The Los Angeles depicted in Blade Runner 2049 is an overflowing metropolis at once crumbling and more beautiful than ever. The more footage that drops from the highly-anticipated Denis Villeneuve ( Arrival, Sicario) reboot of Ridley Scott's 1982 original, the more excited we are to see it. Iconic cinematographer and 13-time Oscar nominee Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, Skyfall) depicts a vibrant dystopia awash in gritty, neon hues.
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In the latest trailer for the film, Officer K (Ryan Gosling) slings questions, threats, and guns through clubs and wastelands washed in lighting that looks like a James Turrell work. His character is on the hunt for Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). At the end of the 1982 original, Deckard escaped into the night with a replicant and a new perspective on humanity. "I covered my tracks. Scrambled the records," he says in the trailer, of what happened in the interim. "We were being hunted!" Who was hunting him, and how Officer K located him is unclear.
Between searching for Deckard and hanging out with giant cyberpunk holograms, Gosling is supported by stunning performances from Robin Wright (House of Cards), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream, Fight Club, Suicide Squad). Our excitement about their characters is matched only by that of Deakins' take on Blade Runner's cocktail of noir roots and cyberpunk genre-busting. He preserves the darkness of iconic black-and-white detective stories, updated with rich colors and thick lighting that most closely mirrors his Academy Award-nominated work in the James Bond flick Skyfall.In the trailer below, there are fights, flirts, explosions, mysteries, and technology that is indistinguishable from magic. Watch it, and then start counting down the days until October 6.
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