"Ford was allowed to biff harder than is remotely plausible"

Well, considering his character was a replicant, I didn't find it implausible. TBH I half expected him to bust out of his cuffs at the end. The twist was well done, luckily I hadn't read much about the film beforehand and was caught completely by surprise, as the director intended (going by his admonishments to critics).

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Not sure what people who were bored/walked out expected, but it was a in many ways a thoroughly conventional scifi movie with a nice noir plot. Extremely well filmed with a very classy and stylish feel throughout. 

I didn't think they stated outright that he was. They got closer than in the original, but I think there was still room for doubt.

I think the intention in 2049 was to keep Deckard's nature ambiguous, as per the original, and I think this was well handled.

Hampton Fancher has stated that Deckard-as-Replicant was Ridley Scott's idea, halfway through filming, but Fancher always preferred having the ambiguity. I'm with Fancher on this - I'd rather have it as an unanswerable question.

As mentioned up-thread, I was very happy with it. It looked gorgeous, didn't go in any awful directions or introduce anything jarring and at odds with the original.

It's not perfect, but what is?

Nah, he administered and took too many beat downs and kept on ticking for a >70-yo mere mortal. Also recall that his daughter (of a replicant -- and therefore impocerous) was regarded as a miracle. That's your 'ambiguity' done and dusted.

Nah right back at ya. The beat-downage was probably contractual (he said cynically) as could have been his supersperms.

Also he were living in a radiation zone and getting shitfaced on hundreds of bottles of whisky. And he could still walk?

Dude warnt normal.

He's Harrison Ford, man.  He's not just Deckard, He's Han and Indie and a studio chippie.

http://bladerunner.wikia.com/wiki/Deckard_as_Replicant

Apropos not very much, I know the man who was stunt-origamist for Gaff in the original.  Mick Guy, a very nice chap and fellow member of the British Origami Society.

Cool story! Are/were you an origamist?

I was.  You can find my Loch Ness Monster in Robert Harbin's Origami 4, invented when I was a dot.  Well, 14.

Doesn't appear to be among those depicted on the web site.  :-(

How many replicants did you mark for death retirement?

I watched Blade Runner 2048 last night.

It looks lovely, it's very long, it's an alright film.

I haven't watched the original to compare. Maybe I should.

I must re-watch the original, if only to see if it holds up as well as I remember it.

In a world with a lot of shit films, it seems a shame to miss out on that one even if you turned out not to like it.

Re-watched the 2049 dvd couple of days ago, on our same old 80s/90s-era (at a guess) motel crt television, and I think I liked it better on the small screen (though re-reading the thread, I seem to have liked it well enough on the big one). Having said all that, though, the more I think about it, is that it is a triumph of style over substance, with nothing more to tell us about the human (or for that matter, replicant) condition. But what style -- I'm guessing the problem here is the source of the original BR was the original Philip K. Dick novel, and this is a (merely) competent screenplay sequel, with a whole lot of plot holes. And yeah, it seems to be set up for franchise land. Blade Runner 2029* Replicants Fight The Bad Man.


*Cause dude, we ain't even gonna make it to 2050.

I revisited it myself and found the (admittedly faithful to the original) objectification of women' bodies a bit tedious. I don't mind a bit of objectification any more than the next man, if there's an soupcon of context, but it did seem gratuitous, particularly the giant statue(s?) in the desert.

Yeah it has a whole lot of baggage.