Blade Runner 2049

In 1982 Blade Runner changed cinema forever. It set the benchmark for dystopian near-future sci-fi, and has matured like a fine wine, whilst later attempts to achieve the same thing have aged like a tray of plums in the sun. If you want proof, watch Blade Runner, then watch Total Recall (the Arnie one) which is nearly a decade younger, also based on a Philip K Dick story and set in the same universe. Then tell me which one looks like it was made yesterday, and which one looks like a fibreglass moonrock nightmare. It’s not just the set design which continues to blow me away, either. The script, the cinematography, the acting, the Vangelis soundtrack...now, 35 years after the original, there’s a sequel.

As I’m sure you all remember, Blade Runners are cops who hunt down and destroy rogue replicants (human-esque androids) who run amok in a state of existential crisis. Well, it looks like they still haven’t worked the bugs out, as we again follow Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a Blade Runner, as he investigates a case that leads him to former BR Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). Whatever happens, the one thing I’m certain of is that it will mostly happen in foggy, poorly lit back alleys in the rain. Noir-tastic.