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Blade Runner 2049 came out in LA 3 years ago.

In the 2010s, I felt like Hollywood had taken movie franchises hostage. 2049 was the proof to me that they were still alive.

It's as effective a continuation as it is a standalone adult morality tale. Techno-Pinocchio.

A decent script w/ the right twists can subvert conventions like "chosen hero" or "famous lineage" quite easily. The case of Star Wars was a problem w/ intent: no one could agree if subverting a heroic lineage was better or worse than having one. The art and the brand conflicted.

There's no conflict in 2049. It brings back the Blade Runner world to work w/in its limits w/o obsessing over its marketable actors or symbols. I'm especially impressed by its visions of tech - the visual melding of emotion and consumer products, something I see in our own world.

The mystery is a BIT too forceful or expository, especially for Blade Runner, but the narrative has more coherent drive this time, especially after Scott's final cut warped our perspective. 2049 knew that putting the pieces back meant accepting ambiguity, not solving the riddle.

From the Ozymandias orgasms to the Pinocchio man standing on the bridge George Bailey considered jumping from and contemplating what it would be like to contemplate suicide, 2049 is stuffed with visual memories.

The natural and industrial are equally potent (and interlinked).

It might be a joke that Gosling is perfect to play a robot, but it's the amount of emotion that DOES come through, not simply a lack of it, that makes him perfect. The key is in how repressing emotions is taught as normal for men, how a robot exemplifies an "ideal," not a flaw.

This methodical, poignant film is an organic sequel that throws away the conventions of impressing fans w/ memorabilia and iconizing new heroes w/ high-fives from old favorites. 2049 brings us back to a world that is painfully uncertain, barely livable, undeniably beautiful.

Wallace said, "Pain reminds you the joy you felt was real." Villeneuve alone did not make a sequel that was a nonstop pleasure cruise of fist-bumping and references. He made something long, meticulous, brutal, maybe even painful.

He reminded me that Blade Runner was real.