Bits and Blade Runner Pieces

I finally saw Blade Runner 2049 yesterday and it was FABULOUS! I came outta there confused – of course I did. A lot of mysteries get floated and, seems to me, there are multiple possible answers for all of them.

SPOILER ALERT!

I want to believe that KD9-3.7 (or just K as he's mostly known) is the second child born of Rachael on 6.10.21. Could he be, in a double-down bluff, the twin who supposedly didn’t survive. There’s so much misdirection (done, we’re told, in order to protect the “child”) that this is entirely reasonable. C’mon now – is SO!

I want to believe K, at flick’s end, survives his most heinous injuries. Yes, I understand the “it’s time to die” background music was playing during this scene. SO! That could totes be another misdirect. RILLY!

I want to believe that Doctor Ana Stelline can, and will, successfully leave the hermetically sealed spherical cap that is her home and lab. This was one of the most puzzling bits. Yes, she’s got some vile autoimmune but it’s bloody 2049 AND there are replicants running around! Seemed a bit silly for her to be stuck in a bubble instead of out and about with some cool air filtering, mobile bubble tech.

Robin Wright’s playing some seriously bad ass, awesome parts lately. First she was General Antiope in Wonder Woman . Here she’s K’s police lieutenant boss, Joshi – the one who’s sent him out to find and off Rachael and Deckard’s now adult child. Wright might just be my new fave actress.

By the by, Niander Wallace (played creepily brilliant by Jared Leto) needs to die. Painfully. Possibly in a fire while being eaten alive by rabid, fireproof squirrels. The original replicant daddy, Eldon Tyrell was god-complex evil too BUT much nicer.

K has a hologram companion named Joi (that's the product's name, anyway). She believes K is a real boy – born not made – and deserves a name. She dubs him Joe. I want to believe that the hardware holding her software can be repaired. Especially after their sweet and way awkward love scene.

Who destroyed her? The most ferocious, hilariously named Luv. She's Wallace's right hand replicant, tasked with killing...well, anyone who might pose a threat to her boss. She's fierce as hell BUT there seems to be a soul buried in her assassin programing. Moments before she slices up Lieutenant Joshi, she says:

In the face of the fabulous new, your only thought is to kill it ... out of fear of great change.

Ryan Gosling – I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything else. His portrayal of K/Joe was wonderfully understated, artlessly human. I like that in a hero. It was nice NOT to see the over the top 80s Bruce Willis/Arnold Schwarzenegger/Mel Gibson style of manly man excrement. My one complaint? Who the fuck did his hair? TOO MUCH damn pomade! He did have THE best outerwear though.

The movie is absolutely, stunningly gorgeous. Visually, it's not shockingly revelational like the first one but it's still an eyeball feast. For that alone, I'd see it again.