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

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Okay, I saw it the day before yesterday in a great theater, great sound and the chair moved around, it was pretty good.

I really like the female characters. But I have to admit in some moments I actually slept, not kidding. My sister had to wake me up. It is a good movie but I feel there should have been a little more variety to the pace. Also in the theater that soundtrack wasn't pleasant. I can understand the value but at times it literally disturbed the shit out of me in rather calm moments. I also felt it took itself a little too seriously. But then I'm not a fan of the saga.
 
One thing I wasnt clear on, how did K get the memory? Was he the only one or did other replicants have it?

Ana Stelline makes memories for Wallace corp. One of the however many memories she shipped was one of her own. Wallace corp implants memories into replicants. Probably fit to purpose. So, basically "random", although maybe there's something about the memory that is deemed to "work" for a replicant model meant for being a Blade Runner?
 

JB1981

Member
I'm waiting for the Blu-ray, but I think the working hypothesis is that it's evidence that it was Gaff who ripped out the pages showing the records of Rick and Rachael's child. Like the unicorn symbolism in Blade Runner, this would be a clue visible only to the audience.

Gaff made a sheep not a horse. How would the ashtray connect back to him?
 
I've just ordered this baby on amazon.co.uk. 4 Disc Special edition, with 4K final cut, regular final cut, director's cut and work print.
71KpqbFgc4L._SX522_.jpg
 

Theodoricos

Member
I've just ordered this baby on amazon.co.uk. 4 Disc Special edition, with 4K final cut, regular final cut, director's cut and work print.
*snip*

Jealous! Though I'm not a fan of the unicorn addition in later editions of the movie, that origami has become rather symbolic of Blade Runner and it makes for a really pretty and minmalistic cover.

I just have the regular Final Cut version on Blu-Ray, but at least it comes with the wonderful Dangerous Days documentary that I'd recommend to any Blade Runner fan who hasn't seen it yet.
 
One thing I wasnt clear on, how did K get the memory? Was he the only one or did other replicants have it?

Stelline manufactured the memory, it was implanted into K by the Wallace Corporation at the time of his manufacture. We don't know how many other Nexus 9 (Nexus Dawns) also had the memory, it could have been ALL of them, it could have been just the blade runner replicants like K, it could have been a percentage of all Nexus 9's (like some PS4s come from China, some from Mexico!). For example we don't know if Luv had it as well, although I think she sees the horse at least once but never shows any interest in it.

Some people said the prostitute Mariette had the memory as well but I'm not sure about it, I saw the movie again yesterday and in the scene in the apartment after sex she picks up the horse, murmurs "real wood!" but doesn't look under the horse for the date. You'd think looking for the date would be the key thing anyone with the memory has. But then Freysa tells K later "Oh, you thought that was your memory? We all wish it was us." which was a WEIRD thing to say. There is no way Freysa has the memory, Stelline is too young for her memories to be implanted into Freysa and other Nexus 8 models. So by "we" she must mean the other replicants in the rebellion, which implies Nexus 9 models are part of the rebellion. Which again is WEIRD, because... how are they part of the rebellion? Is K the first one to "wake" up because of the horse memory? If not, how the heck does it trigger rebellion in other Nexus 9s? I don't think this is really ever satisfactorily answered, and in many ways conflicts heavily with the heavy conditioning we see Luv face, as she brutally murders people and is capable of lying to Wallace but still does it all under the geas of obeying his command, "bring me the child".

Another interesting thing I picked up in my third viewing: Wallace just "shows up" on Earth from off world, as Luv greets him with a sort of "welcome back to Earth" message. That got me to wondering, what if Wallace has figured out a way to beam human consciousness, digitally, into replicant bodies but a side effect is blindness. He is working to perfect replicants so they can reproduce but also wants them to serve as hosts for human immortality. That sort of conflicts with his idea of trillions of self-reproducing replicants populating the entire universe, but then again if regular people can just beam themselves into replicant bodies it works just as well, especially if one person can occupy a thousand, a million, or a billion replicant bodies all at once. Heck, he could be enough of a sociopath that he intends for 100% of all replicants to house his mind.
 
Bautista was a Nexus 8, yes? But he was also there for the birth of Rachel's child, which was like a little over a year after the first film. Rachel was a Nexus 6 which was the latest model at the time.

So we had Nexus 7 and Nexus 8 in the span of 16 months, and then Nexus Dawn for the next 30 years?
 
I don't think there is any way that Rachael isn't a Nexus 7 prototype, with that line being essentially lost when Tyrell died. Because according to the timeline, they started Nexus 8 production in 2020, with the prohibition taking place in 2023. Nexus 9 production starting in 2036.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Bautista was a Nexus 8, yes? But he was also there for the birth of Rachel's child, which was like a little over a year after the first film. Rachel was a Nexus 6 which was the latest model at the time.

So we had Nexus 7 and Nexus 8 in the span of 16 months, and then Nexus Dawn for the next 30 years?

Rachel was very likely a Nexus 7. And yes, Nexus 8s went into production very quickly after the first movie. Nexus Dawn was something waaaay later.
 

JB1981

Member
I don't think there is any way that Rachael isn't a Nexus 7 prototype, with that line being essentially lost when Tyrell died. Because according to the timeline, they started Nexus 8 production in 2020, with the prohibition taking place in 2023. Nexus 9 production starting in 2036.

It says it right on her serial number. N7
 

Tuorom

Neo Member
But then Freysa tells K later "Oh, you thought that was your memory? We all wish it was us." which was a WEIRD thing to say. There is no way Freysa has the memory, Stelline is too young for her memories to be implanted into Freysa and other Nexus 8 models. So by "we" she must mean the other replicants in the rebellion, which implies Nexus 9 models are part of the rebellion. Which again is WEIRD, because... how are they part of the rebellion? Is K the first one to "wake" up because of the horse memory?

Maybe that line means that every replicant wants to be that special person, not that they all have this one memory. Which would fit in with the whole arc of K.

Every replicant wants to be special, they all wish they were meaningful, but they all find out that no, they aren't some kind of saviour they are just replicants BUT they can choose to have an impact, to make a difference, that to die for something you believe in is the most human thing you can do, and this gives meaning to their lives.

Like replicants are treated like objects devoid of any consciousness, just tools, but we know they are nearly identical in intelligence to humans. So they have to learn to realize that they have a consciousness, they have to learn that "I think, therefore I am" and that they can have meaning in their lives, just like how humans search for meaning in our own meaningless lives of working for someone else to make them money.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
I've just ordered this baby on amazon.co.uk. 4 Disc Special edition, with 4K final cut, regular final cut, director's cut and work print.

I don't know if you had the regular blu ray before this, but definitely check out all the making of stuff if you haven't before. All very interesting.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Maybe that line means that every replicant wants to be that special person, not that they all have this one memory. Which would fit in with the whole arc of K.

Yeah, I have to watch it again (for the third time), but I don't think Freysa ever references the memory. She just reads K after he's surprised that it was a girl and realizes that he thought he was the child. (Again, I have to watch that section again.) I also took her comment to mean that everyone wished they were the special one, the miracle child, but even if they aren't, they can strive to be more than they are through sacrifice to a greater cause.
 

Blade30

Unconfirmed Member
I watched it again yesterday and I love the movie even more, it's quite rare for me to watch the same movie again in a span of days or weeks but this movie is sure one the few movies I could re-watch forever without getting bored (I have the urge to watch it again).

I have to say that the soundtrack is really growing on me especially the main theme that has different variations (2049, Sapper's Tree, Memory, Someone Lived this, Sea Wall). Honestly, I find it was a good choice that its different than the Vangelis score but still being familiar to the Blade Runner world and the original soundtrack because this score really fits to Joe's Perspective about his humanity/life and Purpose.

Maybe that line means that every replicant wants to be that special person, not that they all have this one memory. Which would fit in with the whole arc of K.
Yeah, I have to watch it again (for the third time), but I don't think Freysa ever references the memory. She just reads K after he's surprised that it was a girl and realizes that he thought he was the child. (Again, I have to watch that section again.) I also took her comment to mean that everyone wished they were the special one, the miracle child, but even if they aren't, they can strive to be more than they are through sacrifice to a greater cause.

Yeah that's how I understood it as well.
 

majik13

Member
really loved the movie, sound track could have been more memorable, but felt like it stayed somewhat consistent with the original, but not as bold or unique as Vangelis work. Though Ive listend to the soundtrack countless times, so maybe it needs to grow on me. Still pretty good nonetheless.

Little irks I found was, wouldnt the Wallace company be tracking, surveilling or eavesdropping on all their products? Like wouldn't they have remote logs or data on Ks Joi unit? Or even tap into her after K became of interest to them, and get all the data from her remotely?

Also, when Wallaces replicant goes to the LAPD 2 separate times, wouldnt they have some sort of security, security cameras, guards, locked doors etc, that would have hindered her, and on that point, wouldn't there at least be some sort of protection for Joshi, or a silent alarm?

I mean its the future, id imagine pervasive surveillance and security would be pretty prominent, especially with the whole main plot point of tracking down replicants, and advanced technology.
 

Blade30

Unconfirmed Member
Little irks I found was, wouldnt the Wallace company be tracking, surveilling or eavesdropping on all their products? Like wouldn't they have remote logs or data on Ks Joi unit? Or even tap into her after K became of interest to them?

Yes they do and that's the reason why Joi insisted being removed/deleted from the home console and that the antenna of her remote device is to be destroyed.
 

majik13

Member
Yes they do and that's the reason why Joi insisted being removed/deleted from the home console and that the antenna of her remote device is to be destroyed.

Ah yeah forgot about the antenna thing, but wasnt that a bit well after K was of interest to them? As I understood it, it seemed the antenna was just for tracking purposes.and they destroyed the home data, as that was the Wallace CO only other access to the data.
Leading up to all that, they were tracking K, and wanted info on him, and on thechild, he had info they didnt have, he lies to Joshi about what he and Joi know, K develops a plan to leave, then they finally break the antenna iirc. If they had remote access that whole time, wouldnt they have already been tapping into it, during that period?
 
Why were the Nexus 8 not given a predetermined life span?
It sounds like models 7&8 were the first ones with implanted memories and a normal lifespan, and Tyrell was trying to make them more human. The 6s had a short lifespan because they did not develop emotions normally and lacked empathy and were therefore dangerous (at least ostensibly, in light of the plot of the first Blade Runner). Implanting memories seems to have been the fix to that problem which is why the Voight-Kampff test no longer works (measured empathy) and the lifespan limit was retired.
 
Why were the Nexus 8 not given a predetermined life span?

For Nexus 6, they were designed for shorter life span, but when Roy was talking to Tyrell, it sounded like Tyrell was trying to solve that issue for the series. Though Tyrell seemed to care somewhat about replicants compared to most people such as Wallace. So it seems to be solved by the time 8 rolls around and I think they would implement that because having a slave with a longer shelf life would be much more useful than a shorter one. Especially since it is a space faring civilization that needs lots of labor, trying to constantly make and transport them to different planets sounds extremely costly and resource intensive. Even Wallace says that he can't make enough and he helped expand even further than when Nexus 8 was in production.
 

Driw3r

Unconfirmed Member
Saw it. Better than the original. Gosling and Leto were great. Music was mostly good but there were couple tracks which were annoying. The best movie of this year, so far, for me. Yes, slow but good atmosphere and characters, also story caught me off guard few times.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
For Nexus 6, they were designed for shorter life span, but when Roy was talking to Tyrell, it sounded like Tyrell was trying to solve that issue for the series. Though Tyrell seemed to care somewhat about replicants compared to most people such as Wallace. So it seems to be solved by the time 8 rolls around and I think they would implement that because have basically a slave have a longer shelf life would be much more useful than a shorter one. Especially since it is a space faring civilization that needs lots of labor, trying to constantly make and transport them to different planets sounds extremely costly and resource intensive. Even Wallace says that he can't make enough and he helped expand even further than when Nexus 8 was in production.

Yeah this makes sense to me on a speculative level. Planned obsolescence would be desirable if the market is saturated and one needs a way to sell more product. But in the BR universe, there is an exponential demand of labour for space colonization, so a durable long lasting replicant with an uncapped lifespan would be best.
 

JB1981

Member
If I were to have a criticism of the plotting/pacing in this movie it would be in the scenes immediately following K failing his Baseline. The movie feels like the screws are turning, and things will heat up with K on the run. But he doesn't go on the run or disappear. Instead he goes him and .... spends the night with Joi. He's in no rush to get moving and find safe quarter. It feels weird and the sex scene is out of place considering the kind of danger K's in at that point
 
If I were to have a criticism of the plotting/pacing in this movie it would be in the scenes immediately following K failing his Baseline. The movie feels like the screws are turning, and things will heat up with K on the run. But he doesn't go on the run or disappear. Instead he goes him and .... spends the night with Joi. He's in no rush to get moving and find safe quarter. It feels weird and the sex scene is out of place considering the kind of danger K's in at that point
He wasn't in any danger yet though. Joshi got him out of the station and he had a grace period to return to normal before his next baseline (which, presumably, he'd fail and then be retired). He wasn't in any imminent danger until he decided to run. He knew he would fail and couldn't go back, but he had the night to chill.
 

Corpsepyre

Banned
Watched it a second time. Magnificent, otherworldly, fucking awesome!

We need more similar films of high caliber science fiction.
 

Theodoricos

Member
He wasn't in any danger yet though. Joshi got him out of the station and he had a grace period to return to normal before his next baseline (which, presumably, he'd fail and then be retired). He wasn't in any imminent danger until he decided to run. He knew he would fail and couldn't go back, but he had the night to chill.

That and now that K was way off Baseline anyway, it's natural that his thought process leads him to doing something that he actually wants to do for a change, not just what he has to or what he needs to. Finding out about him being born was like a dam breaking, in a way.

And at that point, as someone who just got out of the shackles he was in, he needed to be motivated by a purpose. And until he finds one following Joi's "death", Joi was his motivation, I feel.
 
Finally saw this movie today. Was one of five people in the theater.

Goddamn, I've been waiting a long time for that kind of movie. Heavy on video and audio stimulation, and really really great at carrying a slow but active pace. This Denis guy is a damn solid director.
 
Finally saw this movie today. Was one of five people in the theater.

Goddamn, I've been waiting a long time for that kind of movie. Heavy and video and audio stimulation, and really really great at carrying a slow but active pace. This Denis guy is a damn solid director.

The other day I picked up a DVD of his only other SF film, Arrival (2016). It's a really beautifully told story, too. I like to joke that it's the best ever SF film about the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. But it's really one of the greatest SF films ever made, no bullshit.
 
EW article/photoset detailing the work to get the Rachel scene to work - http://ew.com/movies/blade-runner-2...original-rachael-from-blade-runner-sean-young

Sean Young worked with them doing it and her kid worked on the film as a PA.

I dunno why but it really makes me happy that both Harrison Ford and Sean Young got some sort of closure with Blade Runner 2049. Notoriously both didn't like filming on the original movie, didn't like working with Ridley Scott, didn't like working with each other, and didn't like talking about the movie after it came out. Seems like they both have come to peace with it though and 2049 seems to be a positive experience for both, which is fantastic.

I guess Rutger Hauer has nothing but great things to say about it so he never needed any return, although it woulda been a cool cameo to have a frozen Roy Batty or something as an easter egg.
 
The other day I picked up a DVD of his only other SF film, Arrival (2016). It's a really beautifully told story, too. I like to joke that it's the best ever SF film about the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. But it's really one of the greatest SF films ever made, no bullshit.

His other stuff is great too, by the way. Quite diverse too. My favorite director working these days.
 

Rydeen

Member
I guess Rutger Hauer has nothing but great things to say about it so he never needed any return, although it woulda been a cool cameo to have a frozen Roy Batty or something as an easter egg.

I remember a rumor from years ago about one of the possible plots for a Blade Runner sequel being that the replicant resistance was inspired by Roy Batty and see him as a messianic figure. Wouldn't surprise me if it was a Ridley Scott idea and Hampton Fancher had his own ideas for the story treatment that's closer to the final film.
 

Robot Pants

Member
Saw it for a third and final time today before it comes to Blu Ray.

I still stand by my statement that the movie is PERFECT up until the MOMENT K meets Deckard.
Let me also say Jared Leto is so fucking awful in this movie I can’t believe it. His first scene I can stomach because everything in the first two hours is so god damn good. Even though he sucks, I still say the first two hours are perfect.

After that it takes a dip down quite a ways and never really recovers until we see K in front of the Joi advertisement. And then it resumes being perfect again.

The fight in the old casino with the malfunctioning holograms feels very jarring to me now. It doesn’t flow well with the movie at all. It was a neat concept I suppose but there was no tension to go with the silence. It either needed to be cut completely, had some sort of music, or lengthened to add tension to it.
And where does that shot come from that almost hits K? We never get any indication that Deckard knows where he is, and suddenly he comes 2 inches from shooting him in the head? No way we are supposed to believe that was a random shot.
Also the derp comic relief of them standing between the Elvis hologram talking about getting a drink was very out of place.
I honestly think that whole section of them meeting needed to be rewritten.

Next is the dumb Freza reveal. It would have been fine if they could have stayed away from making an underground resistance/army. And just focused on them being more than just slaves. Why does it have to be an army? And why on EARTH would Deckard daughter lead it? She doesn’t know any of these people, why would she give a shit?
I understand that Freza would obviously tell her of her importance when the time comes and convince her she is special, but i hated that they reduced it into a cliched army rebellion. And of course the line “more human than humans” has to go completely.

Theeeen comes my biggest problem with the whole movie - the second Wallace scene. God damn where do I start? This whole scene needed to be scrapped and rewritten. It doesn’t help that Jared Leto is putting all the wrong emphasis on his lines. The lines themselves aren’t bad, but he makes it very confusing as to what the point of this scene is. He’s trying to convince Deckard to give up the location of the girl or any clues to where he can find her without resorting to torture. So he walks out the clone of Rachael that looks like Ted Cruz. I just think this was a terrible idea all together and poorly executed. The CGI, Rachael’s lines, Jared Leto. I’ve come to HATE this scene and it’s easily the low point in the movie.

Then we see K in front of the Joi advertisement and all is well again until the end.

It’s a very very good movie that probably would have been better without any ties to the original (I would have been fine with that). K’s story is fantastic but the other crap just gets in the way.
However all in all it does so much SO well it’s hard to not love the movie. If people can wave off the ridiculous stuff in the first movie and call it their favorite and a masterpiece, I certainly can do it for a movie that does everything better.

And it pains me so much that David Bowie didn't get to play Wallace. God how much better this would have been.
 
Saw it for a third and final time today before it comes to Blu Ray.

I agree with all you wrote and I liked the movie to pay 50 bucks to see it twice (Australia movie ticket prices for big screens are insane).

Jared Leto detracted and his floatIng clicking stones had to do the heavy lifting. He had to act without eyes and I think that was a bridge too far.
Harrison Ford was just a grumpy old man, then a plot device. The underground resistance scene I disconnected from it first time and second time too, I still have only the most vague memories of the lines spoken there. The plot was strangled a bit, perhaps by the constraints of having to fit with the original.

Everything else was awesome! That's a lot of awesome. just a minor shame two or three key things didn't quite work.
 

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Getting urges to see this in theatres again.

Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max are the only movies I want to buy a 4K Bluray for.
 
I don't know if you had the regular blu ray before this, but definitely check out all the making of stuff if you haven't before. All very interesting.
I have UK's version of final cut, but I never did check its bonus content (if it had any, it was a BD-25 disc).

This UK UHD version has Dangerous Days on BD instead of DVD like other regions, I'll definitely check it out.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
I want a robot girlfriend. That shit is fucking awesome.




This is also the second most beautiful film I've ever seen.
 

Fjordson

Member
Just got out of it.

That was incredible. I have so many thoughts and am a bit exhausted and have to be up for work in 6 hours, but it was so good.

The ties to the original were amazing. Other than Deckard’s presence because of Ford being in the trailers and marketing, I didn’t know anything about the plot. When they first played the clip of Deckard interrogating Rachael I got chills. Something about hearing that was so neat, partially because I had no idea it was coming I guess. But my jaw dropped. I loved how much it involved Rachael and Deckard.

And it made sense. Deckard wasn’t just shoved in so they could have Harrison Ford in it. It all fit together well imo.

The new characters were good also. Gosling, Leto and Sylvia Hoeks were all great.

I’m rambling, but yeah - it was amazing. Need to see it again in theaters.
 

Xun

Member
Getting urges to see this in theatres again.

Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max are the only movies I want to buy a 4K Bluray for.
I had a free cinema ticket so I'll be seeing it again this Sunday.

I'm looking forward to analysing it more this time around.
 
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