A 21-minute feature on designing the world of Blade Runner 2049 gets things off to a strong start, exploring both the film’s general style as well as the creation of specific scenes and futuristic objects via a great mix of artwork, interview clips (including some with Ridley Scott) and behind the scenes footage. It turns into a bit of a love-in at times, but it’s still essential viewing. Villeneuve has crafted a visual feast for the eyes. Using a mix of old-school practical effects and models with new digital effects, he created a beautiful yet horrifying landscape that echoes the world presented in the first film, but shows that humanity has stumbled further into a frightful dystopia where it rains all day, snows all night, and the sun rarely pierces the haze that lingers above Los Angeles.Roger Deakins captures every minute detail with wide expansive vistas and long takes that allow your eyes the freedom to wander. With 13 Oscar nominations and no wins, Deakins is long overdue for the Academy recognition he rightly deserves. I don't know if Blade Runner 2049 will be the film that nails it for him, but he plays with color, light, and shadow to create a world that is both beautiful and horrifying. While I won't go so far as to say that Blade Runner 2049 is as good as or better than the original Blade Runner, it gets pretty damn close. So close that the margin of difference is really only quantifiable to that moment of first discovery. As I detailed in my review for the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Blade Runner, I discovered the film under pretty unique and very memorable circumstances that made me an instant fan of that film. I didn't want to believe that Blade Runner 2049 could even come close to being as good as it is. I was expecting to walk out of the theater thinking "That was pretty good. They didn't screw it up!" In actuality, after sitting through the credits I walked out of the theater speechless, in a stupor. Blade Runner 2049 brought up so many thought-provoking ideas about heady issues and themes like love, having a soul, and what it means to be human that I needed to take a walk for a mile or two to process everything. But the bottom line feeling that was fueling my thoughts was just how incredible the film was. I just couldn't believe that it was actually that good. was shot digitally with Arri Alexa XT cameras at 3.4K, receiving a 4K digital intermediate for its theatrical release. We'd lump it into the 'might as well be native 4K' category with Deadpool. The 17-minute feature that follows covers the casting of the film. It’s worth a watch for the behind the scenes footage, though the ‘love-in’ stuff turns up to 11.

Add this clean finish to the clarity of the resolution and the extreme sense of depth the image enjoys, and you become completely immersed in the visionary world Villeneuve is presenting. If you're new to the film on Blu-ray and are hankering for a terrific overview of the 5-Disc Blu-ray set that's readily available, please give that a read Here.Though 2049 can be cool in its emotions, it wears them better than the original. Blade Runner arguably still has the measure of its progeny, but that speaks volumes as to how good 2049 often is. Bigger in scope, with more to grapple with and discern, it's a long watch but it's hard to take your eyes off it.

As there are multiple cuts of Blade Runner - only The Final Cut has been given the full 4K treatment. When Blade Runner made its Blu-ray debut in 2007, the film was given a perfect 5-Disc treatment featuring The Final Cut as well as the original 1982 Theatrical Cut, the slightly different International Cut, the radically different 1992 DIrector's Cut, as well as the unfinished Workprint Cut. While fans have their favorite versions of the film, director Ridley Scott has put his foot down that The Final Cut is the definitive release and as such is the only version of the film to get a full 4K Restoration effort. Blade Runner 2049 gets closer than most films to being a true 4K experience. It was shot at 3.4K, created in a digital 4K master for its cinematic release and even, so it seems, delivered with native 4K or 3.4K effects. This latter achievement is practically unheard of elsewhere in the film world to date. The most interesting characters are mostly non-human. Gosling's K is close to his lean performance from Drive (or his turn in the interminable Only God Forgives) – his search for a soul in an indecent world marking him out as the narrative's most sympathetic character. Sylvia Hoek's brilliant Luv, Niander's right-hand woman, is a ferocious but curiously immature creation. Ana de Armas' Joi is a stunning visual concept, an AI that blurs the line (certainly for K) as to what's real and what's not. But it's a film full of many moments of breathtaking vision. You'd have to search far and wide to find a film from 2017 that's this well realised. While Blade Runner felt small and contained, 2049 aims for an epic and sweeping quality that's not far off David Lean's widescreen images. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.The colours have received a boost, thanks to Wide Colour Gamut (WCG). They're enriched, and the texture and subtlety of the tones is more readily appreciable. The various oranges and reds, mixed with yellows and glossy creams in the Las Vegas sequence are gorgeously rendered. While the small boost in luminance range and consistently enriched colors are certainly welcome, though, and manage to deliver a visual experience that exceeds the one I had in a (non-Dolby Vision) cinema, it’s hardly a demo-grade showcase of what HDR can do. Designing the World of Blade Runner 2049 (HD 21:55) With cast, crew, and creative team interviews, this is a pretty fantastic look at the making of the world of this sequel. While a lot of stuff is covered, 21 minutes feels a tad short for my taste, this could be its own feature-length documentary I'm sure.

Blade Runner 2049can feel a bit padded at times. It's not too long or anything, I wouldn't cut any scenes, but there are certain stretches where one can feel the length. Ridley Scott himself has recently come out and said that part of the reason why this film didn't connect at the box office was probably due to its length. Again, I'd say that it is a tad long, but that has more to do with pace rather than length. Some scenes could have been trimmed, but not eliminated. To be honest, I'm glad that Scott didn't direct this sequel. After the middling Prometheus and the messy Alien Covenant, I don't think he would have had the patience to let this film and its ideas breathe in a satisfying way. Scott's films of late feel like they suffer from Intellectual ADD, one interesting idea pops up without being fully explored before jumping to another interesting idea before being dropped altogether and outright forgotten. Roger Deakins has stated that he's not a huge fan of HDR and we can't tell if the 4K is hugely brighter or darker than the Full HD Blu-ray as it would seem it's subtly implemented. Image consistency across the resolutions appears to be the key.Director Albert Cho, Alejandro Mora, Attila Veres, Brandon Lambdin, Brian Niemczyk, Charlie Watson, Denis Villeneuve, Donald Sparks, Dora Simko, Gábor Hegedüs Hege, Gergely Apjok, Hajós Péter, Jessica Clothier, Joel Kramer, Karen Davis, Levente Kölcsey-Gyurkó, Susan M. Elmore, Tamás Péter Chipie, Vera Janisch

The lighting throughout is fantastic, with light sources seemingly improved. It's not that they're brighter, but more distinct. The hues get a better showcase on the 4K, such as the fluorescent tinge to the lights in K's kitchen. Whether it's the Brutalist architecture of Los Angeles or the trash mesas of San Diego, the artificial sunlight that drapes the Wallace Corporation's interiors or the arid beauty of Las Vegas, it's hard to look beyond Roger Deakin's Oscar-winning cinematography for how it contrasts the beauty and desolation of this world (although we still haven't been off-world). Blade Runner 2049 can be hunted down on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presented in 3840 x 2160p with a widescreen 2.40:1 aspect ratio, using 10-bit video depth, a Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range(HDR), encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec. The UHD Blu-ray was reviewed on a Samsung UE55KS8000 Ultra HD TV and a Samsung UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player. The film’s a bit labored at times (highlighting the remarkable economy of the original), and the HDR is about as dialed down as HDR can get without just turning into SDR. But the good far outweighs the bad, making Blade Runner 2049 an essential addition to your 4K collection. Against all odds, Denis Villeneuve has crafted a truly worthy sequel to Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner. This is not quite a masterpiece, nor can it be called a “perfect” film like the original, but 2049’s conceptual, visual, and character additions to this world are significant and feel completely organic and true to that compelling earlier narrative. Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 is a deeply cinematic experience, a film that dazzles the senses even as it challenges the intellect. It’s also a remarkable 4K Ultra HD experience that’s not to be missed.There’s much to celebrate here. Denis Villeneuve has against all odds delivered a film that both remains faithful to its genre-defining predecessor while finding new things to say and authentically opening up the world’s aesthetic. Public Domain street photography of vehicles traveling on road between large buildings during nighttime