Blade Runner 2049 (4K UHD BD) [Blu-ray]

Product Information

Director Albert Cho, Alejandro Mora, Attila Veres, Brandon Lambdin, Brian Niemczyk, Charlie Watson, Denis Villeneuve, Donald Sparks, Dora Simko, Gábor Hegedüs Hege, Gergely Apjok, Hajós Péter, Jessica Clothier, Joel Kramer, Karen Davis, Levente Kölcsey-Gyurkó, Susan M. Elmore, Tamás Péter Chipie, Vera Janisch

Designing the World of Blade Runner 2049 (HD 21:55) With cast, crew, and creative team interviews, this is a pretty fantastic look at the making of the world of this sequel. While a lot of stuff is covered, 21 minutes feels a tad short for my taste, this could be its own feature-length documentary I'm sure. For me, Blade Runner 2049 is a titanic achievement. It's the sequel I never wanted but am overjoyed to have. Villeneuve and his creative partners nailed it. Coming out of Sicario I was excited to see what Villeneuve could do with Arrival as the original short story was so short but heady. Coming out of Arrival I knew he was going to do something interesting with Blade Runner 2049. After this film, I know Dune is in capable hands. That said, I don't need another Blade Runner. Sure there is a lot left to explore, but it doesn't need to be. Two films are enough for this little franchise of science fiction masterpieces. Blade Runner 2049can feel a bit padded at times. It's not too long or anything, I wouldn't cut any scenes, but there are certain stretches where one can feel the length. Ridley Scott himself has recently come out and said that part of the reason why this film didn't connect at the box office was probably due to its length. Again, I'd say that it is a tad long, but that has more to do with pace rather than length. Some scenes could have been trimmed, but not eliminated. To be honest, I'm glad that Scott didn't direct this sequel. After the middling Prometheus and the messy Alien Covenant, I don't think he would have had the patience to let this film and its ideas breathe in a satisfying way. Scott's films of late feel like they suffer from Intellectual ADD, one interesting idea pops up without being fully explored before jumping to another interesting idea before being dropped altogether and outright forgotten. Whether it's the Brutalist architecture of Los Angeles or the trash mesas of San Diego, the artificial sunlight that drapes the Wallace Corporation's interiors or the arid beauty of Las Vegas, it's hard to look beyond Roger Deakin's Oscar-winning cinematography for how it contrasts the beauty and desolation of this world (although we still haven't been off-world).The journey of discovery, for both K and the audience, examines tropes science-fiction has been digging at since its inception. What does it mean to be human? What defines humanity? The original film touched upon these themes, but they are given more weight in 2049, which makes for a more engaging story.

But it's a film full of many moments of breathtaking vision. You'd have to search far and wide to find a film from 2017 that's this well realised. While Blade Runner felt small and contained, 2049 aims for an epic and sweeping quality that's not far off David Lean's widescreen images. Against all odds, Denis Villeneuve has crafted a truly worthy sequel to Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner. This is not quite a masterpiece, nor can it be called a “perfect” film like the original, but 2049’s conceptual, visual, and character additions to this world are significant and feel completely organic and true to that compelling earlier narrative. Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 is a deeply cinematic experience, a film that dazzles the senses even as it challenges the intellect. It’s also a remarkable 4K Ultra HD experience that’s not to be missed. Nexus Dawn (HD 6:31) Directed by Luke Scott, this short expands on a part of the prologue explaining how Jared Leto's Wallace was able to continue production of Replicants and also plants a couple seeds for his motivations in the movie. To Be Human: Casting Blade Runner 2049 (HD 17:15) This is an interesting look at not just the casting of the major players but the numerous small roles that had recognizable actors but featured in small important ways.legendary Roger Deakins, a pioneer of digital cinema who personally oversaw the film's post-production on a 4K digital intermediate. Deakins also Blade Runner 2049 can be hunted down on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presented in 3840 x 2160p with a widescreen 2.40:1 aspect ratio, using 10-bit video depth, a Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range(HDR), encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec. The UHD Blu-ray was reviewed on a Samsung UE55KS8000 Ultra HD TV and a Samsung UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout. Person to person exchanges solid a rich in-the-room quality to them. These exchanges can be particularly jarring and unsettling when K undergoes his baseline tests as words are thrown fast and furious with an increasing intensity. As clean as dialogue is, there are long stretches of silence where no one is talking and all you're left with is atmosphere. Sometimes it's rain, sometimes wind, sometimes it's nothing at all. This Atmos mix handles these variations beautifully with plenty of constant surround activity from every angle. Even in the quietest of moments, there's always something to hear.

The most interesting characters are mostly non-human. Gosling's K is close to his lean performance from Drive (or his turn in the interminable Only God Forgives) – his search for a soul in an indecent world marking him out as the narrative's most sympathetic character. Sylvia Hoek's brilliant Luv, Niander's right-hand woman, is a ferocious but curiously immature creation. Ana de Armas' Joi is a stunning visual concept, an AI that blurs the line (certainly for K) as to what's real and what's not. Dialogue is centred for the most part, but can move round to other speakers to good effect. Atmos is well utilised in this aspect too, projecting disembodied voices with authority such as K's intimidating baseline test. Villeneuve has crafted a visual feast for the eyes. Using a mix of old-school practical effects and models with new digital effects, he created a beautiful yet horrifying landscape that echoes the world presented in the first film, but shows that humanity has stumbled further into a frightful dystopia where it rains all day, snows all night, and the sun rarely pierces the haze that lingers above Los Angeles.Roger Deakins captures every minute detail with wide expansive vistas and long takes that allow your eyes the freedom to wander. With 13 Oscar nominations and no wins, Deakins is long overdue for the Academy recognition he rightly deserves. I don't know if Blade Runner 2049 will be the film that nails it for him, but he plays with color, light, and shadow to create a world that is both beautiful and horrifying. The 4k Blu-Ray version of Blade Runner 2049 recently came out so I spent a few hours going through the movie frame-by-frame to get some of the most beautiful screenshots from the movie. Well, I ended up getting 270 so I guess I absolutely love this movie, Roger Deakins you are a mastermind of cinematography! Below are all 270 Blade Runner 2049 4k screenshots, there are maybe 10 duplicated where I wasn’t happy with the lighting and adjusted. There may also be some a bit blurry for a 4k screen but should be fine on anything smaller. All Images are extracted from the 4k Blu-Ray movie at 3840 x 1600 pixels.

Extras

Public Domain street photography of vehicles traveling on road between large buildings during nighttime

The colours have received a boost, thanks to Wide Colour Gamut (WCG). They're enriched, and the texture and subtlety of the tones is more readily appreciable. The various oranges and reds, mixed with yellows and glossy creams in the Las Vegas sequence are gorgeously rendered. Characters in BR 2049 say as much (or more) with their faces as with their words, and the UHD's increasedThe lighting throughout is fantastic, with light sources seemingly improved. It's not that they're brighter, but more distinct. The hues get a better showcase on the 4K, such as the fluorescent tinge to the lights in K's kitchen. From a character perspective, it's less successful. Robin Wright's Lieutenant Joshi spends most of her time speechifying, while Jared Leto's narcissistic Niander Wallace prattles on about Mankind's destiny. They're not bad performances, they're just clunkily written. The overall Atmos is an excellent one, with consistent activity in the height channels. Whether it's K's spinner, voices or Los Angeles' environment (it rains a lot), the height channels have weight and presence. The positioning and steering of effects are seamless as gunshots zip past, Spinners throttle across the screen and waves crash along the Sepulveda Wall in the film's climax.