Blade Runner 2049: Rick Deckard is a WHAT

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Blade Runner 2049: Rick Deckard is a WHAT

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

Berke Negri posted:

Yeah, the novel is very different from the movie in most ways, and that's one of the bigger thematic points. While in the films Los Angeles is basically overflowing with life and movement in Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep you'd have squatters in high rises that may be the one or two only people living in the entire building.

The original Blade Runner literally has a high rise with one person living in the entire building.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2017 00:35

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:29

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

Doctor Malaver posted:

And 70 year old Deckard punching K like he was punching a pillow. I mean, punching someone square in the jaw does bad things to your hand even if you're young, let alone a grandpa who's been surviving mostly on whiskey in a dusty castle for decades...

That's presumably because that's how Harrison Ford punches people.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2017 02:26

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

The actual reason is that �Runner� is a Georgian-era derogatory term for the �thief-takers� (essentially bounty hunters) who were organized into Britain�s first police force in the 1750s. The point of the title, in the original 1982 film, is the implied backstory that replicant-hunting was originally a private, freelance sort of enterprise up until around the point where the film begins - which is likely why Deckard chafes at being forced into service.

I thought it was this.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2017 01:08

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

General Battuta posted:

I think this movie very effectively captured Scott's brooding, noirish cinematography and the oppressively brutal dreamscape of the city. It feels like Villeneuve really wanted to get that slow, imagistic tone just right. Sudden bursts of violence! K sticks his hand in a beehive! He flies over a city while the soundtrack groans!

But I think 2049 totally missed the way Scott counterposes that tone with grotesque, almost slapstick bursts of energy: Rutger Hauer howls like a wolf, drives a Jesus nail through his own palm, and releases his dying soul as a dove. Fifield and Milburn in Prometheus die hideously. People in Covenant keep slipping on the same bloodstain. Kane chokes and seizes and an alien comes out of his chest. Ash's head pops off and his neck spews milk. Ridley loves to go for the gut after he's done with your head.

2049 feels like a tranquilized, choreographed, almost mincingly mannered sequel to a movie that had striking dream imagery and wild nonsense. I get that this reflects a deader, more mechanized future, but I just can't love all the wide shots and perfect compositions on their own.

2049 is too mannered, too pristine and perfect. Nobody screams "I want more life, father/fucker!"

Did the beginning fight where K gets punched straight through a wall, or the part where K wipes off a thing in his car then smooshes an eyeball into it, or the part when Luv breaks the guy's neck, or when she crushes Joshi's hand then stabs her, or when Deckard gets into a fistfight with K, or when K brutalizes the orphanage owner, or when K smashes that guy over his knee, decks another guy, then shoots a bunch of people, or when Luv shoots Rachel, or when Wallace slices open that woman's womb, or the part where Luv stabs K twice then kisses him and says "I'm the best one," not count as this sort of thing? Those all struck you as too mannered, pristine, and perfect?

# ¿ Nov 24, 2017 22:15

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

As long as a film doesn't endorse something awful, I don't particularly mind if it depicts it but does not comment on it, or if it depicts it but doesn't comment on it explicitly enough for it to be clear that the film is saying that this is a bad thing. So in other word, depiction is not necessarily endorsement, and only endorsement is bad.

This is not to say that BR2049's depictions are just depictions, and don't amount either to endorsement, criticism, or a bit of both. I just think that insofar as Villeneuve is correct, I think his defense is a good one. You say:

Kithyen posted:

I think the reason a lot of people have issues with the way woman are treated in the film is that it is presented "as is" without any sort of attitude or thought towards it. The director's response strikes me as a cop out.

You might be right, but I don't fit into the group of "a lot of people" you're talking about. Or, alternatively, I do, but I don't think depiction implies there's no thought about it. Villeneuve clearly thought about it, so does he escape your criticism? Or do you need more than just thought - you need an attitude?

# ¿ Nov 26, 2017 21:10

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

Kull the Conqueror posted:

I️ watched that with a good friend of mine who couldn�t even finish Sicario because of how Blunt is consistently shunned and disrespected (part of the point of the film, but also, very much a dude�s style of storytelling). Blunt is a good character with depth, but she�s essentially powerless in the film all the way to the end. It�s similar, though hardly the same, with Blade Runner. Guys can escape into that with ease, while women might come to a movie theater and oh, great, it�s the bullshit they regularly put up with as a focal point of storytelling again. It�s a perspective that�s made more sense to me over time, and really elucidates how much of a sausage fest these collaborations are. It�s a little beyond right and wrong, more just another case that cinema can always benefit from a diversity of creative perspectives.

Someone can also watch Arrival if they want to see a Villeneuve movie with a woman lead who doesn't have as frustrating a time exercising agency.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2017 02:43

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

Babysitter Super Sleuth posted:

Ridley Scott has the casual confidence and self-certainty that James Cameron has spent an entire career trying to convince people he has.

Oh come on, what about stuff like this?

quote:

One question that people ask me a lot about Titanic, and I�m assuming they ask you this a lot, is at the end, why doesn�t Rose make room for Jack on the door?

And the answer is very simple because it says on page 147 [of the script] that Jack dies. Very simple.

quote:

Will the Avatar sequels deal with some of the similar themes you addressed in the first film, in particular, the environment?

It will be a natural extension of all the themes, and the characters, and the spiritual undercurrents. Basically, if you loved the first movie, you�re gonna love these movies, and if you hated it, you�re probably gonna hate these. If you loved it at the time, and you said later you hated it, you�re probably gonna love these.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2017 02:33

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

I mean presumably Allen would agree with basically all of it.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2017 18:04

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

tvgm2 posted:

Why is the sea water crystal clear? I assume it was just for artistic reasons at this point.

Maybe all the animals died and so now there's no fish poop or whatever.

tvgm2 posted:

Why did the resistance replicants stop in the desert and what are they burning?

They stopped for a snack (they're eating Deckard's dog) and they're burning Deckard's piano or whatever.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2018 03:43

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

Toxic Fart Syndrome posted:

This was neat:

https://twitter.com/therealelp/status/979058790501965825

I wasn't a huge fan of the actual soundtrack when I first saw the film, but since then it's grown on me and it's one of my favorites. But this demo is pretty amazing too. I wish there were another cut of the movie with an entire El-P soundtrack or something like that.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2018 05:11

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:29

TychoCelchuuu: Jan 2, 2012; This space for Rent.

veni veni veni posted:

Maybe this is old news, but apparently there is a 4 hour cut of this movie that exists. Which was news to me. Don't know if I'd watch it or not. Thought it was plenty long even though I loved it.

There's a 4 hour cut of this movie only in the sense that there's a 3 or 4 hour cut of most movies. That's juts the cut they had before they started slicing it down to size.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2018 02:27

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Blade Runner 2049: Rick Deckard is a WHAT