Blade Runner 2049: New Vangelis Cut

Ok, so first off, I do have to say that I DO and DON'T recommend this edit, but hear me out.

The narrative is perfect. I'm a huge fan of BR2049 and love the theatrical release as it stands. I think the original release is still a 10/10, but there were a couple of very minor things left to be desired revolving around Wallace, which this edit does remove...to its benefit. When I heard the editor removed the Rachael scene, I thought for sure he was bonkers. However, having seen the edit he made to that scene, I can totally understand the choice. Does it change the scene, making it better? I don't know about that. I did feel like it lent more of an emotional impact on Deckard's part for sure. I also like the drastic removal of most of Wallace's scenes, but mostly because I just wasn't a huge fan of the floating eye bots and the birth of a replicate bits, which are gone in this edit. So yeah, as far as the narrative goes, I didn't notice much if anything cut besides the Wallace and Rachael bits. Narratively, it's perfect. (Not that the theatrical wasn't)

Now, as for the bigger change here: The soundtrack. This is where I don;t recommend this edit... I would say maybe half of it worked kinda mostly, while the other half felt out of place and some tracks felt too were familiar. Suffice to say, I wasn't a fan of the new Vangelis soundtrack. I think maybe the Vangelis should stay with the original Blade Runner where it felt appropriate. This movie is 30 years later, and should have a fitting soundtrack that feels new, not a throwback soundtrack. When I got this edit, I thought for sure that I would be enamored by a Vangelis soundtrack, but I just wasn't. It doesn't feel right to me.

Anyways, soundtrack aside, the editing is technically perfect from my perspective. I don't know what magic was used to replace the soundtrack, but it was mixed in there well. As for the narrative and editing, I found zero issues. Honestly, if I could have THIS edit with the ORIGINAL BR2049 soundtrack, that would be fantastic.

My reviews are a personal opinion of what i enjoy and not an indication of a good or bad edit. We all have different likes and what floats my boat sinks another. So please don't let my opinion stop you from viewing any fanedit...not that it would

Having recently watched Problem Eliminator's BR2049 Vangelis Cut i can say that for me it is 90% there. My go to version has been TM2YC's Aerodynamik which does a marvelous job of cutting the space and moving the film along at an accelerated pace. Problem Eliminator's reduces the films length but does so by chopping various scenes. I can honestly say that i never really had a problem with Wallace and was a little bit weary of having so much of his screen time trimmed but this really works for the better. The replicant birth does now seem rather unnecessary. All other cuts and trims especially cutting the Frank Sinatra jukebox add to the enjoyment of BR 2049 but i am still undecided whether i'd prefer to keep the Rachael clone scene. Either the Deckard flashback of Rachael scene has to go or the clone scene has to go - you can't have both and P.E chose to remove the clone scene.
All dialogue trims are perfect and as i discussed with Problem Eliminator before i viewed his edit the area in between dialogue allows the space to add Vangelis sublime instrumentation... and every film could do with a little more Vangelis.
I liked the original score - Zimmer has been at the top of his game recently: take the Interstellar, Man of Steel & Dunkirk OST's as reference. I wanted the BR2049 to be a little more emotive and at times in this cut it really works. The roof top kiss between K and Joi is where the new music is a 10/10 absolutely perfect... but there are times when i feel the music is amiss and the original music is better, take for instance - I didn't like the music choice when K first returns to Los Angeles after killing Sapper, it sounded a little too middle eastern and took me out of the cityscape... also the chase scene at the end before Luv's shuttle crashes into the sea i preferred the original and i also preferred the theatrical versions music at the end, which i deemed highly emotional. These are the only three scenes whereby i prefer the original - all other cuts and music choices are spot on.
Well done P.E I'll definitely be watching this version again in the future. Highly recommended

The visual changes to the movie are very well done and make for a very enjoyable narrative - less Wallace is of great benefit to the film!

The re-score was about 50/50 for me; about half the time I thought the bgm was *chef’s kiss* - very Blade Runner-y and fitting the scene perfectly - and the other half thinking it didn’t compliment the visuals or should have been absent entirely.

I highly recommend this edit as I think it improves the film; though I felt some of the music choices were a bit off the technical editing is without fault.

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.

I can't love this movie, but I can't hate it either. It has fantastic visuals, at times a very dense atmosphere and some cool ideas. It also has boring, one dimensional villains, silly replicant resistance subplots and the tendency to shoehorn fanservice in an already thin plot. It also has a very forgettable soundtrack. I didn't know how much I missed Vangelis until the last scene where a few of his notes were played... and the scene came alive.

Problem Eliminator sure lived up to his name. Much of the unneeded fanservice was removed and Vangelis is back to raise the bar a couple of notches. Audio and video quality was great. The original Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies and even with PEs edits, many things in 2049 still make my eye tick with annoyance, but this is definitely a big improvement.