Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Jared Leto, Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Sean Young

What has always attracted me to Blade Runner (1982), and part of the reason why it’s one of my favorite science fiction films ever (topped only by Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey) are its themes. The film asks one of the most thought-provoking questions of all time: why must we die? The question of our mortality has haunted us since the dawn of time. Why are we born with an expiration date? One for the ages to be sure, but one that Ridley Scott and his crew weren’t afraid to ask back in 1982. Which is why that scene in which Roy Batty kills his creator for being unable to give him more life struck me as a great example of a film that knows its themes well and truly explores them. “You were made as good as we could make you” is the answer Tyrell, the ‘God of Biomechanics’ gives his creations. Live your life to the fullest, but rest assured, you’re going to die.  That frustration and anger we all feel at the fact that we know we are going to die is explored on Blade Runner with laser clear precision. The film really dives into its themes with reckless abandon. It asks questions and attempts to give us answers, even if said answers are dark and hopeless. And it delivers these dark explorations with beauty and poetry.

Of course, when standing on the shoulders of such a giant, the makers of Blade Runner 2049 must’ve been concerned with delivering a film that was just as compelling and thought provoking as the original. Which of course was never going to be an easy task. Ridley Scott’s film is good on so many levels, it has  memorable characters, incredible dialog, amazing art direction, incredible special effects and music…it’s that rare “perfect” film that is extremely hard to top. I give kudos to Denis Villeneuve’s for having the guts to tackle the sequel of such a masterpiece. Was Blade Runner 2049 a worthy sequel? How does it compare to the first film? Can it be its own thing?

On Blade Runner 2049 we are presented with a new Android Executioner (a.k.a. Blade Runner) called agent ‘K’, who is assigned to retire a rebellious android who is passing itself for a farmer. Agent K ends up stumbling upon a mystery, which will lead him to a discovery that can shake the very foundations of society itself. Will he take the task and open this Pandora’s Box?  

I have to give it to Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, the writers behind this sequel, because they actually came up with some interesting concepts for this movie. The concepts are so good that they could branch off into entirely different films, which says a lot about the complexities of the concepts behind Blade Runner 2049. This movie has more meat to it than 90% percent of what passes for science fiction these days. And that “meat” is merely the backdrop of the story.  The actual plot of Blade Runner 2049 concerns itself with continuing exactly where the original film leaves off, with Deckard running off with Rachel to god knows where. This makes perfect sense when we take in consideration that Fancher also wrote the first film, so he’s picking up the story right where he left it.

Blade Runner 2049 has gotten lots of praise for its visuals and I agree, the film looks astonishing. Denis Villeneuve pays huge amounts of respect to the original film. You’ll feel you are in the same world that Ridley Scott presented us with in the first film. From the crummy, dirty streets filled with mutants to the flying police cars and the nonstop rain. It was great seeing landmarks from the first film like the Tyrell Corporation Pyramids or all those neon holograms promoting every sort of product available to man. I mean, Villeneuve succeeded in recreating that visual complexity that Ridley Scott is so good at conjuring on his films. Fans of the original Blade Runner are in for a real treat. It’s got that classy Film Noir vibe we all love from Blade Runner, its still very much a science fictin film mixed with a detective story. 

I was extremely disappointed that Vangelis was not used as the composer for Blade Runner 2049 because to me, the Vangelis score in Blade Runner (1982)  is a huge part of what emotes in conjunction with the visuals, such a unique cinematic experience. Vangelis’s music is sampled and reused in 2049, but instead letting him come up with a new score, they brought it in Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, which I will admit did an amazing job here anyway. The sounds used to compliment the visuals effectively evoke that dark science fiction vibe, it’s not Vangelis, but its mind-blowing in its own way. I’ve seen the film twice already and realized just how fantastic that musical score is. So prepare yourselves to dive into an amazing audio visual experience.

Though the film is amazing in many ways, it did have some flaws. One of the things that just didn’t work for me were the unanswered plot points, purposely left that way to be answered in a possible sequel. I personally don’t like to see scenes shoehorned in there for the sake of setting up a franchise, but whatever, you might not care. The original Blade Runner wasn’t concerned with establishing a franchise, they just did the one great film. To me it feels distracting, especially if you’re not even sure if there will be a sequel at all. You'll be left wondering what happened to certain characters, so be ready for that. Another thing is that to me 2049 is not as crystal clear with its themes as its predecessor. What is Blade Runner 2049 really about? Is it trying to answer any big questions? It is not as crystal clear as the first film. For now all I can say is that it is a film that warrants a few viewings to really grasp it, which means its a film that begs to be analyzed. I missed that focus in themes I got with the original film. But even with its flaws, the film is amazing on so many other levels that it balances the pros and cons out. I do hope more people go see it because like its predecessor, Blade Runner 2049 isn’t exactly lighting the box office in flames. In fact, last time I checked it was having a hard time making its money back. Which is sometimes a good thing. When general audiences don't like a film, it usually means it has some brains to it, which usually means I'll like it. So there's that. It's not a film made for mass consumption, which is a good thing for some of us.    

This was a risky movie for Denis Villeneuve to make because it’s an intelligent, slow paced science fiction film, and mass audiences like their explosions and fights every five seconds and they like everything spoon fed to them. It also has a lengthy running time of almost three hours, but I’ll tell ya, I was engaged all the way through, I didn’t really notice the running time. I wanted more by the time it was over. When it's over it comes as a surprise. In that sense, it is extremely similar to the original Blade Runner, which also slammed its door on our face, making us wonder what happened to Deckard and Rachel. Well, this film answers us that question, but it leaves so many others unanswered, hopefully we’ll get a sequel, hopefully the answers will come, and hopefully they wont take thirty something years to make the next film. I love the world of Blade Runner and I hope we get to revisit it at some point. I am extremely happy that Denis Villeneuve is doing such an amazing job with the science fiction genre, he is steadily becoming the sci-fi director of this generation. I hear he wants to tackle Dune next! What can I say, after seeing Blade Runner 2049, he has my vote. Final word, even with its flaws, I cannot bring myself to give this film anything but a perfect score. One for the ages in deed. 

    

Rating: 5 out of 5

  

Spectre (2015)

Spectre (2015)

Director: Sam Mendes

Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Belluci, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Ben Whishaw

So here we are, the 24^th Bond film. Let’s recap: this is Daniel Craig’s fourth run as Bond and in my opinion, the best rendition of Bond ever. Skyfall (2012), directed by Sam Mendes, was without a doubt in my mind one of the best Bond films ever and thankfully, Mendes is back behind the directors chair, closing the chapter on Daniel Craig’s run as Bond. The film does feel like its definitely closing a cycle, it connects all the three previous films. It feels like the next Bond film will go in an entirely new direction for the series. So anyhow, how was Spectre? Does it up the ante and maintain the same level of quality established by Skyfall? I’d say that yes, it does. This is after all the same creative team we had in Skyfall  and we are talking about the most expensive of the Bond films, so yeah, it gives us more of what we like about Bond films. This time around Bond goes up against Spectre, a top secret society of powerful individuals who rule the world. They are hell bent on destroying the 007 program so they can establish a network that will know everything about everybody, everywhere, all the time.

For a while now, these Bond films have been trying to destroy everything that has been established in the Bond universe.I mean, the MI-6 headquarters was blown to smithereens and M died on the previous film! We got a new Q, and now for Spectre even the whole 007 program is now in shambles. So it’s clear to me that filmmakers are trying to destroy everything previously established so they can create again.  New actors, new faces, basically, they’ve been hard at work at giving the whole franchise a face lift, and they are doing this systematically, from film to film. These new movies have a continuity to them that’s working like magic. Yet at the same time, even with all the face-lifts the franchise is getting, this is still the same old Bond. We still get an amazing credit sequence that’s used to give us a glimpse at what we’ll be seeing in the film. We still get Bond asking for his Martini, “shaken but not stirred”. He still says his name is “Bond…James Bond”, and Q still gives him his gadgets. He still gets a cool car in every movie, followed by an awesome chase sequence in said car. So yeah, the series is getting a face lift, but the new films still follow the formula closely. It’s a tried and true and the producers don’t want to mess with it.

Story wise the film is very contemporary, it plays with that idea that the powers that be are gathering data, they are studying our behavior, our interests, where we go and what we buy. Basically, the film is addressing the loss of privacy due to the advancement of technology, which serves as a double edged knife. On the one hand technology makes our lives easier, it entertains us, yet at the same time, it opens a door wide open to whoever wants to scrutinize our lives. Sadly, this is the kind of world we are currently living in. Interesting part about that we cannot put a face to whoever is gathering and analyzing all this data. What the film does is give a face and a name to “them”, to “they”. I loved that Bond manages to infiltrate this powerful secret society and even gets to listen to one of these secret meetings in which “they” decide the fate of the world. Interestingly enough these all powerful individuals are heard talking about pharmaceutical companies, deceases and about how they can sell us the cure; which is another common “conspiracy theory”. The idea that pharmaceutical companies are making us sick so we have to pay for their cure. So yeah, Spectre plays with some heavy themes.

My only gripe with this new film is that it’s not original in the sense that the “Big Brother is Watching You” theme has been played to death, most recently in films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), hell, even the idea of eliminating the secret agent program was recently used in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015). Still, Spectre has enough subplots and action to keep you interested all the way through, in fact, it’s the most action packed of the Daniel Craig movies. It opens with this amazing action sequence that takes place in Mexico during the Day of the Dead celebrations. It opens the film with a huge bang! Action wise, you won’t be disappointed. I’m glad about this because I thought the first two Daniel Craig movies Casino Royale (2006) and especially Quantum of Solace (2008) were severely lacking in action scenes. Thankfully Spectre does not disappoint in that department; in fact, the franchise even recovers its sense of humor with this entry, a welcomed element in my book. The previous three films were so serious and solemn, Spectre manages to squeeze in a joke or two which was much appreciated, I always like it when Bond gets cocky and sarcastic. So I'm happy to report that the "fun" element has been brought back to the Bond films with Spectre, albeit in a controlled manner. 

Then there’s the cast which is beyond amazing, this is Daniel Craig at the top of his game. By now he’s got Bond down flat. Christoph Waltz as the main villain is the icing on the cake. I mean, I love it when they put a great actor to play the Bond villain, I mean, how cool was Javier Bardem in Skyfall? Memorable in deed. On Spectre we get the cool and calculating Christoph Waltz as the all seeing, all knowing Blowfeld. Sadly we see very little of Monica Belucci in Spectre, she’s a cinematic goddess that deserved a better role, she seemed wasted. Finally, Spectre is a great Bond film, with good action, beautiful dames, exotic locales and a fantastic cast. Important things happen to Bond on this film, this could be the last time we see Daniel Craig as James Bond film, but considering how much money Spectre will make at the box office, I don’t doubt he’ll be back for “one last film”. Looking forward to seeing Craig again, but if Craig and Mendes don’t return, it will be interesting to see who they give these roles to. Whoever they end up being, they’ve got big shoes to fill! Spectre, like Skyfall, is a solid entry in a franchise that is enjoying some of its best moments.

Rating: 4 out of 5 

         

Riddick (2013)

Title: Riddick (2013)

Director: David Twohy

Cast: Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Katee Sackhoff, Matt Nable, Dave Bautista, Karl Urban

The Riddick franchise has been a very strange franchise in the sense that is goes up and down in tone, like the rising and falling of the tide. The first film, entitled Pitch Black (2000), was a simple monster flick about a group of people trying to get off a planet before these nasty carnivorous critters eat their asses. In comparison the second film, Chronicles of Riddick (2004), is epic in scale, with Riddick defying a group of dictators who call themselves ‘Necromongers’;  a race of beings that go around conquering planets and destroying those who don’t won’t join their crusade. I love both movies for different reasons; the first one successfully fuses the horror and sci-fi genres. It’s dark, it’s got awesome visuals and it’s entertaining; it kept things simple yet effective. The second film I like because it’s a more lavish production that expands on the universe that David Twohy created on the first film. Still, no matter how epic in scale Chronicles of Riddick was, the problem with this second film was that even though it was a more ambitious production, it didn’t make its money back at the box office and so, this is the reason why we had not seen a new Riddick film in such a long time. Studios won’t give you millions if your previous flick failed. But both Twohy and Vin Diesel don’t want to let Riddick die, and so they’ve decided to give the character another spin. Vin Diesel even went as far as putting up his own money to make this one happen, so that turns this one into a passion project for both Twohy and Vin Diesel. So finally, we get a third adventure in the Riddick franchise. Was it any good? Is it a worthy sequel?

This time around, same as in the first film, Riddick is trying to survive on a planet filled with deadly wildlife, a planet in which you can’t walk five steps without some fanged creature trying to kill you. But if you know Riddick, then you know that’s just the way he likes it. It seems the guy was meant to thrive in adversity. Like Mad Max or Conan, Riddick works best alone and under strenuous circumstances.  So it isn’t long before he learns to survive on this deadly planet just fine. But it seems this planet won’t leave Riddick alone, soon the weather starts to change and Riddick decides that this planet is no longer fit for him to survive in, so he does something unexpected, he calls a bunch of Bounty Hunters to come and “get him”. In reality, Riddick’s just luring them in so he can take their space ship and get off this dangerous planet he currently resides. But the bounty hunters seem to think they actually got a chance of capturing the famous escaped convict. All they care about is capturing Riddick, chopping off his head and getting double their pay. Question is: do these guys have a chance in hell? Don’t they know their messing with one of the baddest mothers in the universe?

So yeah, that synopsis you’ve just read is in a nutshell what this movie is all about. It’s not a very complex film which is where it differentiates itself from the previous one; Chronicles of Riddick is Shakespearian by comparison, while this third film is like going back to basics. Its closer in tone and feel to Pitch Black (2000), the first film, which means that yeah, we’re back in monster flick territory again. Not a bad thing if you ask me, the problem is that people are going to be expecting a film that would bring a conclusion to the second film and Riddick is the furthest thing from that. You know how the second film ends with Riddick sitting on a throne, essentially becoming some sort of King to the Necromongers? The film ends like Conan the Destroyer (1984) saying “but that’s another story” and so of course we’re all expecting a big conclusion to that story line with this new film, we all want to see what Riddick would be like as a ruler, will he change things? Would greed devour his soul? Would he be a good king? Riddick the Conqueror, that’s what I wanted to see! And well, this new movie kind of explains what happens when Riddick becomes king, but in a few seconds, which isn’t fair. It brushes through his whole king phase in five seconds, as if it didn’t matter all that much, as if it was some footnote in Riddick’s history. I mean really, we only get a glimpse of his days as a king; I wanted the full story! 

But that’s not what you’ll get, so scratch that idea from your noggin. What you will get is Riddick surviving on a bad ass planet fighting off monsters and greedy bounty hunters. You’ll take that and you’ll like it! I see what Twohy and Vin Diesel are doing. They’ve brought down production costs so that this third film will turn in a profit; in this way assuring that they can make a fourth film, basically, they are attempting to save the franchise, which in my opinion is a franchise ripe with stories to tell. So here’s how it went down: Chronicles of Riddick (2004) costs 105 million dollars, unfortunately it was a box office bomb and didn’t make its money back. This of course spelled tragedy for both Vin Diesel and Twohy, their beloved franchise was apparently dead on its tracks! But wait, suddenly Vin Diesel’s Fast and the Furious franchise is making kajillions! The actor has reached an all time high; each of the Fast and the Furious films making more money than the last! So now the studio can risk making a third Riddick movie, considering how popular Vin Diesel is these days. But of course, the studio will only make a calculated risk, so they make a smaller film, a more personal story on a much smaller budget. This is the reason why Riddick cost “only” 38 million, because they want to make their money back. A lot is riding on this film, they want it to be successful so they can make another, so the franchise can live on. So my friends, this is the reason why this story is smaller in scale; still, I have to admit I liked this more personal take on the character.

Unfortunately, the film will feel like filler to fans of the Riddick films, like it’s not an important story in the life of Riddick, in all honesty, it feels like just another day in the life of this character; surviving and wiping out his enemy from the shadows. What I did like about it though is that we get to spend some time with Riddick; we get to know him a bit better, the loner, the survivalist, the bad ass mother. Those scenes with Riddick surviving in the alien planet reminded me a whole lot of those first scenes in Conan the Barbarian (1982), in which Conan is out in the world for the first time, fighting off wild dogs and scavenging the world for food and women. Other scenes reminded me of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), especially those scenes in which Riddick gets himself a dog like companion, just like Max did in The Road Warrior. So you’ll get a lot of scenes of Riddick against the planet, all on his own. It’s the second half of the film that turns into a wild goose chase, with the Bounty Hunters running after Riddick. And if that doesn’t keep your butt on the seat, then you’ll certainly have fun with the deadly creatures that inhabit this dangerous planet, which were pretty cool creations. Monster fans should be happy with this one. And if that isn't enough, fan boys should love the fact that the beautiful Katee Sackhoff is on this one! There's something about that lady! Wowzers! 

So, taking in consideration that this is a smaller film, and not the one we were expecting, I still think this is a solid slice of sci-fi. Visually speaking, the film doesn’t look less expensive, which is an asset. I mean, usually a smaller budget means cramped sets and a cheaper looking film, but this is not the case with Riddick, the film still looks majestic and awesome, so my hats down to David Twohy for achieving a good looking picture with considerably less amounts of money. As I type this, Riddick stands number one at the box office, this is its first week out in the world, let’s hope that like its main character, the film manages to survive in the big bad Box Office. If it makes it's moolah back we can expect a bigger adventure come next film. So in many ways, it's up to the fans of this franchise to save this one. You hear me fanboys of the world? The future of the Riddick franchise lies in your capable hands! So go see this one! Now!

Rating: 4 out of 5