I figure if any movie needs a spoiler thread, it's this one. Otherwise every post from here on out in the other thread would need to be redacted.
First things first... this was probably one of the top five best-looking movies I have ever seen. Just staggeringly, jaw-droopingly beautiful in every way, and if Deakins doesn't finally win the Oscar for Best Cinematography this year, it will be a travesty. The second this movie is available on 4K Blu-ray I will basically have it on 24/7 as one hell of a gorgeous screensaver (and I don't mean that as a dig in any way). I seriously cannot wait to just bathe in its cinematography for years to come.
As for the movie itself, for the most part, I loved it. And while I thought Villeneuve had managed to out-Nolan Nolan about two-thirds of the way through - seriously, I was in awe of just about every aspect of this film through that point - the final act was the weakest part of the movie by far for me, and further cemented Nolan as NOLAN for the time being, because no one sticks the landing as consistently as profoundly as he does.
Still, Villeneuve is now neck-and-neck with him in terms of event filmmaking.
Just so many cool ideas, characters, and set pieces in this film. I thought Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, in particular, was phenomenal, and I can't remember the last time I had this many "I can't wait to watch that again" moments/visuals overall. Just amazing stuff all around, and I probably need to sit with the very few things I didn't like for the time being. Such as...
COMPLAINTS / PLOT HOLES
- How/why did K take his flying cop car to Vegas after he was basically put on watch for his baseline being way off? I know the whole point plot-wise was to give Luv a way to track him, but something about that rang hollow / way too convenient and/or stupid.
- Why didn't Luv and co kill K in Deckard's penthouse? Or, rather, why didn't the filmmakers have K escape their clutches alive so the plot didn't force them to leave him alive? That whole sequence just felt super convenient and like too much of a tired trope.
- The movie really lost steam for me when it was revealed toward the end that nope, K , in fact, really was a replicant after all. I like what it set-up in terms of Deckard and his daughter, and I kind of enjoyed the plot twisty aspect of it all, but narratively it just didn't quite gel for me. It almost felt like a cheap fake out in the end that merely propped up K as a daughter delivery device for Deckard, rather than following through with a hero's journey-esque character arc for him. I was really, really into the notion of a replicant learning that he was, in fact, "real" and the first of his kind. That was such a cool idea that felt completely undone by the gut punch toward the end. And look, I admit that even when I thought K was "the one" I was kind of cringing at the idea of him eventually revealing to Deckard that he was his son. And I'm not saying his should have been the typical hero's journey type arc, it was just a narratively arresting way to essentially switch the focus over to Deckard in the end. Which makes sense on the surface, but something about the actual execution simply felt a bit off to me.
- For the love of God, can we PLEASE stop bringing back young, CGI versions of iconic characters? Never mind the tech still not being quite there to fully pull it off, but here, especially, it was just so needless and gimmicky with Rachel. The bit added nothing and changed nothing and only served to further stain the third act for me.
QUESTIONS
- What was up with the whole blackout event mentioned as happening years prior? I think I get the first of it, but I had to go to the bathroom at one point and must have missed the initial mention of it.
- And just to be clear, it was Tyrell who engineered Rachel to be able to give birth, right? That's what I thought I heard Wallace allude to as being Tyrell's last "gift" or something. Just want to make sure.
- Finally, what was Deckard's daughter's backstory again? Or at least what she believed to be her backstory? I couldn't understand parts of what she was telling K when he first met her.
FINALLY, AN ADMISSION
I'm almost embarrassed to admit this as it's so obvious now, but all these years I always thought that replicants were part machine. And that the eye test was just to avoid having to cut them open or whatever to check for sure. Yes, I realize that Tyrell's motto was literally, "More human than human," but I guess I always took that to mean in the replicants' mannerism, appearance, etc. Not that they were actual, albeit manufactured, flesh-and-blood super humans with legit organs, blood, and bones and what not. It makes total sense now, and again, I can't believe I missed that, but it took the bone analyzation scene toward the beginning for me to finally get it.
First things first... this was probably one of the top five best-looking movies I have ever seen. Just staggeringly, jaw-droopingly beautiful in every way, and if Deakins doesn't finally win the Oscar for Best Cinematography this year, it will be a travesty. The second this movie is available on 4K Blu-ray I will basically have it on 24/7 as one hell of a gorgeous screensaver (and I don't mean that as a dig in any way). I seriously cannot wait to just bathe in its cinematography for years to come.
As for the movie itself, for the most part, I loved it. And while I thought Villeneuve had managed to out-Nolan Nolan about two-thirds of the way through - seriously, I was in awe of just about every aspect of this film through that point - the final act was the weakest part of the movie by far for me, and further cemented Nolan as NOLAN for the time being, because no one sticks the landing as consistently as profoundly as he does.
Still, Villeneuve is now neck-and-neck with him in terms of event filmmaking.
Just so many cool ideas, characters, and set pieces in this film. I thought Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, in particular, was phenomenal, and I can't remember the last time I had this many "I can't wait to watch that again" moments/visuals overall. Just amazing stuff all around, and I probably need to sit with the very few things I didn't like for the time being. Such as...
COMPLAINTS / PLOT HOLES
- How/why did K take his flying cop car to Vegas after he was basically put on watch for his baseline being way off? I know the whole point plot-wise was to give Luv a way to track him, but something about that rang hollow / way too convenient and/or stupid.
- Why didn't Luv and co kill K in Deckard's penthouse? Or, rather, why didn't the filmmakers have K escape their clutches alive so the plot didn't force them to leave him alive? That whole sequence just felt super convenient and like too much of a tired trope.
- The movie really lost steam for me when it was revealed toward the end that nope, K , in fact, really was a replicant after all. I like what it set-up in terms of Deckard and his daughter, and I kind of enjoyed the plot twisty aspect of it all, but narratively it just didn't quite gel for me. It almost felt like a cheap fake out in the end that merely propped up K as a daughter delivery device for Deckard, rather than following through with a hero's journey-esque character arc for him. I was really, really into the notion of a replicant learning that he was, in fact, "real" and the first of his kind. That was such a cool idea that felt completely undone by the gut punch toward the end. And look, I admit that even when I thought K was "the one" I was kind of cringing at the idea of him eventually revealing to Deckard that he was his son. And I'm not saying his should have been the typical hero's journey type arc, it was just a narratively arresting way to essentially switch the focus over to Deckard in the end. Which makes sense on the surface, but something about the actual execution simply felt a bit off to me.
- For the love of God, can we PLEASE stop bringing back young, CGI versions of iconic characters? Never mind the tech still not being quite there to fully pull it off, but here, especially, it was just so needless and gimmicky with Rachel. The bit added nothing and changed nothing and only served to further stain the third act for me.
QUESTIONS
- What was up with the whole blackout event mentioned as happening years prior? I think I get the first of it, but I had to go to the bathroom at one point and must have missed the initial mention of it.
- And just to be clear, it was Tyrell who engineered Rachel to be able to give birth, right? That's what I thought I heard Wallace allude to as being Tyrell's last "gift" or something. Just want to make sure.
- Finally, what was Deckard's daughter's backstory again? Or at least what she believed to be her backstory? I couldn't understand parts of what she was telling K when he first met her.
FINALLY, AN ADMISSION
I'm almost embarrassed to admit this as it's so obvious now, but all these years I always thought that replicants were part machine. And that the eye test was just to avoid having to cut them open or whatever to check for sure. Yes, I realize that Tyrell's motto was literally, "More human than human," but I guess I always took that to mean in the replicants' mannerism, appearance, etc. Not that they were actual, albeit manufactured, flesh-and-blood super humans with legit organs, blood, and bones and what not. It makes total sense now, and again, I can't believe I missed that, but it took the bone analyzation scene toward the beginning for me to finally get it.