We got our first full-length trailer for Blade Runner 2049 today, and while it tried to hide any possible answers it might have, no movie is safe from our sleuthing. We scanned and enhanced the footage to not only figure out the general shape of the film, but also to find the many allusions to its predecessor.
I think the thing that is the strangest about Blade Runner 2049 is how much it looks like the original. We know this is set 30 years in the future from the first film, which was set in 2019. And while the 37-year gap between when that movie was made in 1982 and when it was set was readily apparent in the technology seen in the film, it seems like very little in the world of Blade Runner has changed over the 30 years that have passed. Sure, holograms have replaced screens, but that’s kind of it.
This gif is from the trailer for the first movie, and special effects quality aside, it’s basically the same place. That said, there are hints in this trailer (and the official synopsis mentions “what’s left of society”) that something pretty catastrophic has happened between then and now, so that could explain it.
Someone’s still doing pretty well in the future, since he has this giant space.
Agent K (Ryan Gosling) is led into what I presume is just Jared Leto’s actual house.
“Every civilisation was built off the back of a disposable workforce,” says Leto’s character, reportedly named Wallace, but clearly a replicant maker. But is Agent K is there as part of an investigation, or has Leto’s character summoned him?
I would just like to point out that, for all his method acting, it is impossible to look at this face and not just see Jared Leto.
The answer to the question of where the replicants come from is “squeezed out of a plastic tube like Gogurt”.
“But I can only make so many. Shhh, happy birthday,” Wallace continues, and now we see that he’s blind.
The whole line as heard at CinemaCon was, “We build angels here. But I can only make so many.” There is literally no way he isn’t a villain.
“There is an order to things,” says Robin Wright, obviously a commanding officer of some kind. And again, not to belabour the point, but from the original movie:
The new film has nailed the look, that’s for sure.
“That’s what we do here. We keep order,” says Wright’s character.
We then get a shot of Officer K’s gun, which does not look like it’s that far removed from the one Deckard carried 30 years ago.
The last comparison, I swear.
“The world is built on a wall that separates kind. Tell either side there is no wall, you’ve bought a war,” she continues. There’s a weird skip in the trailer in between the words “separates” and “kind”, which makes me think there’s another word there that is a clue.
Agent K’s tender moment is with Joi (Ana de Armas) who we’ll later see in another context, which makes me pretty certain she’s a replicant.
The plot synopsis has Agent K finding out a “long-buried secret” that “leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard”. They say quest, but given how most trailers like to lean on the first act of a film, I’m betting he finds Deckard (Harrison Ford) pretty quickly.
Also, wherever Deckard is has been ruined. It’s clearly not where Ridley Scott initially envisioned Deckard living in a sequel — on a farm in Wyoming.
“You’re a cop,” says Deckard.
If you flip the shot of Agent K entering Deckard’s abode, you can read the floor mat and find that he’s holed up in the “Vintage Casino”. A casino would back up the rumour that Deckard’s been holed up in Las Vegas.
Whatever secret has driven K to Deckard, Deckard’s disappeared for 30 years for a reason, and he’s very paranoid.
“I had your job once. I was good at it,” says Deckard.
“I know,” says Agent K. Which is almost, but not quite, a Star Wars shout out.
“What do you want?”
“I want to ask you some questions.”
Blade Runner was entirely urban and contained to a single city. The amount of travelling we see in this trailer expands the scope of the story a lot and is a welcome difference from the original.
“The key to the future is finally unearthed,” says a voice I think is Leto’s. Wherever this place is in the mountains, it looks like they discovered something. There’s something about the acting that kind of hints that Agent K just did something Deckard did not expect him to be able to do. Or it may be the reaction shot to a later bit a few seconds later, where K reveals some mysterious numbers.
This is definitely Mackenzie Davis in the front and (I think) Carla Juri behind her. There have been rumours that one of the original replicants will show up in this film, and these two definitely look like they could be acolytes of either Pris (Daryl Hannah) or Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer).
Out in the rocky and icy place, the numbers “6 10 21” are carved. Is this the key Wallace is talking about? These look very much like a date, so whatever they’re investigating started in 2021, maybe?
“Bring it to me,” Wallace orders what I assume is a replicant, played by Sylvia Hoeks. She has bangs that remind me strongly of Rachael (Sean Young) from the original.
Either way, whatever plan K had is interrupted by Hoeks’ character. But maybe K is interrupting her plan by firing on her ship.
“They know you’re here,” says Deckard. Aw, Deckard has a dog.
This is cut really weirdly — is that K coming through the wall? That would be more than human, wouldn’t it? I think the two shots — the wall guy and Deckard being pulled back from the explosion — aren’t actually next to each other in the actual movie. I think something happens between them.
Later we’ll see this holographic club full of dancing women, but for now: Elvis.
This looks like Davis’ character giving information to K — is she one of his informants?
Dave Bautista shows up very briefly, but his character’s still a complete secret.
But given the way he tosses K through a wall, I think he’s not quite human either. It could be him playing Kool-Aid Man in the scene above.
I don’t know what is going here, but the location could be the same as the one we see Bautista and K fighting. This whole place looks like the farm that Scott wanted to open the film with which was also going to feature a fight with a very big replicant. Now it’s K’s fight instead of Deckard’s.
We know Ana de Armas’ character is named Joi; seeing her up on this ad with that word seals the replicant deal for me.
Camouflaged ship? The face of this person is hidden, but it could be Hiam Abbass, one of the few actresses cast we haven’t seen in any other shot yet.
Does it look to anyone else like Deckard has cuffs on? If Hoeks captured him and put him in here, that would explain the showdown she and K have outside this ship — also in the rain — later.
I only put this here because it looks like Deckard is punching K. It could be someone else, but if it is K, why?
Looks like K won the fight with Hoeks’ character.
An upset K freaks out. I wonder if the panic has to do with questioning reality and who (or what) he is.
Back in what’s probably Vegas, someone (Wallace, presumably) has sent people after K and Deckard.
“I always told you: You’re special.” I’m calling this now: K is the replicant messiah.
“Your story isn’t over yet. There’s still a page left.” If he finds an origami unicorn, he should just run.
The look of this trailer is the thing that stands out. Even if you didn’t think there needed to be a sequel to Blade Runner, this is more than intriguing enough to make you want to check it out. As to the actual plot, there’s not much more than we already knew. Wright’s lines are revealing because the “wall” she talks about kind of hints that there was a fight between humans and replicants, and separation has been the only way to survive. Enforcing that separation is the job of the cops.
The secret that could bring the walls tumbling down is probably about who is and isn’t actually a replicant. Or, in a complete twist, no one’s real. There are no humans any more, only replicants! And they just don’t realise it!
It’s also possible I have been staring at this trailer too long.
Anyway, answers will come October 5.