The 35-year wait was worth it.

After openly admitting he took the Blade Runner 2049 gig primarily to stop anyone else screw it up, Denis Villeneuve is clearly made for Blade Runner. With a steadily ascending reputation for distinctly adult genre films with atmosphere, brains, and visual flair to spare; Villeneuve’s entire career has led him to this precise moment. It takes a brave person to revisit any much-loved film, let alone three decades after the fact but, with his heart firmly in the right place, Villeneuve was unquestionably the man to do it.

Dealing with pre-existing lore and a fervent fanbase, the line between success and failure for any sequel will always be miniscule. As a bare minimum, they must come from a place of affection to have any chance of success and, while Blade Runner 2049 thrives on many levels, it’s the clear passion behind it that marks the film out as something special. As an unabashed Blade Runner fanboy, Denis Villeneuve gets it.

In many ways, Blade Runner was the perfect slice of cinema. The perfectly poised story, the immersive world-building, and the prescient message make it an impeccable piece of self-contained cinema; as we dive in, engross ourselves in the universe and leave satisfied, yet inquisitive. Like many Philip K. Dick tales, Blade Runner was a story in and of itself; free from the trivial concerns of franchises or sequels. Considering this, and considering (barring a few notable exceptions) that sequels to classic films are universally terrible; there’s no way a Blade Runner sequel could work, right? Right?!

Wrong.

In 2049, bioengineered human replicants, have become fully integrated into society as a necessary means for humanity’s survival. With newer, more compliant replicants now commonplace; older, unreliable models are being hunted down and decommissioned by police officers known as ‘blade runners’. During a routine investigation into a rogue replicant, LAPD blade runner, K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret with the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. Revealing an intricate web of deceit and personal trauma, K’s investigation leads him on a quest to locate Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former blade runner who’s been AWOL for thirty years. As humanity’s future hangs in the balance, Deckard may be the key to restoring world order, but will he comply?

For better or worse, Blade Runner always felt lightyears ahead of its time. It’s look, feel, ideas, bold approach, and high regard for the audience’s intelligence came together to produce a finely crafted piece of cinematic art that stood apart from any other release of its time. Carefully and deliberately cutting itself up into complex jigsaw pieces for a discerning audience to put back together, Blade Runner operated on a level that neither the science fiction genre, nor the industry itself, had ever seen before (or, arguably, since). Everything about Blade Runner was so far ahead of its time that it’d take years for its true impact to be felt and, while the film’s box office demise has been well documented, its importance has only strengthened through time.

While three decades is a big gap in anyone’s money, how little this interlude is felt within the universe of Blade Runner itself is nothing short of miraculous. With the ease of a filmmaker at the top of his game, Denis Villeneuve has constructed a sequel that looks and feels like it went into production the moment Ridley Scott’s cameras stopped rolling. Without a beat missed, the transition is a seamless and the result is an exquisitely penned love letter to its predecessor; encapsulating all the elements that gave the original its magic, while utilising an advanced technology and a scaled-up budget to its advantage.

Like the original, there’s really only one way to experience Blade Runner 2049. This is a film not to be digested piecemeal but to be consumed as one visually sumptuous whole. While many will point withering fingers at the film’s hefty production budget ($150-185 million, depending on who you ask), it’s hard to argue when it’s all been spent this wisely. 2049’s budget is as bloated as any major studio tent pole, yet it feels like a blockbuster in the purest sense of the word; as Villeneuve spends his cash wisely to create a gigantic, all-encompassing cinematic experience.

Although Denis Villeneuve will receive many of the plaudits for the impeccable execution of his vision, and quite rightly so, it’d be straight-up disrespectful to understate the enormity of Roger Deakins’s influence. Despite having no prior connection to Blade Runner, the peerless cinematography of Deakins feels irrevocably linked to that of Jordan Cronenweth’s, with 2049’s every frame dripping with the grungy, neon-soaked noir that made the original so iconic.

Blade Runner 2049 is cinema on the grandest scale and under anyone else, there’s every chance the film would become lost in a no-man’s land of weightless digital effects but, under the trusty stewardship of Deakins and Villeneuve, we’re presented with a world of awe-inspiring tangibility that can’t be faked. Both internal and external sets are singular constructions of brutality and beauty that use CGI to supplement, rather than inform the action; adding a tactility to the film that feels a world away from many modern blockbusters.

CGI holograms rub shoulders with exquisitely constructed practical sets in a whirlwind of cinematic creativity and, as we venture out deep into the beautifully radioactive fog of the film’s hinterlands, the sheer gorgeousness of the Deakins’s expansive vision unfolding before us is almost too much to bear. It’s a masterclass of visual storytelling and, after fourteen (four-bloody-teen!) fruitless nominations, if the man fails to get his hands on an Academy Award with this one, there’s officially no justice left in the world.

For a fully-rendered Blade Runner experience, however, visuals just won’t cut it alone. Blade Runner was a film to be experienced as much sonically as it was visually and, in Vangelis’s dark and synthy original score, you had a fine example of both film and audio combining harmoniously. Utilising elements and motifs from the Vangelis score, Hans Zimmer and collaborator, Benjamin Wallfisch, use its mythical imprint as a springboard for a soundscape that feels like a natural accompaniment, while blossoming to become its own thing entirely.

Haunting orchestral moments flow into futuristic synths, before crashing into huge walls of sound in a manner that feels fresh and unique, while ensuring that Vangelis’s legacy is honoured. As a perfect example of Denis Villeneuve’s entire approach, Blade Runner 2049’s score is wonderfully retrospective, while ensuring it’s able to plough its own furrow.

Whether or not Blade Runner 2049 leans too heavily on its predecessor is open for debate but, while the Villeneuve’s stock in the original is clear to see, the film never tips over into nostalgic pastiche. 2049 is categorically not a Ridley Scott film. This is every inch a Denis Villeneuve film, as the director utilises what got him noticed in films like Arrival and Sicario as a vehicle to carry Scott’s original vision into the future.

More than many sequels, 2049 is a poignant changing of the guard and, as the filmmaking torch passes from Scott to Villeneuve, we see the same handover with the film’s stars. In a world that deals in replicated humans, it’d be easy to dismiss Gosling’s K as a young, like-for-like replacement for Harrison Ford’s Deckard but that’s far from the case. K is a character of an entirely different breed and, while as stoic and restrained as Deckard ever was, Gosling’s performance adds its own spark that allows K to distinguished himself from his predecessor. K sees Gosling back at his monosyllabic best and, like his laconic role in Drive, he is able to pack in impressive amounts of emotion and charm into such a seemingly cypher-like character.

As the primary link to the original, Ford looks as forlorn as he ever has but, despite his trademark hangdog demeanour, he’s able to turn in his best performance in quite some time. Still harbouring a clear affection for Deckard, Ford puts all he can muster into the role and, despite his recent habit of resurrecting iconic characters has yielded mixed results, this is certainly him on a good day. After his clear misery with Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and the back-breaking toll taken on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it’s just nice to see the man enjoy a role again.

Questions will no doubt be asked of the film’s gender politics and, on the surface, this appears fair. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find a male-dominated world quietly reinforced by women. Past Gosling, the film’s wider cast are populated by strong female characters; epitomised by Ana de Armas, who steals the show as a character that transcends the troubling confines of her virtual plaything status, to become something far more interesting. As a clear comment on the film’s pleasure-driven, matriarchal society; Joi proves herself to be more than just titillation, able to become a fully rounded character in her own right and often outshining Gosling as she does so.

Of the remaining cast, Robin Wright proves a dominant and powerful force throughout as Lt. Joshi and Sylvia Hoeks as the unstoppable assassin, Luv, is just as menacing and unhinged as Rutger Hauer’s iconic Roy Batty. As the film’s prominent villainous force, Luv is absolutely dominating to the point that she completely upstages her boss, Niander Wallace, who, despite being propped up by a typically off-kilter Jared Leto performance, sorely lacks presence throughout.

Blade Runner was never a film afraid to think big and these lofty intentions continue unabated here. With intricately mapped out plot, Blade Runner 2049 continues to mine and explore the notions of humanity and identity brought up so eloquently by its predecessor. While robots and synthetic humans are hardly new science fiction concepts, few go quite as deep as 2049. With the sinister Tyrell Corporation motto ‘More human than human’ clearly at the forefront of Denis Villeneuve’s mind throughout the film, the director appears unafraid to take a deep dive down the rabbit hole that Ridley Scott initially dug. It’s an incredibly satisfying experience as Villeneuve appears willing and able to continue the conversations of morality, humanity, and sentience that Blade Runner first brought up.

Like its predecessor, Blade Runner 2049 isn’t one to downplay the audience’s intelligence or underestimate their patience. Clocking in at a bladder-testing 163-minutes, 2049 definitely isn’t a film to be approached lightly, but there’s no doubting it’s well worth your time, if you allow it. Blade Runner was never a film to hand out instant gratification and Villeneuve stays true to the original’s slow burn by constructing an overtly adult piece of blockbuster cinema that works both the heart and the mind and, for those willing to give it a chance, the outcome is something truly rewarding.

It may have the scale and budget of a summer blockbuster, but Blade Runner 2049’s ambitions are something altogether more intimate. As a continuation of a story that began thirty-five years ago, 2049 is the perfect example of how to resurrect a beloved film correctly, and the painstaking effort applied in getting such a stunningly cohesive sequel to the big screen is astonishing. Blade Runner 2049 is an overwhelming and highly-intelligent piece of science fiction cinema and, while few were initially clamouring for a continuation of the Blade Runner story, what Denis Villeneuve has produced will go down as one of the greatest sequels of all time.