“Replicants are the future.”
Or so says Neander Wallace, Jared Leto’s blind and downright creepy android architect who mulls over the future of humanity in today’s stunning international TV spot for Blade Runner 2049. At almost two minutes in length, this extended preview is arguably one of our best looks at Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel – a sci-fi sequel 30 years in the making – to date, as we see Wallace looking over far-future Los Angeles from the head of the Tyrell Corporation.
If that name rings a bell, it should; Tyrell is the manufacturing company responsible for those human-like synthetics, but it would appear Leto’s antagonist has gone mad with power. Presiding over a world crippled by runaway climate change, it’s revealed that Neander Wallace wants to eradicate humanity altogether, uttering the rather chilling line, “Replicants are the future of the species.”
Such a grave threat is enough to spur LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling) into action, who seeks out a living legend in Deckard (Harisson Ford) as part of a desperate attempt to bring an end to Neander Wallace’s reign. Far-future Los Angeles has been brought to its knees, and people have been left with little choice but to steal genetically modified food from nearby vending machines simply to survive. And amidst all that chaos is K, a Blade Runner (?) tasked with saving the day, but as today’s dazzling new trailer teases, there may be more to Ryan Gosling’s Replicant hunter than meets the eye.
“Humanity can not survive. Replicants are the future of the species. But I can only make so many.” We’ll be able to discover the full context of that morbid quote when Blade Runner 2049 lights up theaters on October 6th. And with its sweeping neon vistas and mesmerizing cityscapes, there’s a very good chance that Denis Villeneuve’s long-in-development sequel will be remembered as one of the best looking films of 2017.