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Blade Runner 2049 |OT| Do Androids Dream of Electric Boogaloo? [Unmarked Spoilers]
- Thread starter Mr. Sam
- Start date
I wonder if the crackly synths from the first teaser were his, was looking forward to more of that.
Moff
Member
I think I didn't get it. I was surpised by the sudden ending. I saw it coming a mile away that K was not the kid, so many obvious hints. Didn't feel anything for Deckard and the daughter.
As a huge Villeneuve and Blade Runner fan, I left the theater very disappointed.
Other surprises were that I loves Leto and the score.
As a huge Villeneuve and Blade Runner fan, I left the theater very disappointed.
Other surprises were that I loves Leto and the score.
More_Badass
Member
This movie did a good job selling how strong Replicants are compared to humans. K's back snap, that brutal neck break, and Morgan smashing K through the wall were intense.
Oh, and seriously, realizing that replicants are biological rather than robotic, really changes how I see the first movie. I had thought it was odd why Batty could feel pain.
Oh, and seriously, realizing that replicants are biological rather than robotic, really changes how I see the first movie. I had thought it was odd why Batty could feel pain.
Wait, you thought they were robotic in the first movie? I guess I went into the first movie knowing that they were biological so they never seemed robotic to me. Feels like a lot of the humanity angle would be way more different if I had thought they were robotic. Interesting.
Bananastand
Member
Glad to hear I wasnt the only one thinking replicants were robots all this time (kinda like the Androids in Alien)!
Ordinaryundone
Member
The big misconception is that they are "artificial", and repeatedly stated to be, but not "mechanical". They are made of grown organs and such. In the first movie you even meet the guy who makes their eyes, stuff like that. Kinda further reinforcing the idea that they aren't really all that different from humans, outside of birth.
broncobuster
Banned
K getting smashed through the wall took me by surprise. I stayed relatively in the dark about plot and character details. It was the moment I learned he was a replicant.
More_Badass
Member
I've been thinking that Blade Runner's story of "what is human" was about androids and their sentience until I read 2049's opening crawl today. Especially considering the title of the original story and how everyone calls them tools and Deckard even compares Replicants to a toaster in the first film
The only reason their brains work different is because they're being "born" into a body that is already an adult, but with the life experiences of a toddler because of the four year lifespan, hence why Roy is as intelligent as an adult of his physicality, but has the emotional maturity of a four year old, that's the whole reason Tyrell was experimenting with giving Rachael implanted memories so the Replicants would have the emotional maturity of human beings of their equal physicality thanks to the implanted memories which give them a history to build their personality and a mature identity.
The Voight Kampf test works because a Replicant with a four year lifespan and the emotional maturity of a four year old will get hung up on the hypothetical questions the VK test presents like Leon did, not understanding that there is no tortoise, you're just meant to answer the question. A four year old will start asking questions about it as though there's a real tortoise at stake, just like Leon does. An adult will have the emotional maturity to understand there is no tortoise at stake.
Dat feel when you realize how incredibly pointless the Voight-Kampf test would be if they were mechanical machines. Why not use an x-ray machine?
More_Badass
Member
I thought it was a kind of Turing Test
The only point of the VK test is to know if the subject is human or replicant.
More_Badass
Member
A Turing test to see if the android had gained emotions, thus showing if they were human or Replicant. Hey, film has been doing "androids with distinct kinds of eyes" for decades, so the VK test looking at the eye and testing responses made sense
Why would a biological organism dream of electric sheep? That title primes you to think of the story in a certain way right from the start.
Ordinaryundone
Member
It is, kind of, or at least inspired by it. At least in the regard that the point of the conversation is to distinguish if you are talking to a human or non-human via tells in their reactions. But it's more a measure of their emotional reactions than their ability to realistically hold a conversation.
Besides, as said before if Replicants were mechanical all you'd need would be a X-ray scanner, or maybe even just a metal detector.
He was trying to make a Replicant with functioning reproductive organs, when he was unable to with that particular Replicant, it was no use to him, a failed experiment.
Isaac Otherworld
Member
Saw this last night. This sums up my thoughts. It should be impossible for Blade Runner 2049 to be as good as it is. It's my film of the year and I adored a ton of movies that came out this year.
Either way, if the replicants had been machines, I just assumed there would be easier ways to determine whether someone is a human or a replicant.
Gotcha
Sure, he's dying, but at that point there was nothing Deckard could do, and K had fulfilled his purpose of reuniting Deckard with his daughter.
Ordinaryundone
Member
Lying in the sense that no, he was literally getting ready to die. Not lying in the sense that he was ok with that.
He can't make enough to conquer the stars. He can make a couple of throwaways without impacting his production too much.
Johnlenham
Member
I was so confused thinking he was some part man part machine and how on earth did rachel have a baby and so on.
Clearly im just a moron
More_Badass
Member
The way they build upon the theme of memories really worked here IMO
Your memories being real or fake, not knowing which, what that means for your sense of self. Think about how much of mindfuck that would be. Always being told those are implanted memories, only to learn they aren't
And of course, in the end, they actually were. K went through one hell of an existential rollercoaster ride this movie
Your memories being real or fake, not knowing which, what that means for your sense of self. Think about how much of mindfuck that would be. Always being told those are implanted memories, only to learn they aren't
And of course, in the end, they actually were. K went through one hell of an existential rollercoaster ride this movie
Your problem is that the movie has very little to do with the book.
I mean, don't get it wrong, I know how you feel. Only until last year it also never crossed my mind that they weren't mechanical. Or rather, the difference never mattered to me. Hadn't even thought about the idea that Replicants are really biological. I felt kinda dumb. But it makes all the sense in the world.
Rumblebones
Banned
I'm not too big on the original Blade Runner but I loved 2049.
Cinematography and score were fantastic, especially in IMAX.
It's nearly 3 hours long and felt like 2, really enjoyed it. Will have to watch it again.
Cinematography and score were fantastic, especially in IMAX.
It's nearly 3 hours long and felt like 2, really enjoyed it. Will have to watch it again.
Personally, I dont see there being any meaningful difference either way. Whether replicants are biological or mechanical, with how they are depicted I cant think of them as anything other than people with personhoods. I suppose replicants being biological makes it possible to also consider them biologically human as well, but for some reason people in the Blade Runner world seem to ascribe some special meaning to being naturally born human. The only relevant question regarding replicants should be if they are people, not if they are human. Because if they are people, it doesnt matter whats inside them.
Right now I feel like BR2049 works very well as a sequel. Im looking forward to watching the original and see if it feels any different knowing everything that happens in this one.
Right now I feel like BR2049 works very well as a sequel. Im looking forward to watching the original and see if it feels any different knowing everything that happens in this one.
well damn, this was quite a movie. Gosling killed this shit. poor K, dude just wanted to be a real boy.
"Blue Fairy, make me a real boy!"
K's Blue Fairy was quite a bit uglier, sadly.
Chained Prometheus
Member
Yeah, K took one hell of a beating in the film, both physically and psychologically. He was such a great, yet tragic protagonist.
Fug Slanderson
Member
I watched it today and really liked it. I couldn't believe nearly 3 hours had passed when it was over. Now I really want to watch the original (I've only seen it once and that was 20 years ago. I didn't really like it, but I was younger and dumber back then, so I'd like to give it another shot). I think I might see this again in the theater. The visual and aural aspects were intoxicating.
Ahh yes, he actually is. I guess he's the only person I didn't quite get. He's also forgotten about by the end. Surely he's overseeing what Luv was up to, surely he should still be a menacing presence at the end and be tracking their movements and working out who the child is... But they just act as if it's a happy ending, he meets his daughter and the menace is over.
I also had a funny thought that how come those running the Replicant companies are always strange philosophical loner types. Makes me laugh imagining Wallace was more like a Don Mattrick or Steve Ballmer type figure.... Now that's a totally different Blade Runner. HAHAHA
therealminime
Member
My biggest complaint about this movie is how everyone is wearing cool costumes (same as the original) and Harrison Ford is just wearing what looks like his "I just rolled out of bed" clothes.
It's like he didn't want to change when he showed up on set day 1 and no one would argue with him.
edit: (aside from that I really loved it)
It's like he didn't want to change when he showed up on set day 1 and no one would argue with him.
edit: (aside from that I really loved it)
broncobuster
Banned
"I'm the better one" or something to that extent, I think.
I really liked the part where Deckard asked "Who am I to you?" and you just kind of have this wave of reliving the adventure, K's hopes, his grab at a soul, his various moments of meaning and relationships that all nearly -- just nearly -- escaped the artifice of his existence. Everything from his relationship with Joi, to thinking he might have had a place in the world that went beyond being a pawn for everyone else.
Once again, it fills that space so well where we come away feeling like it doesn't matter, but it all matters. Deckard is nothing to K, ultimately, but from a certain point of view he is the father he never had, deserved, wanted, and he fought for that hope like he was entitled to it. At least that was my take away. K can die happy because he made himself a part of a narrative that he never thought he could have.
More_Badass
Member
K and Joi worked like a new inverted version of the OG Blade Runner happening within 2049
Where the question is how real/human the feeling of an AI are versus simple programming, rather than the feelings of a Replicant.
It was like an entire other sci-fi movie within the larger one.
Where the question is how real/human the feeling of an AI are versus simple programming, rather than the feelings of a Replicant.
It was like an entire other sci-fi movie within the larger one.
in the first film, Roy spares deckard's life after his god failed to grant him more life. he "gives" deckard what he couldn't have: more life.
in 2049, K discovers that he is not the child, he is not special, he has no soul. Joi shows us what the android dreams of, and it's of human intimacy. having come to terms with that, he, like Roy before him, gives Deckard what K cannot have when he unites him with his daughter. (disobeying the instructions of the replicant revolutionaries, and remember that the chief characteristic of Wallace's replicants is obedience)
there is a lot to think about with this film and i hope this gets you started.
Well said
And I'm sooooooo glad the movie took time for us to have the scenes that we did with them.
Beer Monkey
Member
I need some time to think about the story and let it sink, but the film itself is easily 9/10 for me. It certainly flipped the OG Blade Runner on its head. It's a mirror image in many ways. As far as the sound and visuals, I need no time to think about that. The Atmos mix was stunning and this is probably the most beautiful narrative film shot on digital ever. Very glad I saw the 2.39:1 scope version and not IMAX, the composition was absolutely stunning.
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