When it comes to movie sequels it is honestly pretty unusual for them to be great. That isn’t to say sequels aren’t good movies. They certainly can be, but many don’t quite live up to the film they follow, often leaving fans disappointed in that regard. And in the rare cases where the sequel does live up to the original film, it’s almost unheard of for said sequel to be truly great in its own right and when it comes to the sci-fi genre it’s practically impossible. But there is one film that pulled off the impossible, managing to not only be a good movie and a great sequel, but a genuine masterpiece all of its own and now, the film that is easily among one of the greatest sci-fi films of the 21st century to date is dominating HBO Max — and perhaps even more exciting for fans of the overall franchise, there’s yet another continuation of the story to come.
Released in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 came a bit as a surprise to fans of Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult classic Blade Runner. After all, more than three decades had passed since that first film had hit theaters, starting out as a box office failure only to become a deeply revered work of sci-fi art with massive influence on just about every form of art to come after it (especially art in the cyberpunk subgenre). Once the shock wore off, the skepticism sank in. After all, sequels don’t always live up to the original and did we mention that it had been more than three decades since the original? However, Denis Villeneuve delivered and absolute masterpiece of a film and right now, it’s the number one film streaming on HBO Max.
Blade Runner 2049 is a genuinely great film. It takes places decades after the first film and follows K (Ryan Gosling in one of his best roles), a replicant working as a blade runner that hunts down rogue replicants. But when K discovers that a child was born to a replicant mother (something supposedly impossible), K becomes rogue himself and on a journey that leads him to a ruined Las Vegas and the retired blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). It’s a great story, it’s brilliantly acted, and the visuals are perfect. It also has a truly noteworthy emotional core. What makes the film work so well is that it doesn’t try to simply follow up the first film nor does it try to repeat the story or change it too significantly. Instead, it just functions as a natural expansion of the existing world and takes the story to its natural next place. To put it simply, it grows Blade Runner’s story rather than try to simply recapture what was great about it and in doing so gives people something new that still feels familiar. It’s very much the movie equivalent of turning the page to a new chapter.
And that is very much the feeling we hope to have when Blade Runner 2099 hits Prime Video later this year. a new follow up to the Blade Runner story, this sequel will be a television series rather than a film. It will, however, make some significant changes to the overall story — though given that we’re getting another significant time jump for that universe it makes sense. Blade Runner 2099 will take viewers into a world after an uprising where, now, replicants rule and humans are subjugated. The series stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer and is set to debut on November 25th. It sounds like there will be some big swings with this one but given how good this franchise has been so far, we’re hopeful. In the meantime, though, we’ll be streaming Blade Runner 2049 yet again.
