too...
omg me too, normally it takes between 1.2412 seconds and 47.7714 hours to click a video but this one only took me 1.2399 seconds.
I clicked so fast I got sent two weeks into the future.
lolollol
"They all think it is about more detail, but that is not how memory works, we recall with our feelings, anything real should be a mist."
Maybe my favorite line in that movie.
I love how there’s an entire other story going on behind the scenes involving a replicant uprising and it’s left totally unresolved. In the hands of lesser filmmakers, that’d probably be the main focus of the entire movie.
Yes this %5,000,000 my favorite movie of 2017 but can we also appreciate the fact that Ryan Gosling did this, La La Land, and the Nice Guys within like 2 years? That is a dynamic range of such breadth and quality that I don't think you can find anywhere else
Can we also appreciate that The Nice Guys was an amazingly funny film that didn't get near the credit it deserved?
Jacob Kluesener First Man is coming out this year and Gosling is working with Damien Chazelle again.
I'm so glad you did this episode, Mikey. 2049 is one of the most meaningful sequels in film history for me. I honestly enjoy it so much more than the original. K is so much more interesting of a protagonist, and gives the narrative so much forward thrust. For a detective, Deckard is more beat cop than actual detective. K's detective work is personal for him - it aims to answer a question of great personal significance: is he somehow special? It's such a brilliant exploration and continuation of all the themes of the original, and Villeneuve has been batting 1000. Seriously, that man has not made a single dud so far. Stoked for his take on Dune.
I don't understand how K was an interesting character. He was an emotionless robot with neither a backstory nor character development.
Also, I never watched the first movie, so I don't really understand Jared Leto's motive.
Mark Pretzels I watched Blade Runner 2049 without watching the original and I didn’t understand much of the backstory, but after watching the original then rewatching 2049, so much makes sense now.
Mark Pretzels I've heard differing opinions from others, but personally, I would _absolutely not_ recommend watching 2049 before watching the original.
As for K, I think he undoubtedly has character growth. As a replicant, he's forced to retire his own kind, but comes across the distinct possibility through his investigation that _he might actually be special._ It's that impetus that moves so much of the plot forward. It's K's drive to find out if he is someone special that spurs his growth. By the end of the film, long after he realizes he is not the special child he's been looking for, he learns how to make a grave sacrifice for something he believes in. He learns to rally behind a cause. And in doing so, reunites Deckard with Ana. He goes from being a rudderless killer of his own kind to a hopeful, desperate optimist, to killing his own kind for the express purpose of something greater than himself.
As for being emotionless, that's kinda the point, however, stoicism does not make a boring character. Hell, Gosling fits this bill perfectly in a number of roles. Drive's titular Driver hardly speaks, but is equally as compelling, because like K, it's their actions that do all of the talking.
Who do you think implanted K with Stelline's childhood memory? K's model went into production the year after Tyrell died, so he's not exactly fresh off the shelf.
@@markpretty No character development......what.....are you insane?
This is beautiful and precisely nail why I loved this film so much. The bombshell about how light is used in the complex broke my brain and tells my why all those scenes were so powerful.
This was one of the best movies of 2017, was waiting for this!
YoyoZee I was nervous at first and once I saw it I couldn't stop talking about it. Damn near a perfect film.
I for one love the trend of “20-year later” sequels. More often than not they’re more interesting than direct sequels than take place very soon after the first one. Sure they can be cheap nostalgia-bait, but A smart filmmaker can weaponise that nostalgia and use it to explore a theme or challenge a character.
PS4 GAMER .....
I'll take 20 year sequels over 20 year reboots any day
a nostalgia sequel can also course correct a franchise gone awry, like what they want to do with Robocop and the next
Terminator, and apparently The Predator too
PS4 Gamer, I feel like half the fun of Blade Runner is how poorly they actually show the greater universe the story takes place in. Earth is a mess, there are off-world colonies that they create second-class humans to work on while natural-born humans supposedly higher on the social totem pole struggle to scrape out a living on the homeworld. What are those colonies like? How do you even get to them?
Doesn't matter. Deckard is a hired gun trying to chase down four fugitives in LA. K is a cop who makes his living case by case so he can live in a tiny apartment with his AI girlfriend. All these huge things happening in the universe, but our focus is on salt of the earth bottom-rung folks trying to survive in the gutter. None of that bigger stuff matters to them because they are focused on survival.
In this case, a 35-year later sequel.
I did. I did woo-ooh.
Also, you look great in this episode. Just FYI.
Me too :D
I also oo-woo-oo'd.
PS4 GAMER Um, 'K. All I said was woo-ooh.
How could you not?
As a 36 year old millennial myself, not only did I woo-ooh, but I also LOVED this film. I loved it before it came out. I loved every moment of watching it. I love rewatching it. You're correct when you say that it gives more value to the original film. It is beautiful from top to bottom. Even the ugly parts are beautifully done. I think I agree with you when I say that this film *IS* art. This is a hell of an analysis. You keep Mikey-ing 'em, and I'll keep watchy-ing 'em.
In your re-watching did you get any closer to explaining who implanted K with Stelline's memory?
Viewer Discretion
*Does it matter?*
@@Rand0mN0rwegianGuy Yes. The film shows us that it's impossible to have occurred randomly and the effects of this intentional and illegal act causes the entire narrative of the film to occur. It is so improbable it needs to be explained as we're meant to have sympathy for Stelline but she is implicated in the cover up by never reporting her memories have been stolen.
This is like watching Lord of the Rings but having the forging of the rings be withheld and vague.
Holy shit. Brought tears to my eyes while at work. Thanks.
(Amazing video, keep it up!)
Me too. "He's a dad" did it.
"production budget" doesn't include advertising - which there was a lot of. This movie almost certainly lost money.
And you know what? I'm glad it did. If it had been a massive profit-making success, we would almost certainly see studio push for tons of (likely shit) sequels.
Like with Mikey's assessment of Firefly/Serenity, Blade Runner/+2049 is probably better in the long term *BECAUSE* it won't get another sequel. If, in another 35 years, we get a third movie - MAYBE it would be worthy. But not soon.
Not to seem rude, but how did my comment start a debate on production budget and box office?
"He's a dad" got me too.
best movie of 2017
Kat Reynolds best movie of the decade
Objectively
It deserved best picture at the Oscars. Didn't even get nominated. Complete bullshit.
Best of the century, tbh.
Best sci-fi movie since Ex Machina, and before that, what, Inception? From a visual perspective, only The Revenant comes close, and from a score perspective, Tron Legacy (meh movie, unreal soundtrack & audio). As a package, 2049 is the best movie IMO in decades (shout to The Revenant, which is also brilliant). It takes its time, tells a story, and subtlety unseen in most US films. Like the original, a box office bomb but a brilliant, under-appreciated masterpiece (considering the non-theatrical, no narration cut for the original).
Best Birthday Gift ever. Tears in my eyes and no rain in sight.
"All those....mo..ments will be....frozen.....in-time, like, tears.....in snow...."
Your script was BRILLIANT in this one, and I wish this wasn't seemingly buried by the algorithm. I literally never found this video while looking for Blade Runner 2049 reviews, essays, analyses, etc... regardless of wording. I regularly searched for new ones 2-3 times a year since it came out. Only found this channel at all through pure happenstance by looking for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy content.
Anyway, glad I'm here now. Love your content!
This movie has become so much more important to me in just a couple years.
Around when I watched this movie was when I started questioning my gender for the first time.
I was really able to sympathize with the character whose entire social existence was predicated on others telling him *what he is.* Only to follow some bread crumbs and then begin questioning his very existence.
In this metaphor I think K is like a gender non-conforming ally, who realizes that it's okay to be what they are, but that he can help others.
Me on the other hand.. I found I really wasn't what everybody always told me since I was born. I realized they gave me a mask, and a script, and didn't ask whether or not I wanted either.
Sometimes it really does feel like the world is closing in on you. That everyone and everything is against you. But damn does it feel better to be free and fighting, than dead on the inside and staying in that little box.
A year later, I look for this video after The Matrix Resurrections trailer comes out since it fits in the 20 year sequel subgenre now. Just to revisit the conversation Mikey started here with a movie I adore with all my heart. Your comment made me realize why part of this movie felt so much more personal than it did to others who loved it. A light went on in my head when I decided after years of knowing my true self and wallowing in the mire of a lack of resources that I should not try and live as a woman, but refuse to die as a man. Not ask to read for a new part in the script, but fight against the world, free for a long as you have. Thanks for posing this. I hope you're better than well, friend.
I'd just like to stop by and send my wish and hope that your journey is going well and that you take a firm grip on the reins of your destiny. Safe travels.
2019 - the year Roy Batty died :(
This movie is simply visual decadence, a luxurious artform wrapped around cutting themes. A masterpiece.
Watching your essays, continuously, almost without fail, make me feel unquantifiable emotions. Like 2049 to the original film, your video essays not only compliment the films they are about, they enrich them, to a degree other RUclips content makers do not. From a fan of your work here on FIlmJoy, whether you see this, or not; Thank. You.
This is my favorite video essay
Fricken Spectacular as always mikey, Off for a second viewing now.
I saw BR2049 5 times in the theater. I'm so glad you made this video.
4 for me.
Me too. It's my favorite of all time...
Saw it 3 times in a theater and dragged along a friend to see it on the 4th...
I wish I had seen it those many times
@@miguelpereira9859 it was the best. Literally.
This was the last movie I watched with one of my best friends, days before he died. I drink his favorite beer and watch 2049 every year on the anniversary of the day he died. The last few times, I've watched this video immediately after watching the movie. So thank you, Mikey, for this. For this insightful video. For helping in the grieving process. For just being at the confluence of my favorite piece of art, which has some , shall we say, complicated associations for me.
What you do, Mikey, is no less beautiful than these films. You turn unexplored feelings into a weirdly-healing gut punch.
BR 2049 made me cry almost every time I watched it, although often in different spots. Your vid made me cry for all the joy these two films have brought to me. Thank you for making this!
During this video, I was genuinely considering whether I wanted to believe if Deckard was a replicant or not. For the longest time I believed he was a replicant mostly because I wanted to accept, what was to me, the worst possible option. The whole film was very glum and I thought it would be more adult of my currently teenage self to believe that Deckard was actually not a real boy and was instead a fabrication. But upon further thought it became what should've already been clear to me that the replicants weren't really fabrications at all. The first one was fun for me to dig into and analyse but it wasn't until 2049 came out that more and more became clear.
I analysed the hell out of that movie and looked deep into the themes around humanity especially surrounding K. It quickly became apparent to me that I loved it more than the first and that is was one of my favourite films ever. But it did confuse me about the Deckard replicant thing. It started to become clear to me that it morally and thematically made no sense for Deckard to be a replicant and that it served the greater story more if he were human. While watching this video, I continued to ponder whether or not I believed he was a replicant when all of a sudden, you hit the nail right on the head.
It doesn't matter. He's a dad.
Thank you for that Mikey. You're the best
To be honest I found that Deckard being a replicant was the less dark scenario.
If he's an adult man he's a total piece of shit, basically a slave catcher who thinks that he can impose himself physically on a woman because she's not a 'real' person.
His experiences chasing down the escaped replicants made him perhaps grow beyond that at the end of the film but for most of the film he's pretty irredeemable.
If he's a replicant however not only does he not have any choice in who or what he is as a Blade Runner but his apparent lack of empathy can be interpreted as him experiencing physical drives for the first time with no part of his programming being devoted to anything beyond his set task, including the concept of romantic consent.
* Do you agree with Deckard's decision to give up the wise and cautious three decade long mission to stay hidden to protect his daughter? I mean he waltzes through her front door as if she was suddenly not longer in mortal peril if discovered.... this makes no sense to me. Wallace has surveillance satellites and could be keeping tabs.
* Also, who implanted K with Stelline's memory? This person needs access, expertise, criminal intent, and a strategic motive and planning that spans decades of intrigue. It is too highly specific a memory to be an accident or random. It drives the entire story thread, but is left unresolved.
@Toxic Potato I'm gonna have to rewatch it, cheers
Thank you. I'm 63 and watched the original Blade Runner in a MOVIE THEATER. Saw the new one in a MOVIE THEATER. Your comments and analysis are excellent, and build on the conversations I had with my friends about the original all those years ago. Beautiful.
I like your new title cards, I didn't say anything last time but I find the aesthetic appealing
Nkanyiso Innocent Khwane yes
This movie is a peace of art. You can even enjoy the movie without sound ...... or the music without the movie .... and still have the same goose bumps. Perfect all around, watched it more than 100 times by now.
One of those rare films 10 years from now you'll be like ''So happy I saw this in theatres'' :P
This video almost made me cry. You put it all into perfect words. Thanks Mikey!
Great video, as usual! I love both movies.
One key point you glossed over or entirely missed, however, is that the second movie has a very strong central theme about LACK of free will - everyone is programmed. This is brought sharply into focus when we (and K) see the advertisements for Joy using all the same mannerisms and catchphrases that trigger our (and K's) expectation of a genuine feeling of love/emotion.
Joy is programmed. Everyone who purchases her program gets essentially the same person. K is programmed with implanted memories. We natural humans are programmed by our experiences.
There is no free will, but we have no choice but to act/perform as if free will is a thing...
TheVexinator I more than agree with you. But.. wouldn't her upgrades/experiences etc. shape her to into an individual, regardless of initial programming? Meaning she is a person who thinks by her own. Same goes for K, who accepts he has to do it even though it's not about him anymore, and makes a choice.
So even though they were programmed to be someone at first, they still evolved to be thier own individuals with the ability to choose. Like K choosing to save Deccard, and Joi to have that whole wierd threesome with the girl and be jealous afterwards.
MooPara that's part of the question we're left trying to answer for ourselves. These characters have no choice but to think the way they do and ultimately make the choices they make given the situation they are in, and any other version of their mass-produced selves would also make the same choices in the same situations.
My personal take-away is that knowing these characters are behaving in a manner consistent with their programming... and knowing they have no choice... does not take away from my empathy with them and their situation. They are mass produced, and their personalities are artificially constructed... to the point where they can be diagnosed! and yet I still find them compelling. They still feel real and I have no choice but to accept them as real people... which then brings into focus the triviality of the distinction between these constructs and a natural born person - the natural born person is still programmed... only the dials are largely hidden and mysterious. But they're still there.
Edit: In other words, the individual is the summation of their unique experiences. Experiences which are lost in death. But this has no bearing on their lack of free-will.
Agreed. Joi, quite literally, learned to love him. Brought out what were the admirable qualities in him.
But who implanted K with Stelline's memories? It's never explained, but they must have had a motive, access, expertise, criminal intent and broad strategic planning in order to do so.
I always say that the true value of any piece of art can be measured by how much you want to keep enjoying it after your first exposure. You do whatever you can to celebrate it. You seek out its influences, you join appreciation groups, you get into cosplay, you write fan fiction, you collect the figures, or you can make videos to plumb their meaning. Your videos give us the chance to find more things to love about things we were already in love with. Thank you. P.S. - I was 24 when I saw the original Blade Runner in the theater and I've sat through the whole thing at least 50 times since.
Dammit Mikey, stop making me tear up even more at movies I love... great vid.
Ana De Armas is literally an angel that fell to earth.
Good lord.
10:47 - finally seeing someone fully embracing the "noir" element of this cyberpunk noir by dressing the footage in all black and white - this makes my heart happy.
"Is Deckard a replicant?"
That is the question that people have been asking for years. However they've been asking it from the wrong point of view or perspective. It doesn't matter one way or another whether or not deckard is a replicant. And that's the question that most of us who were only left with the original blade runner failed to understand until 2049 came along. I love all of your videos Mikey, I love every single one of them. However I don't think you've ever ended any one of your videos on a more poignant note than this one. This was beautiful. This was well thought out and well executed. But above all else it was beautiful. And that's why I think it's hands down one of the best videos you've ever done. I discovered you through your Star trek videos but this is still the best work you've ever done. You sold me as a subscriber a long time ago, but this is the stuff that keeps me subscribed. Keep up the good work brother.
Amen.
damn, I love the Blade Runner films
I'm so happy this video finally happened. When I first joined this channel, maybe a year ago, I kept looking for this review. Thank you.
My grandparents had that same brown patterned couch! Sorry got distracted. Loved this video Mikey!
[m] DO WE HAVE THE SAME GRANDPARENTS?!
FilmJoy Cousin!
My cousins had that couch too! God, I can still feel that scratchy weird velvet texture. Ah, the 70s-80s.
Omg me too!
More importantly - is the couch a replicant?
This underappreciated masterpiece makes me feel things. Big strong teary-eyed things.
I woo-ooed.
Mikey. I have appreciated coming to see films through your specific viewpoint. I am glad you take the time to share with the Internet.
Love your stuff, love MwM, but I completely (and respectfully!) disagree with you on Tron: Legacy. I respect your feels on it, but I feel it's one of the, if not *the* most underrated sci-film of the last decade. Consider my POV, if you will...
****SPOILERS FOR TRON & TRON: LEGACY****
After watching Tron: Legacy the first time, I immediately went back and watched the original.
And the first thing that hit me like a hammer was that the original Tron does. not. hold. up. For me, anyway. I *definitely* remembered it being more epic and, well, narratively solid than it did on my now-as-an-adult rewatch.
The original has its moments, to be sure. It's ambitious. It still looks hella cool. It introduced a radically different world and a new place to tell stories in. But wow, is it an inconsistent mishmash of moments in search of a coherent story. The tone is everywhere both in the real world and on the old grid, and while its charm and visual novelty are what makes it so enduring, I feel like that's ALL it's got going for it.
Ironically, I thought Tron: Legacy had *way more* to say than the original, and was a tighter, leaner, and driven story overall. The original had pretty much two main threads: overthrowing Sark in the real world, and Flynn/Tron trying to take out the MCP and save the grid/help Flynn escape. And... that's kinda it.
Tron: Legacy? There's a LOT going on here, all organically intertwined, and none of it felt like nostalgia porn. First, its story is more propulsive and organic in how it builds its momentum than the original. The original really mosies along, from start to finish, and there's not nearly as much build to its climax as the sequel. (Watch the two back to back if you haven't already; you'll see what I mean.)
Next, you've got the doozy of the concept that Flynn tried to achieve perfection, but saw it blow up in his face with the rise of Clu and was *trapped indefinitely* by his own folly as a result. Some heavy stuff that the first one didn't touch. You've got Sam trying to reconnect with a father who wishes he'd focused more on his son than the world he built. You've got a crystal-clear deep-dive into what Flynn was trying to accomplish--building one world to help save ours--and discovering a wholly unexpected outcome of that (the Isos/Quorra).
Even the look of the film is more different than the original than you might think. It's dark and blue/orange glowy, sure, but WOW does it push it in so many other directions. Other than a few callbacks here and there, I never felt like it was a nostalgia play. This world had a more coherent geography to it, and enough peripheral details--Flynn is worshipped as a god, the existence of differing status levels within its society, etc.--to hold it together. And having Flynn die to save his son (and possibly both worlds) instead of escaping a prison of his own making? That's some emotional weighted storytelling there with stakes beyond the first film.
And I haven't even gotten to the supporting cast! Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund are solid--they didn't blow my socks off, but they didn't hurt the film, IMHO--but James Frain as Jarvis and Michael @#$%ing Sheen as Caster/Zeus knock it out of the park with some unexpected turns. Frain adds unexpected humor and depth with what's essentially a toadie role, and Sheen steals the whole thing with his WAY-out-of-left-field performance. He's worth the price of admission alone, and, frankly, *the* example of how the film isn't about retreading the past, but cooking up interesting extrapolations of where that past can lead.
Finally, the look of the film, from the interiors and exteriors of the grid to the costume design. My GOODNESS it is next level. There are few films I'll watch sometimes just to LOOK at it without the sound out, but this is one of them.
It has its faults: the CG young Jeff Bridges face (both in flashback for Flynn and for Clu in the new grid) isn't where the MCU's de-aged Marvel faces are at. The dialogue is a bit clunky in places though, really, it's not much worse than the original. And there's even less about Tron the character in this, though they try like the dickens to shoehorn in his importance. But I can live with all of that.
It's my top "have it on while you're cleaning the house" movies. It's got an inspired performance by Jeff Bridges, it moves at breakneck speed, and above all, it speaks to me on a lot of levels I never thought it would.
As to CG Bridges - only the "real world flashback" one bugged me. Having Clu be "uncanny valley" worked. I kind of wished *ALL* of the programs had a little digital trickery done to uncanny valley them. Only the Flynns and Quorra should have been "untouched."
Great writeup! Some people hate this movie (or just dismiss it) and I don't know why. Was it Best-Picture-worthy? No. Some of the writing and acting was a bit clunky. But it was all pretty servicable, not really cringe-y, and BOY HOWDY did it look and sound GREAT. And like you said it was thematically quite complex with some real emotion at the end.
Agree with every word here. The world of Tron that Legacy brought forth is, in my opinion, far more interesting than the world of the original.
I have such a deep deep love for Tron: Legacy, and what Tron: Uprising was attempting to do, as well. There were so many ideas in there that were interesting. Programs learning how to break their own code and become something else (Caster/Zeus), Clu as a villain, but one of Flynn's own making (he was only following his programing, even if it went wild), Tron/Rinzler, a broken/repurposed program, who finally breaks his programming in the end.... the idea of porgrams coming from pure nothing. Very little of that was retreading the past, especially since only 2 of those programs had a "user" associated with them. The film isn't perfect, I nver would claim that it was--but there was/is deep potential there, and the groundwork exists for another amazing film, too.
Spot on!
God damn Mikey- you got me good with that last “Interlinked” match cut...you got me good with the whole thing. Don’t ever stop creating things like this
I have this video paused at 16:13. "Is Deckard a Replicant?"
I have seen many takes on this question before. I have seen both sides of the argument, yes and no.
I love your videos. They are always ridiculously thought-provoking, and, probably far more than I would like to admit, tear-inducing. I always look forward to your usually-unique takes on all things movie.
But from the rest of this video's message, I'm not sure I want to hit 'play' again. The moment those words appeared on screen, my instant reaction was "it doesn't matter."
I'm about to hit 'play.' I now honestly expect that the next three words I hear you speak are "It. Doesn't. Matter."
Edit: Thank you. I was close. Different inflection, same meaning.
Thank you for pointing out why this movie was so special to me, using words that are so much better than anything I could have put together. I have an incredible soft spot for any "What does it mean to be human" SciFi films/shows/art.
Blade Runner, Humans, Her, Ex Machina, Chappie, Moon, Short Circuit, I, Robot(the book) Bicentennial Man(the story), Excession, Neuromancer, Robopocalypse, Westworld, etc. etc. etc.
They all ask that question, and the better examples really show that it is a muddy question at best, and the best examples show that it really doesn't matter. If a robot is a good person, they're more of a good person than a human who is evil.
This question can logically be extrapolated to more current questions, like "What does it mean to be [insert religion here]", "What does it mean to be [insert sexual preference here], or even "What does it mean to be an 'American'?" The waters are muddy, at best. I know some undocumented people who work harder and love this country with a fierceness that eclipses "Real Americans" by several orders of magnitude. Just because they don't have that paper saying they are a citizen, that doesn't mean they aren't American, at least in my eyes. Because, as Blade Runner 2049 shows us, and as you pointed out, it doesn't matter.
I watched this movie specifically for MwM having never watched a single Ryan Gosling pic and I thought to myself "Hey, he's pretty good. Let's watch more of him." So I watched Drive and The Nice Guys back to back and if you want to give yourself performance whiplash, go ahead and do that. But all three of those movies are great and you should watch them. Which you've already done for one of them, or why are you here?
Also, I woo-ooh'ed in my head and when my wife watches this later tonight not only will she woo-ooh out loud, she will sing the next verse.
The Nice Guys is arguably even more underrated than Blade Runner 2049. That movie came and went from theaters, and its absolutely criminal it didn't get more attention.
I know it’s a weird movie but try lars and the real girl man , that movie is truly excellent.
Jesus you just made my favorite movie of the last decade even better. This is why I am subbed to you my dude.
"Human memories, washed away, 'like tears ... in ... rain.'"
I love you but I hate you.
Three years and change, and damn this essay still hits like I first saw it yesterday, or something. What a beautiful video loveletter, thing. You're precious Mikey!
Only this summer I saw both of the Bladerunners back to back. I rented them both and committed a Sunday to it and it was fun. Bladerunner was fun, the visuals were nice and the action was fun... that's about it, I didn't like it too much, all the scenes and stuff with the villain were, in my opinion, the best parts. It was like eating veggies, but 2049 was awesome, I loved it from start to finish, I loved the music and performances and visuals and everything.
I want a "movie with Mikey" 4 times a day. Like meals. And 1 extra snack. But if it takes 2 weeks to make such amazingness, then I'll wait. Thank you Mikey. These are perfect
4:20 I did not oo-woo-oo, but I _really wanted to._
The memory is your best friend and your worst enemy. It is your best friend because it helps you not to fall in the same hole three times. It is your worst enemy because it makes you prefer the nostalgia over hope.
man I need to watch the goofy movie again
Wow. I've watched a lot of Movies with Mikey today, but this is my favorite. Partly because I love both Blade Runner movies, partly because I love the philosophy behind them. Great work.
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey. You made a mistake I usually see from people my age. You think domestic box office is all movie studios count? Did Pacific Rim teach you nothing? It had a budget of $19O million and only made $101 Million domestically, but made $411 Million world-wide. This Pacific Rim 2 was born. Now Blade Runner 2049 did an over all $259 million, but it’s comfortable enough to have at least a possibility of another sequel. You can no longer discount overseas box office, bub.
The general rule of thumb is that a film needs to get it's budget back roughly twice over to be a success: not every dollar at the box office goes back to the studio. Blade Runner 2 didn't manage this.
(Sidenote: Pacific Rim barely managed this and I have no idea why they thought a sequel was a good idea. Pacific Rim: Uprising was pretty much a flop, so they probably made some bad assumptions about how the Chinese box office would shake out).
It doesn't really matter though: we got this film. It's pretty good.
I have waited for SO LONG for someone to say this. It's not about human or not, it's saying emphatically, firmly, IT DOESN'T MATTER. Why do you care? You shouldn't! It's not about being real, it's about how if something displays all the qualities of sentience and self-awareness in a way that's "real" enough to withstand scrutiny, then it doesn't. matter. And even if it only comes close, the fact that you're questioning it means you should give it the benefit of the doubt. We waste so much time on the debate of the "other" that we end up hamstringing the "self" by training ourselves to ignore our impulse towards empathy and goodness and compassion, none of which are things that make the world or ourselves worse. If we keep worrying about what, say, some nebulous all-powerful creator wants, then we aren't really doing what's right by ourselves or others, and we're ignoring the possibility that both the creator and the people who speak for him might be assholes that don't want what's best.
Both the replicant resistance and the LAPD are acting under that old dichotomy imposed by the higher power, under the old constructed ways of thinking, when really we just need to all - collectively and as individuals - do what's right. It doesn't matter whether Deckard's human or not, or whether Joi is acting within the constraints of her programming or outside them, or whether Kay (Joe?) was born or made. The common thread of empathy and doing right by people is there.
AND YOU SAID IT. In all the ways I've seen this film described I don't think anyone else has said it this blatantly yet. THANK YOU, holy shit. Hot damn do I love this movie.
He's not a special k....
C R
Bah-dom ptsh 👏
I will watch this tonight, on a big TV, in the Dark, where no one can see me tear up. Thank you for the work you do.
BR 2049 - should i dare to say it?? better than the original??? i mean i luv all 20 versions of the original BR, but BR 2049 was pure sci-fi nerd porn!!! not that the original wasnt, BR 2049 was BR turned up to 11 with a bit better writing!! sure a couple writing issues here and there, but not quite as many as the original
and wow, did not know there were so many miniatures, thought it was all CGI, now i luv BR 2049 even more
I agree. BR 2049 was so good that it made me love the first movie more as a result.
S C, if you can't tell, why do you care?
Superphilipp
im assuming that youre referring to the use of miniatures - i just appreciate the craftsmanship of well made miniatures - well done CGI is great, but well crafted miniatures are awesome!
I can’t stop liking “Blade Runner” video essays... they’re just all sooo good! Thank you!
Sucks that I have to write here to respond to your most recent video. I think you made some really valid points about abuse seemingly equaling love and how the movie is unrelentingly dark without much of plot. Still though you made strong points about film in general and mental health that I assume people would want to talk about. I don’t think you should attempt to shut down conversation about some very interesting ideas you proposed just because some people might not agree with you. Even though I think your most recent video was one of your best and you bring up good points about a largely uncriticized film, you’ve lost a fan because of your fear of criticism and unwillingness to hear opposing viewpoints.
Zach Hipsley you don’t HAVE to do anything. You could just not respond. It’s easy. Responding is not necessary
I know this was a lazy attempt to get a response, but my point was if I wanted to respond than I would have to do it on a separate video.
This movie helped me realize that the terms “replicant” and “robot” are not synonymous in the Blade Runner universe. The original movie, in any cut, did not clarify this point to the extent I needed.
To bad this movie made little to nothing at the box office compared to other movies that came out that year.
Daniel Olynick Give it time. It's making money every second of every day on streaming sites.
I have watched this analysis so many times, and it always makes me cry. It's truly amazing.
Mikey, you seem like a nice guy. I generally enjoy your videos even when I disagree (the Thanos video and your take on TLJ come to mind).
You shouldn't release a knowingly controversial video and then turn off the comments. If people want to disagree, they should have a forum to do so. Otherwise disapproving comments will just bleed into other videos and mediums. Hopefully you'll turn the comments back on in spite of those who disagree with you.
Wonderful essay! I loved Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. You made me cry over this movie all over again.
Duuuuuuude, I'm a bit annoyed that I have to write this here, but why did you turn off comments on the Thanos piece? I have...a lot of opinions on what you said, like....a lot!
He says why in the vid! :D
Goddammit, guess I have to somehow finish it. I'm like 2/3 through the damn thing and I can't finish it because I can't concentrate anymore, because I can't get the comments off my chest!
Text your friends? Family? Hop on whatever dischord channel you use? Tweet about it? Like, you have better options than giving the content creator shit about it, especially when Mikey is reporting daily how much abuse people are giving him for some of his content.
I just remember the immense feeling of relief 10 minutes into the film and thinking "OK. It's safe sailing from here on. Denis gets it".
I find it really bizarre that you would disable comments on your Thanos video before you even upload the video. You don’t disable comments on “positive” videos, so it seems like you wanted to put this “negative” view out in the world but refused to hear any other point of view. I genuinely love your videos but this has made me lose a lot of respect for you as a creator.
Also, just because the villain equates abuse with love doesn’t mean that the movie itself or Marvel agrees with this sentiment. And your “think of the children” argument doesn’t hold up. Think of the time when Loke stabbed Thor in Avengers. Did that teach the children watching that they should stab their siblings? What about all the killing that goes on in these movies. Are they teaching us that killing is okay? No.
Personally, I think that the terrible events on Infinity War were an exciting breath of fresh air. I have a feeling that it will make the resolution in Avengers 4 that much more satisfying.
Please reconsider your decision to disable comments in the future. That would be much more respectable.
Woop the comments on there are no longer disabled
This is great. Thank you for making this, because I left the theatre both times I saw BR 2049 thinking "This movie makes the first movie even better. This is what a sequel should do."
This is instantly one of my favorite RUclips videos of all time.
I loved this movie, and it left me thinking really heavily on a lot of ideas and themes after I left the theater for months after the fact. I love talking to people about this movie, hearing what they thought about it- what they loved, what they didn't, the questions they keep asking themselves or the answers they were given. Thank you so much for making this, it's made me love the movie and even the original so much more.
Ahhhhh. Just binged your videos on some of my favourite films - The Fountain, Interstellar, and now this. I loved the first film, for all its flaws, and I love the book too. I was fully prepared to be disappointed by this but instead I was blown away and offered something I didn't even know I wanted. It is an incredible piece of art, I agree. Thank you
Nothing ever rang better in my ears than "Nostalgia is a powerful thing", and indeed it is.
Best youtuber of 2018.
Time after time you make me understand things i love and subsequently love them ever more. Do you realize these are the most heartfelt and fascinating words I hear all DAY?!
This may be your best video yet. No joke, no false praise. This was an amazing examination of two amazing films that did not receive anywhere near enough recognition in their own time. 2049 will be a film that is examined and studied and loved years from now in ways so many people today couldn't appreciate it.
Also, because I need to say it, having watched this video three times now - I get genuinely moved at the end. Because I loved the first - I was a huge cyberpunk nerd in my teenaged years of the late 80s/early 90s and Blade Runner, like Neuromancer and the RPG Cyberpunk 2020, were a huge part of that. and 2049, as you said, made that movie actually better.
What this film really did for me was contextualize the first film for me. I had never watched the original in its entirety until I heard about the sequel. I decided to read the book first because I've been a Phillip K Dick fan for a while. It was not what I expected at all, but made me excited to compare to the original movie. I then watched the Final Cut version, which was really cool and enhanced by the book's narrative in my mind. Then I went out and saw 2049. It was surreal the way the movie, right here in he present, unexpectedly linked itself directly to the original movie in it's narrative, which was 30some years ago in reality and in the movies reality, but which in this present time I had just seen for the first time like the day before. Was a really weird feeling, like I was experiencing something in a reality beyond the movie. Taken as a whole, all that was a really cool narrative experience that only comes a few times per lifetime.
Holy shit, it's hard not to get choked up watching this.
Blade runner 1982 is one of, if not, my favorite movie of all time, the music of vangelis, the visuals and overall feel, it doesn't get any better.
Love your work man, it's just so amazing the way you describe and analyse a topic.
I FUCKING LOVE BLADE RUNNER!
I remember watching this movie and leaving the theater feeling so lost. I wasn't sure how I felt about it or how it made me feel. I went back the next day, and though i still felt a little lost, this time I had a smile on my face, I was in awe, just blown away by it, I had witnessed something so beautiful that nothing else seemed to matter
there's a lot of good channels where content revolves around film analysis and critique but yours is exceptional.. thank you for everything.
The biggest tragedy of K and Joi's relationship is the ambiguity of if she truly loves him or was programmed to love him, but at the end like you said; it doesn't mattered because K DID loved her, his feelings were real even if it was debatable if she loved him in earnest or was just coded into her, and even then the line is blurred even more by Joi's actions in the film. This is the genius of this film and retroactively makes the previous film better, because at the end of the day; the argument of what makes us human or if a robot can love; doesn't matter, because both have emotions.
The message of the first film in my opinion is Deckard questioning if there's hope for him; as in, is he just a murder tool for the goverment or if there more to life than that? and his confrontation with Roy in which someone who had every reason to kill or leave for dead saved him sparked the leap of faith and hope that made him run away with Rachael by the end and 30 years later he's brought together with his daughter. People focus so much on the question of what it means to be human that ignore the answer that is right there. Replicants and Human in Blade Runner love, hate, desire, crave, feel afraid, aspire. It's all there and it doesn't matter if you were birthed or engineered.
"Set it free" is the single greatest piece of intro music ever composed and the opening edit for it on every video is visual chocolate wrapped in satiny goodness. Fight me.
Star Wars is the first thing I thought of when you started the first point. And then you bring it up.
I'm starting to vibe with you and it feels good.
i went into a trance after watching this for the first time, i sat in the theatre for 5 mins after the movie got over. Hadnt seen a philosophical, visual and master crafted cinematic bliss since a very.....very, long time
This was a fantastic review. As someone who saw this twice in theaters and then bought this movie, because I really really really loved this movie, thank you.
Movies with Mikey has consistently set a really high bar (even when I have not agreed with some of what might have been posited).
But this is a whole other level of excellent. Thank you.