My favourite movies - Part 2

Hey Charlie!
(It's been a long time since my last article)

In my previous article on my favourite movies, I left a clue to let you guess which movie I was going to talk about and there was many of you who answered me ;). So the clue was replicants and maybe you understand now: I'm going to talk about Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. I know this article is about two movies but they are complementary as one of them is the sequel of the other.

I will explore how these movies are vividly great(🤔 sounds like something I know...)

A Reminder: Blade Runner was a book by Philip K. Dick - one of the greatest sci-fi authors - which is called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? before being a film. I haven’t read it but my father said it was quite different from the film as there are some passages that have been removed. The novel has inspired many authors, but the movie (the first one) has inspired many directors. How the town looks like, the flying cars, all sorts of objects that don’t exist, we can find them in many other movies: The Fifth Element, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones… However, the plot of Blade Runner 2O49 is not taken from Philip K. Dick’s novel.

Blade Runner (the first one)

The Plot:  It takes place in 2019, and humanity already has begun the universe conquest, and they (or we) has installed colonies on the other planets. New types of slaves have been created, and now they're used for hard or dangerous works, and so they are very strong. They are a mix of robots and humans (sort of androids), called replicants, and they're so realistic that almost nobody can distinguish a replicant from a human being. Moreover, humans have implemented fake memories in the replicants as they have wanted them to be very realistic. But sometimes, replicants escape, and the problem is, that they want to avenge. That's why a job has been created to eliminate the escaped replicants, called Blade Runner. The Blade Runner is a person whose job is to kill or destroy these replicants.

The main character is Rick (not and Morty, please stop) Deckard, and his mission is to chase 6 escaped replicants through LA. So, here, B.R. seems to be a stupid movie, but throughout the film, we sort of get the idea that the replicants have emotions, and feel fear, for instance when they are chased by Deckard. More and more, we identify with them, as they’re basically 6 runaway slaves trying to survive without being killed. There’s a very striking scene where Deckard runs after a female replicant and she’s scared so she starts to run; and then you don’t want her to die but this is Deckard’s job. However you don’t turn against him, because he has to do that or he’s fired, he’s like a policeman who must kill someone because it’s his job. That’s why Blade Runner is so great: it’s not just a movie of chasing, it’s also about psychology and where being human starts or ends (this last point is even more emphasized in the following movie, you’ll get why). And this psychological aspect is even more highlighted when the last dying replicant makes a philosophical speech. Besides, Deckard has fallen in love with Rachel, who turns out to be a replicant, but has decided to protect her anyway.

Blade Runner 2O49

The Plot: 3O years have passed since the first movie and now the protagonist is Agent K. He’s also a Blade Runner but he is a replicant. He must find a certain type of old replicants that have escaped. But in his mission he discovers that a replicant (Rachel) and a human being (Rick Deckard) have had a child, and his boss asks him to find this child and kill him/her, as, if people get to know that, there will be a crisis. Thus K begins to look for this kid and he retraces its childhood: for instrance in an orphanage. And during his search, he begins to find out that this child could be him, and that the memories he has could be true. Thus he lies to his boss, telling her that he has killed the child. However, the replicants manufacturer has learnt that this child exists, and also begins to chase K.

The Analysis of the 2 movies (by Antoine, THE analyst): What is interesting in these films is that they explore the limits of being human or not. In the first film as I explained, replicants have emotions, they laugh, they cry, they fear, and they’re not like Google Home: they are just like human beings. In the second movie, K, after learning he could potentially be human, becomes human; at the beginning of the film, he doesn’t do useless movements, he’s more like a robot, but then after learning that he might not be one, he begins to shiver, and to do all sorts of things a human being does and to have human feelings such as fear, guilt...

Furthermore, they’re beautiful visually speaking; they’re basically the most magnificent movies I’ve ever watched, and all of these 2 are incredible. In the first one, the lighting effects, the dark atmosphere, the costumes, all sort of things like this make this movie visually striking. In Blade Runner 2O49, there is a long orange passage. Yeah, it’s the only word that can describe it: it’s orange. It is so BEAUTIFUL to watch.

Besides, the actors are great: Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard (I promise this is not the same role as Han Solo or Indiana Jones, he’s playing more seriously), Rudger Hauer as Roy Batty, Ryan Gosling as Agent K, Jared Leto as the bad guy in the second movie (it was supposed to be David Bowie playing this role, but as you can suppose, there have been some Ch ch ch ch changeeeeeees)...

However (there’s always a however), I’m very angry that they made a sequel of Blade Runner, thankfully BR2O49 is great, but I’m still angry (I have had the same reaction with Star Wars Episode I, even if it’s a very good movie). Furthermore I have read that Ridley Scott wanted to do another one, and this time I’m very disappointed even if the film turns out to be great, because now they must stop. Ridley Scott is known for his lousy sequels (Alien: Covenant, Prometheus), he only recycles masterpieces (I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d do a sequel of Gladiator). Thankfully, it hasn’t directed BR2O49, it was Denis Villeneuve (Incendies, Prisoners, Arrival=Premier Contact in French...), one of the greatest director of the 2O1Os years. I hope that he will be the one to make the sequel, but, even if he did it, how would it be called? Blade Runner 2O5O?, Blade Runner 2O49 2?, Blade Runner 3?, Blade Runner the one after Blade Runner 2O49 but we didn’t know how to call it so maybe Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 2O49 version? Yeah, as you can see, I’m angry.

But these films are GREAT, and when I say it I mean it.