The original Blade Runner is a sci-fi classic creating a highly distinctive visual and audio landscape. How do you create a follow on without trashing the original?

The new story cleverly extends the original in what feels like a meaningful way by investigating the question of what happened to replicants Deckard (Harrison Ford) and Rachael (Sean Young) as they escaped off into the post-apocalyptic distance. That investigation draws new model replicant K (Ryan Gosling) into a secret that will prove monumental to replicants and humans alike.

While it manages to preserve the tone and aesthetic it doesn’t feel as grand and operatic, there doesn’t seem to be the same intense quotable scenes[1] Perhaps it’s inevitable, like a painting “in the style of…” that it captures all the form, mimics the brushstrokes but not the original creativity. There are some truly impressive visual effects such as the digital recreation of Rachael from the original movie.

This is still a very good film, it works, charting it’s own path while fitting into the world of the first film. But it won’t go down as a classic.

[1] I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in rain… Time to die.