Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I may not be the world's biggest Blade Runner fan, but I count myself in the top 25. In the 80s, I drove around with an audio recording of the film and could quote entire scenes. I am talking about a time that pre-dates VHS. To say that I was excited about the 2049 sequel would be a huge understatement. I was excited to see the new film. I was equally ready to rip it to shreds if it did not do justice to the original. I consider myself a student of film having watched movies for sheer enjoyment/entertainment, art or both, for many, many years. This may be threading on thin ice, but I read an article, a few years ago, that advanced the notion that the average US movie viewer was not capable of understanding the higher concepts of irony, characters that were not black and white (purely good or purely evil), or conflicting concepts in a film. That was the author's reasoning for why films such as the Dutch masterpiece, The Vanishing, was produced in the US with a completely different ending...because American audiences could not handle the original ending. The Broadway production of Agnes of God was a masterpiece and won Amanda Plummer a Tony. The motion picture was a piece of celluloid crap. Several of Ridley Scott's films have been re-edited due to the fact that he tried new ideas and it did not go over well at advanced screenings. I feel that the negative audience reaction to Blade Runner 2049 was due to the fact that Director Denis Villeneuve didn't "blow enough shit up." Can an American movie viewer not sit through a film as long as 2049 and not enjoy it for its artistic value and not base it on the body count? Yes and No. The fans who watched the film, understood it and have written 4 and 5 stars reviews appear to have gotten it. The disgruntled 1-star critics apparently have not. Blade Runner 2049 is art! A masterpiece? It's very close. Visually stunning. True to the original. Denis is very proud of this film and should be. The real irony is that there were hints, in 2049, of a Replicant rebellion. Would Blade Runner 3 have been made into a film with a high body count? Possibly. But the world will never know due to the arm chair critics who shot down Blade Runner 2049 out of pure ignorance and helped discourage film goers from seeing one of 2017's best movies. In spite of high anticipation, Blade Runner 2049 will barely break even at the box office. On the bright side, there are other ways to see this Sci-Fi classic. If you decide to give it a shot, keep an open mind. Look at it for its entertainment value but also for its artistic merit. You will not be disappointed.