We greatly enjoyed the new Blade Runner movie (BR-2049) - but first we ate our broccoli!
Please allow me to explain ....
Broccoli and the movies
As teens we saw Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien(s), E.T and other seminal science fiction movies and over the years different ones of these would crop up for discussions in different ways. Except Blade Runner. At least for me.
I muttered recently that:
Star Wars was like eating ice cream and that
Blade Runner (1982) was like eating broccoli.
The original Blade Runner never worked as a movie for me - seemed labored and a bit avant garde. I would read critics reviews of it, and thinking I missed something and go back and watch it again - and still not like it!
So when the new Blade Runner 2049 was released last week, my wife, son and I agreed to watch the 1982 version first and then see the new one the next evening on the big screen.
We dutifully put it up on our home theater, and did all the reading on "why this was a great movie" kind of reviews.
Then it hit me that the "idea behind the movie" was better than the movie!
Thus the broccoli eating portion of our experience was done. We understood the premise, the universe in which this story operated, and the central dilemma of the characters. We also appreciated much more deeply the, "tears in rain" scene of the original.
Unlike the 1982 one, this second one works well as a movie. The cohesiveness of the plot, the narration, acting and all other aspects of the movie are top notch. I am also a growing fan of the director, Denis Villeneuve. He directed the recent movie, "Arrival" which is terrific and a worthy conceptual sequel to Close Encounter of the Third Kind.
Influences and Re-influences of Blade Runner
Here below, rather than summarize the plot of BR-2049, and risk giving away any spoilers, I would like to share the influences and re-influences of other movies and Blade Runner which were clearly visible as we saw the new one.
Terminator: This is quite an obvious influence.
Influence: The Arnold Schwazenegger character is an inorganic replicant (cyborg) as opposed to an organic replicant. But the story runs well on the basis of a "replicant" amongst us.
Re-influence: The scenes of the Terminator "repairing" itself shows up as literally an homage in the new BR-2049
Never Let Me Go: Kazhuo Ishiguro, the author of this novel, won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature (I'm very satisfied with this outcome ....). The very last page of Never Let Me Go, all by itself, is worthy of the Nobel Prize in my estimation.
Influence: Organic "replicants", aka clones in Never Let Me Go, learn about their fate, just as replicants in the original Blade Runner movie learn about theirs (deep space mining in the case of the original movie).
Re-influence: The dilemma of what a replicant should do once they learn of their situation plays, albeit in a different way in the new Blade Runner.
Ex-Machina: A superb film indeed! Well executed. Surreal and utlimately scary in its after-effect.
Influence: Inorganic replicants know their fate and interact with humans, looking for a way out.
Re-influence: Are the replicants a threat or not a threat? That is the existential question that hangs over the new Blade Runner that clearly derives from Ex-Machina.
Her: Can you pull off a movie with the main character as a voice? Imagine HAL carrying the whole movie in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Influence: Can you have a relationship with a replicant? Is a key question tantalizingly left open in the original Blade Runner.
Re-influence: It hits one in the face seeing Amazon Echo's "Alexa" being fully realized in the the new BR-2049 movie.
Gattaca: Explores how genetic manipulation can create a privileged and under-privileged society.
Influence: The motivation of the main character is the opposite of the original Blade Runner. In Gattaca's case the lead wants to go into outer space.
Re-influence: All the emotions and actions one goes through to be human is very well realized in this new movie.
Minority Report: Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg successful SciFi outing.
Influence: Organic replicants, have an assigned role in society. But can they be misused? (Is there any doubt?!!!)
Re-influence: There is a fair bit of the Tom Cruise character in Ryan Gosling's in the new movie.
On eating Broccoli
Papa Bush 41 famously said, “I do not like broccoli... And I haven’t liked it since I was a
little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United
States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!”
Thirty five years is a long enough period for seminal movies to influence other movies. And in turn influence the original. It is terrific to be able to really enjoy that experience and contemplation.
So, even if seeing the first Blade Runner feels like eating Broccoli, as we all know... it is good for you!
Please allow me to explain ....
Broccoli and the movies
I muttered recently that:
Star Wars was like eating ice cream and that
Blade Runner (1982) was like eating broccoli.
The original Blade Runner never worked as a movie for me - seemed labored and a bit avant garde. I would read critics reviews of it, and thinking I missed something and go back and watch it again - and still not like it!
We dutifully put it up on our home theater, and did all the reading on "why this was a great movie" kind of reviews.
Then it hit me that the "idea behind the movie" was better than the movie!
Thus the broccoli eating portion of our experience was done. We understood the premise, the universe in which this story operated, and the central dilemma of the characters. We also appreciated much more deeply the, "tears in rain" scene of the original.
Unlike the 1982 one, this second one works well as a movie. The cohesiveness of the plot, the narration, acting and all other aspects of the movie are top notch. I am also a growing fan of the director, Denis Villeneuve. He directed the recent movie, "Arrival" which is terrific and a worthy conceptual sequel to Close Encounter of the Third Kind.
Influences and Re-influences of Blade Runner
Here below, rather than summarize the plot of BR-2049, and risk giving away any spoilers, I would like to share the influences and re-influences of other movies and Blade Runner which were clearly visible as we saw the new one.
Terminator: This is quite an obvious influence.
Influence: The Arnold Schwazenegger character is an inorganic replicant (cyborg) as opposed to an organic replicant. But the story runs well on the basis of a "replicant" amongst us.
Re-influence: The scenes of the Terminator "repairing" itself shows up as literally an homage in the new BR-2049
Never Let Me Go: Kazhuo Ishiguro, the author of this novel, won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature (I'm very satisfied with this outcome ....). The very last page of Never Let Me Go, all by itself, is worthy of the Nobel Prize in my estimation.
Influence: Organic "replicants", aka clones in Never Let Me Go, learn about their fate, just as replicants in the original Blade Runner movie learn about theirs (deep space mining in the case of the original movie).
Re-influence: The dilemma of what a replicant should do once they learn of their situation plays, albeit in a different way in the new Blade Runner.
Ex-Machina: A superb film indeed! Well executed. Surreal and utlimately scary in its after-effect.
Influence: Inorganic replicants know their fate and interact with humans, looking for a way out.
Re-influence: Are the replicants a threat or not a threat? That is the existential question that hangs over the new Blade Runner that clearly derives from Ex-Machina.
Her: Can you pull off a movie with the main character as a voice? Imagine HAL carrying the whole movie in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Influence: Can you have a relationship with a replicant? Is a key question tantalizingly left open in the original Blade Runner.
Re-influence: It hits one in the face seeing Amazon Echo's "Alexa" being fully realized in the the new BR-2049 movie.
Gattaca: Explores how genetic manipulation can create a privileged and under-privileged society.
Influence: The motivation of the main character is the opposite of the original Blade Runner. In Gattaca's case the lead wants to go into outer space.
Re-influence: All the emotions and actions one goes through to be human is very well realized in this new movie.
Minority Report: Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg successful SciFi outing.
Influence: Organic replicants, have an assigned role in society. But can they be misused? (Is there any doubt?!!!)
Re-influence: There is a fair bit of the Tom Cruise character in Ryan Gosling's in the new movie.
On eating Broccoli
I do not like broccoli.
And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me
eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat
any more broccoli.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgehw110377.html
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgehw110377.html
Thirty five years is a long enough period for seminal movies to influence other movies. And in turn influence the original. It is terrific to be able to really enjoy that experience and contemplation.
So, even if seeing the first Blade Runner feels like eating Broccoli, as we all know... it is good for you!
3 comments:
Yeah, I did enjoy it. Knitted the major themes of all the philosophical and moral issues that arise now that we’ve entered the world of AI. Also agree that the ‘broccoli’ of the original overpowered the ‘desert’ part of the meal.
Thought you might find the review by Kyle Smith in the National Review interesting in that he suggests that now it’s the desert (eye candy cinematography) that’s overpowering the veggies (nothing new here). Your focus on other movies supports that critique
Thanks much, Surya. I had exact same reaction to the first. And therefore was going to skip this one Now I can see it and don't even have to eat my broccoli since you've paved the way! Terrific.
Like you, I couldn't watch the original Blade Runner. Will try to watch this one.
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