I really enjoyed this movie when I first saw it in high school. Then in college it was one of four movies required by my favorite class at the College of Environmental Design: Psychology of Architecture (aka psycho architecture). I enjoyed the class so much I took it again, twice, as a teaching assistant.
Someday I may return to this paragraph with links to things I remember from psycho architecture. For now, I've copied some comments from an argument (on FB) with a dear friend -- mostly concerting voiceovers in the theatrical release vs. their absence in the director's cut and the final cut. I added a page fold below to mark the point where spoilers begin.
If you never saw the original (ahem, how'd I get on your friends list?) Blade Runner 2049 will stand beautifully on its own. It's better than either the original theatrical release of Blade Runner and the director's cut. If you're gonna watch the original before you see 2049, watch the theatrical release, not the director's cut. If you're gonna watch all three I suggest chronological order of release: first, the theatrical release, then the director's cut, then 2049.
For those of you who know Blade Runner: no arguing with me in this post about which order 'cos the reasons behind my opinion here are all spoilers for anyone who might actually _need_ my advice about The Correct Order. :-)
spoilers below
there's two reasons I think theatrical release is the right place to start.
1) there's really important ideas told too subtly without the voiceovers.
2) More importantly, it's crucial to close the movie with the most important question unanswered: "is Decard a replicant?"
That question is what makes the film into the cult classic. If you answer that question for the audience, then what you have is beautiful, incredible mood, long, slow, patient. But you and your friends don't have anything fun to argue about.
The other feature of the voiceover is helping us identify with a reluctant assassin.
Once you've seen the version that gets you asking the important questions and identifying with a bad guy... now you can see why the other releases are (mostly) better.
What's so great about 2049 is that it hits both parts right. no voiceover but much better visual storytelling to reveal the turning points and to reward the audience for patience and attention with the slow pace
I'll be specific about some things I only understood because of the voice over. I needed to know that blade runner's aren't supposed to have feelings. I needed to know Decard felt ashamed of himself for having feelings, ashamed of feeling ashamed for gunning Zhora down as she ran away from him almost naked.
Otherwise I would just hate him. I wouldn't care about his feelings when he becomes hunted by Roy in the final showdown.
By contrast, because I did identify with Decard, I felt hunted by Roy myself. It changes the whole experience.
I can't really know if I would have been able to figure all those things out on my own if I'd only ever seen the DC or FC. But I really don't think I would have tried. I don't think I'd have watched that movie as many times as I did if it weren't for those heavy-handed and forced voiceovers.
Another thought occurs to me cos I'm arguing with you in particular, My Friend the artist.
The very existence of the voiceovers is full of offensive corporate imposition on the craftsmanship of a gifted movie maker. Film noir is only alluded to in FC and DC. Adding the voice poisons a crafty allusion; transforms it into cliche "hard-boiled detective film noir".
Little in the world can be more offensive than The Money demanding artistry be twisted into cliche.
Here, I feel like Scott found an artistic trade off. The cliche noir spoon feeds us too much, but in exchange we get The Essential Questions to wrestle with: is Decard a replicant? Is that why Roy spared him? How would you know if your own memories are implants? Am I a replicant?
My Friend's final reply
The irony, to me, is that you have admirably put more thought into the voiceover than was put into its creation, since it was a dumbed-down add-on mandated by studio execs Scott never intended. I didn't NEED it to come up with any of the interesting questions, I already had way before it was spoon-fed. You can't backload artistry and a dig at corporate culture into something that lacked the artistry in the first place.