Both the original Blade Runner and the sequel that came out last year are important films. Despite being commercial failures they will be hailed forever as masterpieces of respectively 20th and 21st century cinematic art. It’s not just the aesthetic which makes Blade Runner so worthwhile. The philosophy behind it is meticulous and well thought out.
The baseline is pretty simple of course. In a not-too-distant future humankind has created robots which resemble humans in every way except when it comes to empathy. Tests have been developed to ascertain the difference between a human being and a replicant. However, as the models become more sophisticated, will the test remain sufficient or will a replicant be able to fool the system?
Blade Runners are the cops who hunt down the replicants that are a danger to the community. In the first movie we see Agent Deckard, played by Harrison Ford. For all we know, Deckard is a human, who famously falls in love with one of the replicants. In 2049 Blade Runners have become replicants themselves, hunting down older models that need to be put out of order (which means they have to be killed). K is the new Blade Runner, portrayed by Ryan Gosling.
Literary references
In Blade Runner 2049 there are some very literal references to the novel Pale Fire by Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov. This novel takes the form of a poem, annotated by an editor who tells three stories interlinked with each other. At the end the reader discovers the editor isn’t who he says he is. In other words, you can’t trust this editor’s annotations and interpretation of the poem he is analysing.
In the same vein as Pale Fire, Blade Runner 2049 is sowing doubt in the viewer’s mind as to whether the Voight-Kampff tests are accurate. Maybe the replicants have at some point become so smart they’re able to mislead the Blade Runners.
