‘Blade Runner’: The aesthetic revolution that stunned Denis Villeneuve
Even before he was one of Hollywood’s most dazzling directors, Denis Villeneuve was a well-known entity on the international cinema scene. His breakout film, 2010’s Incendies, was a stylistically assertive exploration of the Lebanese Civil War told through the eyes of twin siblings who travel to their mother’s homeland to uncover her past. It had the emotional gut punch that he would demonstrate so devastatingly in 2013’s Prisoners, but it was 2016’s Arrival that hinted at where he would plant his flag in Hollywood.
Starring Amy Adams as a linguist who is brought in by the US military to translate the language of an extraterrestrial species that has landed on Earth, Arrival deftly mixes stunning cinematography, complex science fiction, multiple timelines, and world-shattering grief to create a film that was hailed as one of the greatest sci-fi films of the century.
For Villeneuve, however, it was only the beginning. Shortly thereafter, he became attached to the long-gestating sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, Blade Runner. He didn’t take the opportunity lightly. In fact, at one point, he was determined not to make the film at all. It wasn’t a matter of disliking the original. It was the opposite. For Villeneuve, Scott’s film was so perfect that going anywhere near it felt like sacrilege.
“I vividly remember seeing Blade Runner for the first time and being stunned by what I think is amongst the most powerful openings in the history of cinema,” Villeneuve told Female around the time of the film’s 2017 release, referring to the scene in which the camera flies over the 1982 vision of Los Angeles in 2019, crammed with dark skyscrapers, factories, and digital screens.
“Aesthetically, Blade Runner was a revolution,” he continued, “Blending two genres that, at first glance, don’t go together – science fiction and film noir. It was something never seen before, and it deeply influenced me. It was part of my film education even before I knew I would become a filmmaker.”
Blade Runner was a flop when it was released in the ’80s, and was largely panned by critics. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael was famously scathing, penning a review so toenail-curling that Scott (now nearing 90) still keeps a copy of it in his office.
Over time, however, Blade Runner has become a touchstone for countless filmmakers, many of whom claim to have adored it from the moment they saw it in the theatre. Christopher Nolan had a poster of it on his wall and revered the movie so much that he turned down the opportunity to direct the sequel. He would later praise Villeneuve’s version.
Villeneuve himself managed to get the blessing of Scott, both as a torchbearer and as a creator. “He gave me everything he knew, and then after that he said, ‘You’re free. It’s your movie. If you need me, I’m there’,” Villeneuve told The New York Times, saying that stepping into someone else’s vision was “by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”
Like the original, Blade Runner 2049 was a box office disappointment, though it received much better reviews. Although its ponderous pace and nearly three-hour running time turned audiences away, it is almost certainly destined for a glowing legacy.
