Blade Runner 2049 - A Philosophical Movie Review

Blade Runner 2049 - A Movie Review

Written by: Hannah N Loo

Date: 2022/04/04 

Blade Runner 2049

In the year 2019, technology has become so advanced that there have been a precedented number of 'replicants' living in society. Replicants are bioengineer androids with human forms, designed by Tyrell corporation. Their existence is to undergo laborious tasks and become slaves by the humans. Replicants exhibit great strength, photogenic memories, and most importantly, human emotions. However, humans with meat and flesh treat replicants with the utmost disrespect. As the main protagonist,  Officer KD6-3.7, walks from his designated police station to his home, he is greeted with F-bombs by his supposed colleagues, and the pleasant graffiti "F__ off Skinner" can be seen on his door. 'Skinner' is a derogatory term used to degrade replicants, and it holds the same effect as saying the N-Word. (said by a Reddit post.)

After a series of violent rebellions, the Tyrell corporation collapsed. For a moment, the replicants were free of their slave owners, until Wallice took over and restart the invention of the new replicants. To eliminate old models and clean up the mess created by Tyrell, the new creation of replicants is set off to kill them. One of these "clean up crew" or killers is KD6-3.7, also known as K. 

On one particular mission to kill off a replicant living in isolation with his farm of warms, he unravels the secret of the rebellion'. A child born out of two replicants. That's right, Tyrell's technology was so advanced, that he had the potential of being God himself. The child must remain hidden, for if Wallice discovers its existence, the child will be subjected to countless examinations and he will open him up like the frog on the silver plate in Biology class. 

In his mission on finding the child, K goes through a process of inner conflict, shifting beliefs about himself as being real or man-made. As he sees the date etch on the tree where the remains of the child's mother. He remembers a memory as a child, but the memories are implanted not created. Is he the miracle child? Can he be the begotten son that has been thrown out of the world?

Spoilers Alert 

* This part contains the spoiler of the movie. If you wish not to be spoiled or informed of the plot of the story, I highly suggest you watch the movie on Netflix or your designated movie/streaming sites. 

As we continue on with the phenomenal movie with great cinematography and CGI, the shocking news is that K is in fact not the child, but it is Dr. Ana Setlline. She is working for Wallice as a creator of implanted memories. Memories are the key factor in making the replicants humane, and Ana was the best in her fields. When K questions what makes her creation exceptional to others, Ana answer it was the secret formula of mixing real and fake memories. She unintentionally and purposefully put her own memories in K's head, which results in the conflict of K's identity. 

K was hit with the sudden realization that he longs for being the child. The one born out of a miracle, or, most importantly, the desire of being a real human. Although we do not know what Ana is genetically, she resembles a hope for the replicants who have been enslaved by humans. The people made of flesh and blood are created by God, and the replicants are by a man. Either way, they are nothing less of the other.  We see famous novel series such as Harry Potter or The Mortal instruments, where the main protagonist has extraordinary abilities because he/she is the chosen one. However, K was just another victim of deception by his creator. Will he continues his mission of killing replicants as he is designed to? Or will he choose the humane way of keeping Ana safe out of Wallice's manhunt? Watch Blade Runner 2049 to find out the truth.