This is the 2nd time we got a sequel to a 30 year old property and the 2nd time, it succeeded the original.
I mean, this film just works far better. The ideas are more ambitious, yet more refined. What it wants to challenge the viewer can be completely glossed over in favor of an more solid story than the OG. It's ambiguous, but it's ambiguity isn't an in your face type like the original one. Denis is the real fucking deal. It really had no right to be as good as it was, but the film just fucking works on every level better from a characterization, story, and directional point.
The only thing I feel the original had over it was the setting and music. The score is not better and the original had more style, largely by being the pioneer and not trying to ape it. That's not a bash at all against 2049. They had something fucking excellent shots, but the OG simply did much of it first.
What surprised me the most was Gosling as K. His character had a completely arc. A full fledged arc of seeing himself become more human and his desire, only to take it away, but still finding a way to be "human". Joi added so much to it.
Honestly, I'm just going to rave about it for a while.
i love BR
2049 might be better
It is. A few things are better with the OG, but 2049 just hits much higher. It's amazing how they manage to make a film that is more ambitious with it's ideas, but a more cohesive and clear film to follow. Which was always the weakest part of the OG.
2049 works as a film you can watch on a basic level as a thriller. Then watch completely backwards, picking apart all the concepts it's bringing up with full realized characters incorporating them.