Blade Runner sequel does justice to first film

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The movie “Blade Runner 2049” came out on Oct. 6, 2017 featuring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. This is a sequel made following the original which was made in 1982. //Photo courtesy of Vimeo

For over 35 years, people have been anticipating the sequel to the iconic, original “Blade Runner.” On Oct. 6, 2017, “Blade Runner 2049” was released.

The plot is quite simple. Officer K (Ryan Gosling) discovers a long-buried secret that has the potential to destroy what is left of society, which leads him to find Rick Deckard, played at Harrison Ford, the blade runner in the original film.

In our opinion, ignoring the original film from 1982 before seeing the newest one was a huge mistake. Throughout the movie, many scenes and terms from the original are placed in the movie, making it harder to grasp the full plot. The return of Rachael, portrayed by Sean Young, who in the original film was a human-like android created by Dr. Eldon Tyrell (also known as replicants), is one such example. Replicants have a limited lifespan of four years and are illegal to possess on Earth, though they can exist legally on off-world colonies. When Rachael made a surprise appearance in the movie, the “Blade Runner” fans in the movie theater went wild. However, as people who haven’t see the previous film, we sat in confusion. The movie made sure to convey that Rachael was Rick Deckard’s (Harrison Ford) previous lover, but in that moment we felt out of the loop. Although Rachael’s display didn’t significantly affect the plot, her scene was deemed as nostalgic and sentimental.

Another reboot that hit theatres was Baywatch, an American action drama from the 1980s to early 2000s, about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards starring David Hasselhoff. In 2017, the reboot of “Baywatch” hit theaters, containing a single cameo of the original “Baywatch” character, Mitch Buchannon, portrayed by David Hasselhoff. Similar to “Blade Runner 2049,” the nostalgic scene would’ve been significantly more enjoyable if we watched the original drama series, but the scene seemed a little awkward, especially because it was the climax of the movie. Incorporating reminiscent scenes into the reboot could leave some of the audience confused. “Baywatch” and, to a lesser extent, “Blade Runner 2049” were considered flops because many critics expected the film to perform exponentially better than their respective Blockbuster years ago, but unfortunately didn’t live up to the hype that fans of the original had built up. Domestically, Blade Runner 2049 has a box office of $81.5 million, which is less than what its predecessor earned ($83.7 million for original run) when adjusted for 2017. The box office wasn’t directly affected by these scenes, but could sway some of the audience away from the film.

Overall, “Blade Runner 2049” was an adequate stand-alone watch, as the backgrounds, graphics designs and actors were all phenomenal, but many viewers were left bamboozled about some of the plot. We personally recommend it to sci-fi fanatics, but we strongly urge you to see the iconic original first in order to make “Blade Runner 2049” more enjoyable.