• Adventurous
• Intense

‘Blade Runner 2049’

I totally missed Blade Runner 2049 when it was first released way back in 2017. Being a fan of Denis Villeneuve’s work, though, and inspired by having my god damm mind blown by Dune, I dialed this up on HBO Max and guess what? It blew my god damn mind, too! The aesthetic brilliance Villeneuve brings to all features is on full, glorious display here — all of that $150MM budget is right there on screen for you to pore over. I was surprised how engrossed I became with the plot, too, especially having never seen the original 1982 version (it’s one of my cultural blind spots, but I did read Philip K. Dick’s source novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? many, many moons ago). Ryan Gosling’s stoicism suits him well here, and both Ana de Armas and Sylvia Hoeks leap off the screen.