Blade Runner 2049: New Vangelis Cut

I really enjoyed this and appreciated the decision to eliminate some of the ickier bits from the narrative.

BR2049 is one of my favorite films of the past decade, but even upon the first viewing it felt obvious that this score should have gone to Jóhann Jóhannsson (the director Denis Villeneuve's chosen composer for several previous projects) and/or Vangelis, and that Zimmer's best tracks were when he hewed closest to either or both of their styles. With only a few exceptions, his attempts to substitute or supplant them in 2049 swing from adequate to exhausting, and in particular, his choices toward the end of the movie veer ever-closer to the musical equivalent of getting repeatedly smacked in the temple with a rubbet mallet. (For the record, I think his score for Dune is great, but that he wouldn't have gotten there without practicing imitation of these two composers on 2049 first.)

I really enjoyed this edit, with only a few quibbles with scoring choices, almost none with the narrative restructuring (sure don't miss Leto's bits at all, tunnel scene greatly improved in every way as well as its implications for the flow of the last act of the film--and flawlessly done from a technical standpoint). After the first 20 minutes or so, I started watching it in more-or-less parallel with the theatrical cut and comparing straight across because the cuts are seamless. (Yes, this made this a roughly 8-hour project spread across days. I really like BR2049.)

All of my disagreements with the edit are about making quiet parts louder and specifically *pushier*, like adding music during the crash landing in San Diego, K's entrance into Vegas, and the Wallace/Deckard interrogation. These scenes felt to me in the theatrical cut as if the existing quietness heightened the drama, with the stings of Zimmer's already incessantly-pushy, demanding score only distracting from action better served by silence; adding more music in these cases seems like an odd choice. I also think the entire flying car chase would be far better without any music at all, Zimmer's or Vangelis', until at least the crash of Luv and Deckard's car; there's already so much going on in the audio. Watching this edit caused me to realize that the film might be better served by having no music at all from the beginning of the chase until after Luv's death--and possibly through the end of the film. I'm not a huge fan of the score for K's death in either edit, but I do think that removing Ana's dialogue from Deckard's reunion with Ana makes for a much stronger final scene.

Most of the rescoring choices, however, are unambiguously superior, and some scenes are made truly beautiful: in particular, K's discussion with Ana feels much more moving, and it leads exceptionally well into the bit of Zimmer's score that remains in the snowfall scene directly after; the mingled-body sex scene with Joi and Mariette remains unsettling, as intended, but the rescore keeps it romantic as well, as I think was also intended by Villeneuve. Overall, I think as a Vangelization, this edit is very good, but I'm still searching for a definitive version of BR2049: one with more silence, and more Jóhannsson, yet still with Vangelis. I've never before been so motivated to learn how to edit myself.

The new score achieves everything that’s possible within this film, and the feel and atmosphere of it becomes incredible. The score is mesmerizing, ethereal, celestial… It changes the film for the better, every scored scene has its meaning changed / intensified.

The ending song, in particular, was pure perfection; it changed an ending that didn’t “click” for me into one that really works (coupled with a short video edit).

The video changes and the small edits and reordering of scenes all contributed to create a better, more streamlined story. I particularly enjoyed the removal of many of the fanservice moments.

Cheers!

Essentially perfect.

All of the new music matches up well. There were two moments where I felt myself missing/expecting the original score, but the substitutions were nonetheless inspired, so I can't find fault.

While this cut largely removed material, it somehow resulted in Luv's character having a more robust role, in my opinion. Maybe it's just something about percentage of screen time (having reduced Wallace's time), but I empathized with her more in this cut. An unexpected change, but a welcome one.

Everything I enjoyed from the original is still here but with improved pacing and more memorable music. This'll be my go-to.

Both Blade Runner films have the general problem of just dragging too much and being too goddamn long for me. Wakeupkeo made an awesome fanedit of the first film that truly improved upon it to the point that I now LOVE that film; and out of all the fanedits I watched of the second film, Problem Eliminator's was certainly the best one so far.....but the problem of it being too long and dragging still remains.

For me, most of the drag revolves around the character of Joi. Now, I know there are some "Joi-less" edits out there, but they just don't work since some of the important plot points are revealed during the Joi scenes; removing her all together just doesn't work. Problem Eliminator's edit is currently the ultimate compromise for me, given the fact that it keeps the Joi character, but it does also trim the fat that is found throughout the film thus improving the overall pacing (while also establishing a stronger consistency when it comes to the narrative, which I TRULY appreciated).

Now, when it comes to the main attraction, which is the replaced music, I found that to be somewhat enjoyable. The way it was done was masterful, but it honestly didn't really do a big difference when it comes to drastically changing the feel of the film overall. Vangelis's score worked perfectly with the original BLADE RUNNER film, but for this second film that is more ambitious, epic, and modern in it's scope, I ultimately felt Zimmer was a sensible pick. To me, ultimately, it works either way. An uncle of mine, who watched and enjoyed 2049, did complain that the film didn't feel the same as the original due to it not having a Vangelis score. Perhaps he's a better candidate than me to test this fanedit....

All in all, a very good edit that was seamless and did, in fact, ultimately improve upon the original. Highly recommended.