As expected, the movie Blade Runner 2049 did not disappoint. The cinematography was stupendous. However, there was a part that appeared unnecessary in the movie: Instead of being a two and a half hour movie, the director should have cut out the romance scenes between Officer K, a Blade Runner, and the android lover called Joy. The director should have shortened the love scenes for it dragged on needlessly. Joy appeared childish and tiresome—unless that is what the director aimed for: that the androids are childish and programmed to be predictable. The nude hologram of Joy would have been more than adequate as a gratuitous scene if that was what the director intended. Other than the tedious love scenes between Joy and Officer K, the movie kept you enthralled as if you were watching a dream. The future dystopian world appeared dark and hopelessly bleak but thanks to the great cinematography, it was lovely to watch.

To view humans going through the daily routines, as we do now, amid the troubling future was reassuring. Even if the world turned chaotic, people still needed to eat, work, maintain order, and have sex (sex is never gonna be out of fashion). And the actor Harrison Ford, who plays Rick Deckard, made the magic happen again with his charismatic charm; he livened up the screen with his humor, which awakened the viewers from their dreams.

In this post-nuclear, disaster world, populating the world with superhuman clones makes sense and seems necessary when the world became so empty of people who fell to the nuclear disaster. However, unlike the original Blade Runner, this movie makes us sympathize more with the clones instead of abhorring them. The humans who think themselves superior seem inferior next to the improved clones who are stronger and appear to be intelligent. The clones show much emotions and do not lack empathy that was believed to be the sole trait of humans. The newer and better clones in this movie give the impression of being more human than the real humans who appear less favorable at times. In consideration, however, since clones are made of the same stuff as humans are, it is doubtful that they could become nobler than humans.

In the end the movie provokes us to question: what makes humans human? And could stronger, superior clones of us be better than us—the humans? As mentioned before, this movie appears to sympathize with the clones, but the movie reveals the dark side of the clones as well by showing how the corrupt ones could be deadly and uncontrollable. Being human is more than showing intelligence and accomplishing achievements; to be instinctive is like that of an animal while being predictable is like that of a machine; therefore, a higher being must be able to achieve much more by going against his nature even if it could result in death. And interestingly, many clones in this movie appear to risk death in the hope of achieving their aspirations of becoming something more than androids, or—possibly—to subjugate the humans.

This movie is the genre that attracts certain followers who prefer to be stimulated mentally as well as visually; it may be that the the movie is favored because people sense that the real future could be somewhat like the scenes in this movie. Our technologies will advance, but the scenes of the possible future may not look so bright and “shiny”; it could be dark and foreboding like this movie. The prevalent uncertainty and the knowledge that something must be done for the survival of the human race will linger in the minds of the viewers. Yet, the director has turned the forlorn scenes into art that piques the mind and thus it is worthwhile to see.