Sounds like it's doing pretty poorly at the box office. That's too bad.
If I remember correctly, the first one was a slow starter at the box office, too.
I second your statement. Hopefully it all works out.It's sad that people would rather go watch terrible explosion filled movies over this. I like a dumb movie that's full of action as much as anyone but when good movie like this comes out I make sure to go, only way filmmakers will make more like this. Seems like a poor weekend in general at the box office..
Really enjoyed the movie. Love the sci-fi backdrop and the existential ideas and questions it raises about reality, self awareness, "having a soul", etc. Wasn't a fan of the older one, but do appreciate it for what it was.
I think even the most die hard fans of the franchise can acknowledge that it's pretty tough to sit through nearly a three hour slow burn. Like I said, I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend to someone that would appreciate it, but after a certain point I just wanted it to be over.
The only moment I felt was distractingly dragging was whenIt didn't feel like 3 hours to me. I don't get annoyed with deliberate dialogue and slow cuts. There was plenty to look at and absorb IMO.
The only moment I felt was distractingly dragging was when
I know but the walk to that point was segmented into two different parts. The first part could've been shorter or at least been layered with more suspenseful music.It's supposed to be an important reveal and it's the most dramatic one in the movie up until that point.
I know but the walk to that point was segmented into two different parts. The first part could've been shorter or at least been layered with more suspenseful music.
There's a reason it's cut the way it is.
The first part is where he learns there is a conspiracy at play that is covering up details about the child he is after via the missing pages. He thinks it's himself. The walk to the actual horse isn't scored because the movie doesn't want to tip its hand too early. When he finds it in the cloth, it's a major reveal; these memories are real, at least to someone. We don't find out until later that they aren't his, he isn't special, and this entire thing has been a part of his programming. The movie plays with your expectations that way. While it would be tempting to have every scene have faint Vangelis inspired tones in it, it ends up being better for not going down that path. The world is brutal and even more decayed than in the original, and K is supposed to be a post ban non emoting 'baseline' replicant. The silence is often supposed to reflect the stillness of his emotions, and the music swelling is his inner turmoil.
The big twist was just a giant slap in the face as a major plot point. I mean, they gave little reason to believe that Gosling wasn't the "miracle child", but they pull the rug out after heavily driving home and overemphasizing every step Gosling takes that makes him feel and act more human than replicant. I can take a bit, but when they hammer something home so much only to flip the switch, I can't understate how much I hate it and feel it as a cheap parlor trick. And the twist wasn't even that great. "hidden in the database/locked away for no one to hurt her". I don't even recall he showing enough/acting correctly after the dream montage "reading" with Gosling. I just can't stand that.
I know it's not really the point of your post, but I feel like "programming" is the wrong word here. The Replicants are biological and self aware. While there's certainly a lot of bio-engineering and conditioning that goes into keeping the Replicants in line, most explicitly in the form of planted memories. The movie takes the time to show K being tested in a Voigt-Kampf-like test twice (obviously some newer variation), to be compared to a baseline. But it's not really programming. In a vague sense you could liken it to a rogue artificial intelligence, sure. But we can draw a distinction between Joi and K, to an extent, by the degree in which their actions are "programmed." Joi tells K exactly "what he wants to hear," that he's special. Joi is following her programming in that regard, appeasing her user. K wants to be special not because of programming, but because of the existential crisis of being an Replicant (not having a "soul"). He has no past, and he's manufactured like a million others. He's able to grow and change independently, with his own experiences coloring who he will be in the future (and the planted experiences coloring who he is in the present).
Don't agree that replicants are 'self aware' to the point of being true AIs. It's never stated or even implied in the movies. This is doubly true for the post blackout replicants, all of which are nowhere near as advanced as Rachel or Roy. Joi is essentially a fancy desktop buddy or app. Her limitations are obvious and her programming hardline. K is still constrained by his, it's just not made as obvious - he can't say no to the captain and he doesn't lie, for example. It's even pointed out that, rather than lie (which he cannot do), he would simply not answer. The point of the 'baseline' testing is to show that, like the original, the replicants will always eventually develop complex emotional patterns and ultimately rebel. Saying that the replicants and humans are exactly the same is boring and ruins a lot of the philosophical question both movies pose.
I don't see how you could possibly conclude that Replicants aren't self-aware. They are very obviously aware of themselves as a distinct entity. That's not even a point of contention.
Once again, K isn't programmed. To quote the original movie, they are "genetically engineered." They have organic brains, and are only distinguishable via empathy tests.
It's far from "boring" and it certainly does not "ruin" any of the philosophical questions to realize that the Replicants are not programmed
TheOriginalJez said:I have bigger issues with Joi though - she's clearly just a programmed AI, and yet she tells K how to break the device in order to stop her location being reported. I can just about buy telling him to delete her files for 'confidentiality' but a corporation that is clearly a control freak to encourage users to go dark?
. My only gripe was that Jared Leto's character was a little goofy and pointless, but Sylvia Hoeks' character filled the villain role nicely enough on her own, anyways.
If we can get more reboots like this and Fury Road and less like Robocop and Total Recall I'll be very happy.