Yeah. Master puppeteer replicant maker, spends his life looking for Deckard to get his NuLife answer, and then gets his con-job all wrong: chubby, dark eyes...
I thought Rachel was better than Tarkin. I was looking for tells that would suggest it wasn't real, and there wasn't much there. But then, I haven't seen Rogue One since the theater, so I may not be remembering it perfectly. I do remember that Leia was terrible and creepy, though.
BR 2049 is great as a standalone but I thought it played even better after watching it immediately after BR The Final Cut.
Caught it a second time on the big screen last night, this time in a Showcase ICON Theatre with a brand new laser projector and Dolby Atmos sound system. WOW. I missed the extra 26% of IMAX footage that was lost (particularly when the giant Joi hologram was walking toward K) but it was still a mind blowing audio/visual treat.
Even watching BR 2049 Rachael immediately after BR Rachael she still felt seamless to me.
I like that Deckard's origins
are still open to interpretation, even in BR 2049.
Wallace says "Has it ever occurred to you that you might have been designed for the exact purpose of falling for Rachael? That is if you were designed at all...." You can take it as him just messing with Deckard's head. Personally I still prefer to imagine Deckard as human. I just don't think that Ford ever played him as anything but (in both films) and he never seems to have any of the physical prowess of the Replicants he's fighting. If you assume that Deckard was a Nexus 6 then it seems like he should have at least matched Zhora's strength (since Batty was specifically called out as a combat model) which he clearly didn't when she got the best of him before fleeing.
In BR 2049 Deckard was powerless against the shackles pinning him inside the submerged spinner which K ripped apart with ease. Anyway, I might be in the minority on that theory but I like to see it as Rachael being designed to conceive a child with human sperm which Deckard supplied. If Deckard was a "fertile replicant" then Wallace assumedly would have made a bigger deal about that and should have considered Deckard to be just a big a prize as the child herself.
I'm guessing that the ash that would occasionally fall in the city was a nod to the toxic dust that killed almost all the animals in the novel and that contaminated humans who didn't flee off-world. I thought that was a cool touch to see on screen. I also picked up the Art book that revealed that the opening scene on Sapper Morton's farm was actually a discarded opening from the original BR that was originally intended to show Deckard taking out a burly Nexus 4 or 5 prior to being called in to hunt Batty's crew.
I absolutely love that the entire movie was a continuation of the alternate "80's future" envisioned by the first film, complete with 4:3 monitors everywhere, vintage advertisements (Atari, etc.) and a cityscape constructed largely with practical miniatures. I do wish that the film incorporated more of the backstory from the original novel like references to "World War Terminus" but the post-dirty bomb Vegas was a nice allusion nonetheless.
I can't really say enough about this film. Epic and sublime and there's no doubt in my mind that it will absolutely be as timeless as the first. Watching them both back to back makes it hard to pick a favorite because they're both so uniquely great but it's nice that I also don't have to. Can't wait for the 4K/blu-ray set.
Well said, Khev. Agreed on the whether or not Deckard is a Replicant theory. I think Wallace's approach would have been entirely different if he actually believed Deckard was one.
Well said, Khev. Agreed on the whether or not Deckard is a Replicant theory. I think Wallace's approach would have been entirely different if he actually believed Deckard was one.
Yep, I just love that even now the audience can still decide for themselves what they want Deckard to be.
Joi continues to be a fascinating surprise. It's fun to ponder just how much she self-evolved her own consciousness in her attempt to keep pace as a suitable match for K in his quest to become a "real boy."
BR 2049 addressed interesting themes touched on by lesser films (Michael Rappaport's holographic girlfriend in The Sixth Day, a consumer OS becoming self-aware in Genisys, etc.) but finally followed through on actually doing them justice.
I liked that all of the destination buildings that the spinners approached were practical models just like in the original film.
And it's pretty amazing that Syd Mead is still alive and able to contribute designs. He designed all of Las Vegas himself which is why that city in particular was so reminiscent of the architecture we saw in 1982.
I too love Khev's interpretation, and "I want to believe" Deckard is human. But Scott has previously said he's not, so I guess we have to deal with that.
What do people think of the origami bull that Gaff made? All the origami he made in the original were hints as to what he was thinking. My assumption right now is that he was suggesting to K that even though Deckard was "retired" that he'd still be a force to be reckoned with should K ever find him.
Ford Played Deckard as a human as has said as much. Ridley said he's a replicant. I still think of Deckard as human and like it that way. Movies are both great and will be watched tandem to fully appreciate them. I love the final cut but still prefer the first version with the narration overall.
But he has like four eyes. Little hover-bot eyes. He's like a spider. He should be able to spin a proper web.
