After the original Blade Runner hit screens in the ‘80s (excluding the home video director’s cut and final cut versions), fans may be wondering, how could 2049 match its predecessor?

Ryan Gosling is K, short for his serial number, the Blade Runner of the future. He locates and retires replicants (robots that are so life-like that they have their own human emotions and memories). After retiring Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista), a bug farmer in the rural California regions, K discovers a tree in the backyard. Underneath the tree is a box.

The LAPD excavate the box and bring it back to the precinct. The forensics team finds bones and remains of a replicant from the previous age around the time of the major blackout. The replicant died giving birth to a human/replicant baby. Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright) orders K to find the child.

K, although he’s good at his job, doesn’t know where he comes from. His memories as a child are not his own. In pursuit of this child, he learns more about himself than ever before and the previous Blade Runner before him, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford).

Blade Runner 2049, like its predecessor, has tons of visually-stunning scenes. Los Angeles is done up in a futuristic way with the same flying cars, active and more interactive holograms including holograms of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Elvis. Blade Runner fans will go nuts over the sudden turns in plot and the ending, let’s just say, has closure.

There’s one question I had on my mental throughout the whole film: Why the hell would Ridley Scott and friends wait 30 plus years to make a sequel? The ending in the final cut was ambiguous. Although 2049 fills the holes, I would have liked to see it happen on screen in the ‘80s or even early ‘90s. These decades were Ford’s movie-prime–the age of Han Solo, Indiana Jones and so much more.  

What was life like for Rachel and Deckard on the run? What was is it like for them to fully love each other?

The movie felt long, but what would you cut? All of it is essential to the story. However, for me, the movie picked up when Harrison Ford graced the silver screen and beat the crap out of Gosling. I put my money on Ford, because even though it’s almost been a year, Gosling still left a bad taste in my mouth from La La Land. His acting was far more superior here.