Blade Runner 2049: Aerodynamik

Amazing edit that sets out for one simple goal and delivers on that goal perfectly. It truly is amazing that I felt absolutely nothing missing from any scenes throughout the movie and it was able to speed along at a much better pace due to the edits. I found myself enjoying a movie I already love even more, because of the better pacing.

Excellent fanedit and for sure my definitive version of the movie from now on.

Full disclosure. I love the Blade Runner franchise and most everything by Ridley Scott (Legend (1985) is a guilty pleasure). I consider Blade Runner (1982) a masterpiece and I have two (2) fanedits (The Penultimate (TM2YC) and Extended Edition (ADigitalMan)) which are quintessential in my film collection. When I heard that Blade Runner 2049 (2017) was being made I was very interested, to put it mildly, to see the next chapter of the franchise. It is a very good movie, mind you not directed by Scott, but never the less a worthy addition to the lore. If I had a criticism it would be the pacing. As great of a movie that it is, there are points where it feels like it slows, almost to a stop. So I when I saw that an edit had been released which said it was going to fix that very thing I had to to see how brilliant this diamond could become.

After watching I can say, without a doubt, this edit is superior to the theatrical release. As it is stated in the description of the edit, everything in the original release is here but with a runtime 13 minutes shorter. It is also surprising how the trimming of the little bit of fat present improved the pacing so much. It really is a testament to the skill of the editor that he was able to do so much by changing so little.

This edit is my preferred version of 2049 and I would recommend it to anyone who has watched the theatrical release, as well as anyone who has not. I would normally say that you should really watch the director's original vision before watching an edit, but since this edit doesn't remove any story, I think it is safe to say the viewer would get the same vision, just in a slightly faster, but superior, pace.

On back to back days I have watched Blade Runner: The Penultimate Cut and Blade Runner: Aerodynamik, both by TM2YC. Taking two (2) excellent films and making them more than what they were is really a quite a feat and I appreciate the time and effort you took and your generosity in sharing them with the community.

TM2YC turns in another one of my favorite fanedits with this carefully-crafted cut of Blade Runner 2049. A film that many people liked but thought felt overly slow or long, this version with shortened shots does a lot to improve the flow and feel. I think it reveals that part of the issue is actually in the script rather than the direction (as I elaborate on in my review here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/blade-runner-2049/) but I'm not actually sure any edit can change that. Perhaps if you cut out the C-plotline of the revolution and focus instead on "K" and his Pinocchio-esque quest, but I don't know if there's enough conflict in the end then.

What we have here instead is a cut that ups the dramatic tension, though it does leave you feeling a bit disoriented at times. The film lacks any narration and with such a silent protagonist, I think a bit of on-screen text would be subtly helpful to orient a first-time viewer, though seemingly unnecessary for a rewatch. That little quibble aside, I want to point out how well the other subtle changes that TM2YC made work to enhance the story. Even when I read the change-list beforehand, the push-ins and reordered shots were so subtle that I missed most of them, though I was aware of the greater dramatic effect. The wooden horse (broken unicorn?) reveal scene in the factory is particularly tense, as is that Sapper Morton opening.

Overall, this is a great example of what fanedits can be. Too often, we focus on adding or cutting whole scenes or plot lines. Here is an edit which significantly improves the original film, without any extreme alterations. It simply makes the experience more "aerodynamik".

I personally prefer the slower pacing of Denis Villeneuve's film, as it allowed the opportunity to really take in how well the shots are constructed and I just really love slow-burn films, but I still absolutely adored this version. This is basically what the film would be like if Ridley Scott took over in the editing bay, since he wasn't a fan of the running time and pacing. Everything I already loved about the original Blade Runner 2049 is still present here, and as much as I dug Roger Deakins' gorgeous cinematography (he absolutely deserved the Oscar, in my opinion), I did enjoy how the editor made it look closer in style to Scott's 1982 original. Excellent stuff.

I rather enjoyed this edit and I have a feeling that if this had been the version released in cinema's, then the film would have done better financially and we would be getting sequels right now.