It's weird, if it weren't for the involvement of ARRIVAL director Denis Villeneuve, I don't think I'd have much interest in the BLADE RUNNER sequel. Sure, I'd be curious, and even the casting of Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford would raise an eyebrow or three – but not enough to guarantee a ticket. However, the attention to detail, the use of world-building, and most importantly an aversion to dumb action and to the utilization of achingly earnest emotion of Villeneuve's last film is what truly gravitates me to the sequel. Honestly, after the recent ALIEN sequels, Ridley Scott's involvement is more of a liability than anything.
Anyway, to help whet our appetites, the studio has released a behind-the-scenes featurette that shows off tons (possibly too much?) new footage. Let's take a look:
Man, I love the beautiful shots we're shown here. Like the original, there is a meditative, dream-like quality to everything – while at the same time maintaining its own unique identity. It's also heartening that any action footage was relegated to the end, and that it seems the last action-heavy trailer might've used all the explosive material, or at least most of it. The original had action scenes, but that's not what it was about. It's good to see the sequel seems to be following suit.
Meanwhile, BLADE RUNNER 2049 will run to theaters October 6th, 2017.