Parts look wonderfully, authentically, instantly-recognizable Blade Runner. Other parts look almost Mad Max: Fury Road-inspired. But it all looks pretty fantastic in this first teaser trailer for Blade Runner 2049.
Though the belated sequel has been a dubious effort from the start, this minute-and-a-half preview does an impressive job making a quick case for itself, mainly by showing off the moody, gorgeous photography of legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. Rightly, there isn’t a lot of plot here, but we do get a brief encounter between Blade Runners new and old, Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. It’s a face-off of dry, raspy deliveries that’s already looking pretty promising. Gosling wears the familiar trench coat—now updated with shearling, as is the style of 2049, probably. Ford wields his iconic hand-cannon but now can only bother to put on an old t-shirt. It kind of makes it seem like Gosling has encountered Harrison Ford the actor. Otherwise, there’s little fault to be found here.
Arrival‘s Denis Villeneuve is directing the film from a script written in part by the original director and co-writer, Ridley Scott and Hampton Fancher. We’ll see if they’ve fulfilled the potential of this impressive pedigree when Blade Runner 2049 hits theaters October 6, 2017.
