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Blade Runner 2049 is a 2017 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve. It is a sequel to the 1982 film Blade Runner.

The film takes place after the events of the first film, following a new Blade Runner, LAPD Officer K. K unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what is left of society into chaos, leading him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD Blade Runner who has been missing for thirty years.[1]

Plot[]

"Replicants are bioengineered humans, designed by Tyrell Corporation for use off-world. Their enhanced strength made them ideal slave labor
After a series of violent rebellions, their manufacture became prohibited and Tyrell Corp went bankrupt
The collapse of ecosystems in the mid 2020s led to the rise of industrialist Niander Wallace, whose mastery of synthetic farming averted famine
Wallace acquired the remains of Tyrell Corp and created a new line of replicants who obey
Many older model replicants – Nexus-8s with open-ended lifespans – survived. They are hunted down and 'retired'
Those that hunt them still go by the name...
Blade Runner
"[src]

In the year 2049, bio-engineered humans called replicants have been integrated into society, though still face discrimination from humans. Officer K, a Nexus-9 replicant model, works as a Blade Runner for the Los Angeles Police Department, hunting down and retiring outdated Nexus-8 model replicants with open-ended lifespans rushed into production by the Tyrell Corporation in 2020 following the death of its founder, Dr. Eldon Tyrell, in November 2019. K lives with his Wallace designed and produced "Joi", who keeps him company in his apartment as a holographic projection.

June 30, 2049[]

K's investigation into an elusive replicant freedom movement leads him to a protein farm in rural California, where he finds rogue Nexus-8 replicant Sapper Morton. Following a brief questioning, the two engage in vicious hand-to-hand combat inside the farmhouse. Ultimately, K is able to fend off Sapper and, returning to the kitchen area, get a hold of his gun. At gunpoint, Sapper reveals that K is, in fact, a replicant and that he "has never seen a miracle" moments before K fires twice, killing him. Prior to leaving the farm, K notices a flower lying in at the base of Sapper's tree and, upon conducting a scan of the ground below it, finds a buried crate.

Back in Los Angeles, K enters the LAPD headquarters where he is given an immediate Baseline Test.

Later that night, K returns to his apartment, where he is accompanied by his holographic girlfriend, Joi. K gives Joi an "emanator" (also of Wallace design) as an "anniversary present". The emanator allows Joi to be portable or, in K's words, to "go anywhere in the world" unrestrained by the need of a home projector. During an intimate moment with Joi, K is interrupted by a call from his superior at the LAPD, Lieutenant Joshi, who recalls K to the police headquarters.  

Back at the LAPD headquarters, a forensic analysis initially reveals that the contents inside the box, a complete skeleton and a lock of hair, belong to a female who died as a result of complications from an emergency caesarian section. Upon closer inspection, K discovers a serial number inscribed on the bone. The discovery is alarming to both K and Joshi, for it was previously inconceivable that a replicant could procreate. K is ordered by Joshi to destroy all evidence related to the case and to eliminate the child birthed by the replicant. The knowledge that replicants are capable of procreation, Joshi fears, will lead to a bloody war between humans and replicants on Earth and in the Off-world colonies.

K begins his investigation at the Wallace Corporation Earth Headquarters. Utilizing the lock of hair extracted from the ossuary below Sapper's tree, K, with the assistance of a Wallace employee, is able to identify the female replicant as a "standard issue", "pre-Blackout" and "unremarkable" Tyrell produced replicant. Moments later, Wallace's replicant enforcer Luv introduces herself to Officer K before leading him to a memory storage center. An audio-based memory pertaining to the female replicant under investigation is played. The audio file reveals a Blade Runner "Deckard" conducting a Voight-Kampff test on the female replicant.

July 1, 2049[]

K continues his investigation with a visit to Officer Deckard's old colleague and former Blade Runner, Gaff. Following a brief questioning by K, Gaff fails to provide any leads to Deckard's current whereabouts. Gaff mentions that Deckard is "nyugdijas" (retired).

That night, while having dinner in Los Angeles, K is approached by a prostitute, Mariette, tasked by a woman, with knowledge of Sapper Morton, to extract information from him. Despite Mariette's best efforts, she is unable to gain any information related to the case from K, who also rejects all her sexual advances towards him.

July 2, 2049[]

Returning to Sapper Morton's farm, K finds an old photograph of a woman holding a baby (the presumed child) as well as a baby's sock stored inside a cigarette tin and hidden within a piano. Sapper's tree is also visible in the photograph. Before leaving the farm, K gives the tree one last close inspection. At the base of the tree, K discovers the date "6.10.21" inscribed. This finding is visibly disturbing to K, who then sets the farmhouse afire and leaves.

Believing that reproduction in replicants can bolster his production, and subsequently expand his operations in the Off-world colonies, Niander Wallace sends Luv to retrieve the female replicant's remains from the LAPD headquarters and follow K to find "the child." In the years following his acquisition of the remains of the bankrupt Tyrell Corporation in 2028, Wallace has attempted to create a replicant model capable of procreation, without any success. Wallace is aware, however, that the founder of the Tyrell Corporation, Dr. Eldon Tyrell, was able to produce a female replicant capable of procreation prior to his death. At the LAPD headquarters, Luv is able to retrieve the remains of the female replicant under investigation, while killing LAPD employee and lab technician, Coco, in the process.

That night, Lieutenant Joshi urgently visits K at his apartment. She informs K that the female replicant's remains were stolen and that Coco has been killed. Joshi, extremely aggravated and distressed by the events that have taken place, reiterates to K the immense importance of the task she has assigned him and demands that he carry out his orders and eliminate "the child" with haste. Moments later, the two engage in conversation and Joshi asks K to tell her a childhood memory of his. K then proceeds to recount an intimate memory of him as a child. In the memory, K reveals, he is living in an orphanage where a group of children chase after him in order to get a wooden horse toy from him by force. K, determined to stop this from happening, hides the toy inside an abandoned furnace. He is then beaten by the angry children, who are unable to obtain the horse. K adds that he considers the story as insignificant, since memories such as the one he has just recounted are implanted into replicants such as himself, and thus hold no real meaning.

July 3, 2049[]

The following day, K continues his investigation at the LAPD headquarters. He is unable to obtain information of children born on "6.10.21," as it was prior to the massive loss of records caused by the Blackout in the year 2022. As a result, K is obligated to carry out the DNA analysis personally. Whilst doing this, Joi joins him in the DNA analysis room. The two have a private conversation in which Joi produces the wooden toy horse which was referred to by K in his childhood memory. Joi reveals, however, that the date "6.10.21" was also inscribed at the base of the toy horse. The appearance of the same date on both the horse and Sapper's tree opens the possibility of K being connected to the investigation itself. K calls this a "dangerous coincidence" while Joi tries to convince K that he may be "woman born." K establishes the dangers that such truth may have. As a born replicant, he could face persecution and, if captured, be subject to experimentation. While conducting the DNA analysis, K discovers an anomaly: two records with identical DNA. The DNA analysis ultimately reveals the birth of two children: a boy and girl. This discovery leads K to believe that one must be a copy since two individuals cannot have identical DNA. The records reveal that both children were processed at the Morrillcole Orphanage, and that the girl died there at a young age due to a genetic disorder (Galatians Syndrome), while the boy "disappears" from the records.

K, accompanied by Joi, flies in his spinner to San Diego, where the Morrillcole Orphanage is located. While flying over San Diego, K's spinner is disabled midair by scavengers. Upon crash landing, K confronts the scavengers who intend to rob him of his vehicle. Though momentarily dazed from the crash landing, he is able to kill one of the scavengers that attacks him and fight off another before holding off the rest temporarily with his pistol. However, more scavengers approach the scene. Unexpectedly, multiple precision airstrikes violently repel and kill K's attackers. Back at the Wallace Corporation Earth Headquarters, Luv is ordering the missile strikes by voice command. Free from the hostile locals, K continues towards the orphanage on foot.

At the Morrillcole Orphanage, Mister Cotton, the man in charge of the orphanage, is threatened by K to provide him with all the records of children sold or processed at the orphanage from 30 years back. In his office, Cotton brings out a thick book with records from around that time. To his surprise, the pages with the dates and information K is searching for the year 2021 had been ripped from the book. Now alone and facing a dead end in his investigation, K begins to walk the desolated interiors of the orphanage, familiar to him through his implanted "childhood" memories. Slowly and timidly, K approaches the abandoned furnace from his dream. K is overwhelmed with emotions as he finally retrieves the wooden horse from inside the furnace. The horse, with the inscription "6.10.21", establishes the connection between the dead female replicant who gave birth and died on 6.10.21, and K himself, implying that the memories were not in fact "implanted" but are rather genuine after all.

That night, K returns to his apartment in Los Angeles where he reveals his discoveries to Joi. Apparently elated by K's findings, Joi insists on naming him "Joe" and that he is truly special as she has been saying in the past. K, however, remains unsure about his discovery and wonders where he may ultimately find the truth, to which Joi suggests contacting those tasked with manufacturing the memories implanted in replicants.

July 4, 2049[]

Determined to find the truth, K visits memory designer Dr. Ana Stelline at Stelline Laboratories. Stelline informs K that it is illegal for designers to manufacture (real) human memories to later implant into Nexus-9 replicants. Moments later, Stelline offers K to examine his childhood memory to determine whether it is authentic or not. Following the examination, a tearful Stelline reveals that the memory is in fact authentic. K acknowledges this before having an outburst and exiting the lab. Outside Stelline Laboratories, K is arrested by the LAPD.

Back at the LAPD headquarters in Los Angeles, K is subjected to the Baseline examination, which he unequivocally fails. At Joshi's office, the noticeably furious lieutenant questions K about his past whereabouts and the progress of his investigation. K deceives Joshi by stating that he had found and eliminated "the child," elaborating that the sought after replicant (the child now a grown replicant) worked a regular service job in Los Angeles and that he (K) has retired it. Joshi believes this and reasons that the emotional weight of such a task has been the cause of K's failure of the Baseline examination. Joshi orders K to surrender his gun and badge, and suggests he has "48 hours to get back on track," adding that his next Baseline Test "is out of her hands."

K returns to his apartment where Joi waits for him. Moments later, the prostitute, Mariette, joins them at the request of Joi, who wants to please K physically, something she's unable to do as a hologram. Joi and Mariette "sync" together and have sex with K. After, unbeknownst to K, Mariette places a tracker inside of his coat pocket.

Later that night, after Mariette leaves the apartment, K mentions to Joi that "they [the LAPD] will be coming after me soon," and that he must leave Los Angeles and disappear. Joi insists that she come with him and that he delete her from the home console as the LAPD may retrieve her memories of him. K objects, as Joi would then only remain in the emanator, substantially increasing the risk of losing her indefinitely. Ultimately Joi convinces K to do so, and then instructs him to break the antenna within the emanator. Back at the Wallace Corporation Headquarters, Luv is immediately aware of this and rushes to K's apartment.

July 5, 2049[]

In the early hours of the night, K and Joi visit Doc Badger in his shop in Los Angeles where he conducts an examination of the wooden horse. The examination reveals extraordinarily high levels of radiation (tritium). This leads K to the ruins of Las Vegas.

After finding K's apartment abandoned, Luv confronts Lieutenant Joshi at the LAPD Headquarters. Joshi indicates that she is unaware of K's whereabouts and that the Blade Runner succeeded in "retiring" the born replicant they were after. A frustrated Luv tells Joshi that K has lied to her, but despite her threats, Joshi refuses to reveal where K is. Luv then kills Joshi with her switchblade. Moments later, Luv gains access to Joshi's computer from which she is able to determine K's location.

In Las Vegas, K utilizes his drone to survey the abandoned city for signs of life. The drone spots a pocket of heat in the distance, which K then proceeds to examine on foot. When he arrives at the source of the heat signature at the other end of the city, K discovers a beehive placed among erotic statues. While examining the beehive, K hears a piano which leads him to the Vintage Casino. K walks the interior of the casino very cautiously until he finally encounters Rick Deckard and his dog. Deckard holds K at gunpoint, and asks what he is doing there. After K responds that he is there to ask him some questions, Deckard fires on K, who is able to jump out of Deckard's sights quickly enough to avoid being shot. Deckard then follows an unarmed K into the casino's showroom, where K is able to disarm Deckard and convince him to answer his questions. The two then sit together at the bar of Deckard's penthouse in the casino, where after a heated exchange, Deckard reveals that the name of the mother of his child was Rachael and that before the birth, he chose to leave a pregnant Rachael under the protection of the replicant freedom movement. Given the dangers at the time with the increasing persecution of Nexus-8 replicants (due to their new natural lifespans) by human supremacy movements, Deckard considered leaving Rachael with Sapper and the freedom movement to be the safest option. After mentioning that "to love someone, sometimes you have to be a stranger," a very emotional Deckard walks out, leaving K sitting at the bar.

Moments later, Luv and her men attack and kidnap Deckard, destroying Joi and leaving a severely wounded K for dead. He is later rescued by the replicant freedom movement, of which Mariette is revealed to be a member, and told by their leader, Freysa, that he is not Rachael's child, who was a girl: Dr. Stelline. Freya urges K to prevent Wallace from uncovering the secrets of replicant reproduction by any means necessary, including killing Deckard.

July 6, 2049[]

In Los Angeles, Deckard is brought before Wallace, who suggests Rachael's feelings for him were engineered by her creator, Dr. Eldon Tyrell to test the possibility of a replicant becoming pregnant. Deckard refuses to help Wallace, even for a new version of Rachael. As a result, Luv kills the clone of Rachael and is instructed by Wallace to escort Deckard to one of his off-world outposts to be tortured for information. After interacting with a massive advertisement version of Joi, K intercepts Luv's spinner and forces it to crash before fighting and killing Luv. He then fakes Deckard's death in the spinner's destruction to protect him from both Wallace and the replicants, and leads Deckard to Stelline's office. K encourages Deckard to meet his daughter and laments that all the best memories belong to her. While Deckard cautiously enters the office and approaches Stelline, a severely wounded K lies on the steps and watches the snow fall.

Cast[]

Uncredited Cast[]

Ratings and Reviews[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, Blade Runner 2049 stands at an approval rating of 88% based on 319 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10, and an audience score of 81% who "like it" with an average rating of 4.1/5 from a total of 47,844 user ratings.The site's critical consensus reads "Visually stunning and narratively satisfying, Blade Runner 2049 deepens and expands its predecessor's story while standing as an impressive filmmaking achievement in its own right.[2]

IMDb users (136,838) have given Blade Runner 2049 a weighted average vote of 8.5/10.

81% of Google users "like this film".

Review website Metacritic currently have Blade Runner 2049 with a Metascore of 81/100, based on 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim", and a 8.4 Metacritic "User Score".[3] However, early reports indicate that the film may be a box office flop.[4]

Nominations and awards[]

Blade Runner 2049 received five nominations at the 90th Academy Awards, winning Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography. It received eight nominations at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, including Best Director, winning Best Cinematography and Best Special Visual Effects.

Sequel[]

Ridley Scott, on the subject of a possible sequel, has stated "I hope so. I think there is another story. I've got another one ready to evolve and be developed, so there is certainly one to be done for sure."[5] Villeneuve has expressed interest in directing another Blade Runner film, though one narratively-unconnected to the previous films.[6]

The franchise has since continued in other mediums, including the VR games Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab and Blade Runner: Revelations, comics by Titan Comics, the anime Blade Runner: Black Lotus, and a tabletop roleplaying game, Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game.

A live-action television series, Blade Runner 2099, is in development.[7]

Video[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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