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Blade Runner 2049 |OT| Do Androids Dream of Electric Boogaloo? [Unmarked Spoilers]

Cheebo

Banned
bjZay2p.png


two of my favorite filmmakers in one picture

Why....why does his jersey have IMDB on it.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
The most we got in the previous films was snakes and owls. It's never hinted at that it could be something that small.

I just want to say this is a tiny, tiny leap to make in a sci-fi setting like BR. The bees immediately stood out as replicant tech because, imo, the context makes it obvious.
 
I just want to say this is a tiny, tiny leap to make in a sci-fi setting like BR. The bees immediately stood out as replicant tech because, imo, the context makes it obvious.

The director does say that these are bees. He doesn't explicitly state they are replicants.
 
Deckard is a character who gave up his own daughter and the last 20 years of his life, to make sure she wasn't found. He's done a really good job so far. Why keep bees?

Why not keep bees? He has remained undiscovered for 20 years so far. What is a hive of bees gonna do exactly, that a power-reading or whatever from a building isn't?

He's supposed to be in a irradiated and abandoned zone. No one's gonna notice a beehive, unless they're specifically looking for him in that exact spot. In which case, he can still escape in a myriad of ways.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
The director does say that these are bees. He doesn't explicitly state they are replicants.

We can very safely assume that they are given the state of the world and other animals made with the tech. Especially as they seem to be thriving in a hostile/barren environment.
 
Why not keep bees? He has remained undiscovered for 20 years so far. What is a hive of bees gonna do exactly, that a power-reading or water from a building isn't?

He's supposed to be in a irradiated and abandoned zone. No one's gonna notice a beehive, unless they're specifically looking for him in that exact spot. In which case, he can still escape in a myriad of ways.

I did say earlier that his character has given up decades of his life to hide. This level of risk taking is pretty suicidal when the only people who will come to the wasteland are the people looking for him. That's what my problem was.

That said @ReplacementPelican makes a good point about the bees being the question Deckard asked Rachel. So the better reason is that he misses her so much that keeps bees to keep her memory close.
 
We can very safely assume that they are given the state of the world and other animals made with the tech. Especially as they seem to be thriving in a hostile/barren environment.

Yeah but now we get into the nitpicking logic break down.

If you have fake bees, why do they need feeders to make honey? Wouldn't it be better to just have a machine that makes honey? Why even design and build bees in that case?
 

Window

Member
Deckard keeping a beehive because he once asked Rachel about wasps out of almost a 100 questions which means they remind him of her is a better reason?
 

Cheebo

Banned
Yeah but now we get into the nitpicking logic break down.

If you have fake bees, why do they need feeders to make honey? Wouldn't it be better to just have a machine that makes honey? Why even design and build bees in that case?

How would "machines make honey"? Replicants aren't robotic remember, they are flesh and blood just like us. Just synthesized.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Yeah but now we get into the nitpicking logic break down.

If you have fake bees, why do they need feeders to make honey? Wouldn't it be better to just have a machine that makes honey? Why even design and build bees in that case?

Because they're trying to restore the world. Animals give people hope. Plus you can sell them. All sorts of reasons.

Deckard keeping a beehive because he once asked Rachel about wasps out of almost a 100 questions which means they remind him of her is a better reason?

Yeh this just doesn't sound plausible.

He wanted food, he found some replicant tech, he utilised it.
 
It's really a moot point. It's like asking why Sapper grew garlic. It really doesn't matter. It serves its purpose, however minute it is.

Although, I suppose by your logic KarneeKarnay, they should have saved us a few seconds and left the garlic part out too.

All we know for sure is that Villeneuve added the bees to provide a glimmer of hope as it relates to the state of the world. And probably to go with the theme of fertility.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
The bees aren't that important, it seems a really weird nitpick.

At a very basic level, they represent life in a barren place. Hope. Much like the child of Rachel.

They're also clearly replicant tech, so they're false hope maybe?

They also fit with the theme on hands that has been written about numerous times ITT.

In the book real animals are a sign of status so Tyrell's owl could possibly be real (unless I'm forgetting that we know it was fake)

It was fake. Deckard asked Rachel and she said "Of course it is".
 
Some questions I had, apologies if they've been answered a million times:

  1. Replicants are all biological, i.e. no metal or plastic, so how can they perform their feats of strength and take such damage while looking exactly like a regular human? And wouldn't the physiological diferences necessary to those feats be extremely easy to spot in any kind of scan, thus not requiring the other tests to identify a replicant?
  2. Why did K have Deckard's daughter's memories? She obviously wouldn't have put her own very emotional memories into other people/replicants
  3. After distancing himself from Rachel and his daughter for decades to keep them safe, why does Deckard just waltz right up to her place of work in LA at the end, after Wallace and his goons have tracked and found him and K already?
  4. I thought new replicants were safe because they obeyed? It doesn't seem like any of them obey. K doesn't and neither does Love. The rest of the replicants we see are almost unanimously rebels.
  5. Why was no one in Vegas when it seems like it was perfectly safe? People would rather live in the giant junkyard where the orphanage was than in swanky Vegas high-rises?
  6. Why is Love able to waltz in and murder the chief of police with no consequences?
  7. Wasn't the blackout only in LA? Wouldn't all records still be available elsewhere? Or did that one nuke over LA somehow EMP the whole planet?
  8. If replicants are totally biological then why is it so hard to figure out how to make them fertile? Aren't they basically just human clones + improvements?
  9. Why did K's car suddenly have missiles and why would that even be a thing? Or was this some super-car the rebels hooked him up with?
 

Window

Member
The film's shots of hands and Gosling's presence really reminded me of Only God Forgives (and so did some of the lighting).
 
It's really a moot point. It's like asking why Sapper grew garlic. It really doesn't matter. It serves its purpose, however minute it is.

Although, I suppose by your logic KarneeKarnay, they should have saved us a few seconds and left the garlic part out too.

All we know for sure is that Villeneuve added the bees to provide a glimmer of hope as it relates to the state of the world. And probably to go with the theme of fertility.

Herb is not the same as bee. A bee is much more complex and takes much more time to create than a herb. No scientific breakthroughs are required to make someone that can make honey out of nothing. Let alone to make it a bee that does it.

Time and resources have to go into making a synthetic bee, make honey. Herb takes like a pinking worth of effort in comparison.

EDIT;

Just to clarify my problem was with the scene originally. The scene had the bees so it was included in the problem. Whether bee is a replicant was never really on my list of problems.
 
Some questions I had, apologies if they've been answered a million times:

  1. Replicants are all biological, i.e. no metal or plastic, so how can they perform their feats of strength and take such damage while looking exactly like a regular human? And wouldn't the physiological diferences necessary to those feats be extremely easy to spot in any kind of scan, thus not requiring the other tests to identify a replicant?
  2. Why did K have Deckard's daughter's memories? She obviously wouldn't have put her own very emotional memories into other people/replicants
  3. After distancing himself from Rachel and his daughter for decades to keep them safe, why does Deckard just waltz right up to her place of work in LA at the end, after Wallace and his goons have tracked and found him and K already?
  4. I thought new replicants were safe because they obeyed? It doesn't seem like any of them obey. K doesn't and neither does Love. The rest of the replicants we see are almost unanimously rebels.
  5. Why was no one in Vegas when it seems like it was perfectly safe? People would rather live in the giant junkyard where the orphanage was than in swanky Vegas high-rises?
  6. Why is Love able to waltz in and murder the chief of police with no consequences?
  7. Wasn't the blackout only in LA? Wouldn't all records still be available elsewhere? Or did that one nuke over LA somehow EMP the whole planet?
  8. If replicants are totally biological then why is it so hard to figure out how to make them fertile? Aren't they basically just human clones + improvements?
  9. Why did K's car suddenly have missiles and why would that even be a thing? Or was this some super-car the rebels hooked him up with?
1) They’re genetically enhanced beings.
2) That’s exactly what she did. That’s why those memories were the most powerful and effecting, because she based them in reality and her actual experiences and emotions
3) They think he’s dead. He can disappear again, like he did all those years ago
4) Says a lot about how humans perceive replicants, doesn’t it?
5) Radioactive doesn’t mean instantly deadly, like a video game. People have lived in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone for decades
6) Megacorps that basically control humanity’s survival have nothing to fear from local authorities
7) The design behind reproduction was lost with Tyrell’s death and the blackout. It’s not a simple thing
8) K’s car always had that. Just like it had the drone tech and such.
 
Some questions I had, apologies if they've been answered a million times:

  1. Replicants are all biological, i.e. no metal or plastic, so how can they perform their feats of strength and take such damage while looking exactly like a regular human? And wouldn't the physiological diferences necessary to those feats be extremely easy to spot in any kind of scan, thus not requiring the other tests to identify a replicant?
  2. Why did K have Deckard's daughter's memories? She obviously wouldn't have put her own very emotional memories into other people/replicants
  3. After distancing himself from Rachel and his daughter for decades to keep them safe, why does Deckard just waltz right up to her place of work in LA at the end, after Wallace and his goons have tracked and found him and K already?
  4. I thought new replicants were safe because they obeyed? It doesn't seem like any of them obey. K doesn't and neither does Love. The rest of the replicants we see are almost unanimously rebels.
  5. Why was no one in Vegas when it seems like it was perfectly safe? People would rather live in the giant junkyard where the orphanage was than in swanky Vegas high-rises?
  6. Why is Love able to waltz in and murder the chief of police with no consequences?
  7. Wasn't the blackout only in LA? Wouldn't all records still be available elsewhere? Or did that one nuke over LA somehow EMP the whole planet?
  8. If replicants are totally biological then why is it so hard to figure out how to make them fertile? Aren't they basically just human clones + improvements?
  9. Why did K's car suddenly have missiles and why would that even be a thing? Or was this some super-car the rebels hooked him up with?

Ana is putting her memories into the replicants.

Deckard only distanced himself to a point then his couldn't find her because of the blackout. K is gonna make it seem like Deckard drowned in the crashed spinner.

They are meant to obey but Wallace is hitting the same problem as Tyrell did but I think this is Ana's doing.

Because the desert has overrun it and someone set off a dirty bomb there.

The blackout ruined Tyrells and the local governemnts records.

They aren't clones.

It didn't have missiles just a machine gun and he was a policeman.
 

Skeletron

Member
Some questions I had, apologies if they've been answered a million times:

  1. After distancing himself from Rachel and his daughter for decades to keep them safe, why does Deckard just waltz right up to her place of work in LA at the end, after Wallace and his goons have tracked and found him and K already?
Yeah I was wondering this as well. And K just kicks the bucket right on the steps out front. Like, they sure are making it easy if anyone were still tracking them at all.

Oh right, I suppose it looks like Deckard died in the spinner crash. And the daughter mentioned she very rarely gets visitors. Still seems risky.
 
Tyrell should have been able to afford a real owl! It was probably by choice given how much he likes all things artificial.

I think in the script it actually was a real owl, but they were concerned the audience might wonder why an artificial owl is more expensive than a real one and they wanted to show off Tyrell's technology, or something like that.
 
Tyrell should have been able to afford a real owl! It was probably by choice given how much he likes all things artificial.

This is also very true, and after reading some more comments Im not sure if the bees were replicants. Im very new to blade runner fiction, but I love how the movies treat the watcher with respect. They dont feel the need to beat the concept of what is personhood and who deserves it over our head. They introudce the concept, they use it when neccesarry, and then they leave the rest for the watcher to ponder. Its really good stuff!
 

Window

Member
Lots of people have! There's been a lot of discussion surrounding the important differences between Samantha and Joi too.
 

Woz

Member
Some questions I had, apologies if they've been answered a million times:

  1. Why was no one in Vegas when it seems like it was perfectly safe? People would rather live in the giant junkyard where the orphanage was than in swanky Vegas high-rises?

It's mentioned in the movie that radiation has lowered to safe levels.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Some questions I had, apologies if they've been answered a million times:

  1. Replicants are all biological, i.e. no metal or plastic, so how can they perform their feats of strength and take such damage while looking exactly like a regular human? And wouldn't the physiological diferences necessary to those feats be extremely easy to spot in any kind of scan, thus not requiring the other tests to identify a replicant?


  1. The tech is never truly explained, but we know from the VK test that conventional testing simply doesn't work.

    So we're lead to believe that a blood test, or skin sample, etc... would be pointless.

    It's future tech, genetic engineering, we can buy it because it's science fiction and the universe remains consistent with how it treats them. I don't think it's important to understand the exacts of the science.

    [*]Why did K have Deckard's daughter's memories? She obviously wouldn't have put her own very emotional memories into other people/replicants

    Ana told us she spent most of her life in containment. She used much of that time to imagine a life, and because of her developed sense of imagination she became adept at producing fake memories.

    She also put a little of her own memories into her work, sometimes she put whole memories in there. This is what made her memories so vivid and desired by Wallace.

    She's also a replicant/human hybrid which could have tones of unspoken benefit here.

    [*]After distancing himself from Rachel and his daughter for decades to keep them safe, why does Deckard just waltz right up to her place of work in LA at the end, after Wallace and his goons have tracked and found him and K already?

    The revolution.

    It doesn't matter now, the world is about to go to war. The replicants will have Ana to hold up as a torch. No longer any need to hide.

    Plus they just killed Luv and a bunch of Wallace's goons, plus Deckard and K were apparently dead, they had some time before another one of Wallace's goons could infiltrate the LAPD, track his vehicle, and reach their destination.



    [*]I thought new replicants were safe because they obeyed? It doesn't seem like any of them obey. K doesn't and neither does Love. The rest of the replicants we see are almost unanimously rebels.

    Luv obeys. K obeys. Until they start to develop their own emotional responses both obey perfectly. Even then, Luv obeys but simply becomes more fevered and erratic as she tries to prove to Wallace that she's still worth something (after witnessing him kill the new born replicant because it wasn't fertile and "imperfect").

    [*]Why was no one in Vegas when it seems like it was perfectly safe? People would rather live in the giant junkyard where the orphanage was than in swanky Vegas high-rises?

    It's still a hostile environment and people live together in cities for the same reason they do now.: perceived safety in numbers, security. I'm sure there were scattered settlements in areas like Vegas, much like the child labour farm and the scavengers K encounters.

    Plus people will have jobs, lives, etc... We saw an abundance of alcohol and some bees, but I doubt there was enough food or rescources out there to sustain a large amount of people.

    [*]Why is Love able to waltz in and murder the chief of police with no consequences?

    Both BR and 2049 establish the world as run by megacorps. Given what we know of the first film and the way Wallace conducts his business, it's clear that they have a large degree of pull.

    Plus Luv is fearless, and smart, it's not a stretch to consider she overcame security etc...

    [*] Wasn't the blackout only in LA? Wouldn't all records still be available elsewhere? Or did that one nuke over LA somehow EMP the whole planet?

    I'm not sure if this is ever established, but I don't think it's important to know. All that needs to be said is the blackout happened and all records were destroyed.

    Watch the animated short Blackout, I still need to watch it all perhaps there are more answers there.

    [*]If replicants are totally biological then why is it so hard to figure out how to make them fertile? Aren't they basically just human clones + improvements?

    Again, the tech is never explained. However, think of the complexity of creating these beings. The film makes it clear the process is delicate, time consuming, and expensive already without factoring in a design for self replication.

    I'd imagine, like any other science that's pushing the boundaries, progress is slow and frustrating for years until a breakthrough is made.

    Tryell figured it out but the records were lost, all the progress he'd made over the years.

    [*]Why did K's car suddenly have missiles and why would that even be a thing? Or was this some super-car the rebels hooked him up with?

    His car always had attack capability, he just had no reason to utilise it before that moment.
 

Sanjuro

Member
Thinking I should check out the IMAX version today. 🤔

Also thinking I might have liked this more than the original. 🤔
 

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
That's weird I totally forgot about that scene. The one in 2049 was unnerving, but also strangely beautiful in its alien-ness. It's probably supposed to feel off-putting to us, because it's 3 machines articulating their idea of what sex is. I'll never forget how weird it looks.


If you guys remember, originally they wanted a female protagonist. Makes me think they switched the K/daughter characters at some point.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
I'm going to have to go and see this again tonight. Can't shake it from my mind. Need to get it out of my system so I can start thinking of something other than 2049!
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Anyone else think the idea of the Joi sex scene was taken right from the movie Her?

I don't know, perhaps it was an influence.

It's one of the most beautiful moments in 2049. The way it's filmed isn't playing to titillate, it didn't really convey sexiness or lust, more a tenderness and longing and the infinite space between Luv and K and the hopelessness of their feelings in the society they inhabit and the inescapable events they're being swept along by.

Heartbreaking stuff.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
One thing I like about the cinematography is that they didn't do too many long takes. On the initial flight to LAPD early in the movie they used a long take, but for the next major car scene when they're going to San Diego it is properly cut and edited.

Long takes are cool (Children of Men, True Detective Season 1) but too much is a bad thing.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
It would be nice to rewatch for the cinematography. Just immerse myself in the world without needing to follow the plot.

I don't remember the last time I wanted to rewatch a movie in the theatre. Not even for Mad Max.
 

Ctlead

Banned
It would be nice to rewatch for the cinematography. Just immerse myself in the world without needing to follow the plot.

I don't remember the last time I wanted to rewatch a movie in the theatre. Not even for Mad Max.

Same. I can't stop thinking about it.
 

Sanjuro

Member
It would be nice to rewatch for the cinematography. Just immerse myself in the world without needing to follow the plot.

I don't remember the last time I wanted to rewatch a movie in the theatre. Not even for Mad Max.

Yup. The 4K Laser IMAX is calling me.
 
It would be nice to rewatch for the cinematography. Just immerse myself in the world without needing to follow the plot.

I don't remember the last time I wanted to rewatch a movie in the theatre. Not even for Mad Max.

I've been trying to free up a block of time to see it again. And it is the first bluray/home release that I really can't wait to get my hands on. Also went looking into the art book but it is not readily available.
 
That whole scene was a giant WTF for me. I have issues with the point of this movie, but the film making was impeccable throughout.

It felt really rushed.

1) Where were they going? I think a space port maybe?
2) Why wasn't Leto there? Was he never really on earth? It probably doesn't matter, but as an audience member I would have liked some explenation. It felt like he wasn't there to keep him alive in case there was a sequel.
3) The entire dog fight sequence was weird and needless. Like, these things have missiles on them? But no defenses? Why didn't he use those in San Diego? It was real dumb. He should have just crashed his spinner into theirs and then fought from there.
4) The fight choreography wasn't good. They should have set this fight somewhere else. They didn't play with the waves much at all and the interior fight was far too constrained. It's odd because the Batista fight was fantastic earlier int he movie and the Deckard fight was visually interesting.

That was the one bit of film making in the movie that I thought was just sort of blah.

Really? I thought that fight was awesome and intense. It was the Deckard fight that felt pointless and weak to me.
 
That's weird I totally forgot about that scene. The one in 2049 was unnerving, but also strangely beautiful in its alien-ness. It's probably supposed to feel off-putting to us, because it's 3 machines articulating their idea of what sex is. I'll never forget how weird it looks.

Joe and Mariette are bioengineered, not really machines in the same sense that Joi is a software machine. They appear to be human in all important senses. I found it creepy only in the sense that it's a man using a woman's body like a sex doll, albeit with consent.
 
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