# Blade Runner 2049: Seen it (Open Spoilers after the first post) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088 "2017-10-06T07:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/181 "2017-10-30T21:15:27Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > If Vegas is radioactive and uninhabitable, so much so that all those valuables and booze don’t get at least plundered, then how the hell does Deckard survive there? Vegas _was_ radioactive in the past, but K asks his drone to check for radiation and it doesn’t find any, so the fallout must have faded since then. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/182 "2017-10-31T17:34:47Z")
K and the vendor discuss the woods’ radioactivity and one of them mentioned that wherever it had been was a place that had been radioactive but was now safe. But even with the radiation faded away, Vegas hardly looked appealing, what with the perpetual sandstorm haze. Was it ever revealed how Vegas got contaminated? My guess: a terrorist dirt bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/183 "2017-10-31T21:33:11Z")
I think there was a reference to a terrorist dirty bomb, wasn’t there? Or maybe I saw something about that on teh Web. Meant to post this earlier - a clever, Thirties-_noir_ style trailer for the original movie: [Blade Runner Trailer - Classic Noir - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXFqPzAFv8o) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/184 "2017-10-31T21:59:14Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The “cause” is, I guess, to learn how to reproduce from Deckard’s daughter, so replicants (at least the older models) can survive as a race. This would be incidental to the cause of the upcoming slave revolt. Although, sure, they need to keep their numbers up somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/185 "2017-10-31T22:00:43Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > But even with the radiation faded away, Vegas hardly looked appealing, what with the perpetual sandstorm haze. Yes, but what we saw of Los Angeles and San Diego was worse. And seeing how tiny and shitty K’s apartment was, the casino Deckard took over was much nicer. Plus all that booze. (Although we were never told what he was eating, it couldn’t have been much worse.) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/186 "2017-10-31T22:34:53Z")
I also wonder where the power was coming from for the malfunctioning floor show. Maybe 20 years of solar charging is enough to top off the batteries, even in that haze. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/187 "2017-11-01T03:35:52Z")
By 2049, every big hotel could have a small fusion reactor in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/188 "2017-11-01T14:45:33Z")
Yeah, but the implication was that Vegas had been dead a long time. Certainly long enough to cool down from the radiation. So I doubt it has 2049 technology anywhere other than K’s spinner. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/189 "2017-11-01T21:57:00Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Yeah, but the implication was that Vegas had been dead a long time. Certainly long enough to cool down from the radiation. So I doubt it has 2049 technology anywhere other than K’s spinner. In the Blade Runner universe, we already had flying cars, off-world settlements, and replicants in 2019. So personal-size fusion reactors in 2039 aren’t that big a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/190 "2017-11-02T12:43:13Z")
It would have been cool to see a “Mr. Fusion” system on the back of the spinners. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/191 "2017-11-02T22:02:44Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > This. Wallace took a knife, and for reasons that made no sense at all, sliced horizontally through a newly “born” adult female replicants ovaries/ uterus. No hidden meaning at all there. None. He, as creator and master, own her uterus. Because he designed it. And destroyed it. > > Whether or not I am allowed to say “killed it” is fodder for another thread entirely. > > The horror of his character is exemplified in that scene. The lead up to that moment, was a medical exam. He was studying her to see if she was fertile, When she turned out not to be he killed her. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/192 "2017-11-03T12:37:55Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > The lead up to that moment, was a medical exam. He was studying her to see if she was fertile, When she turned out not to be he killed her. And isn’t that a lovely little bit of misogyny. She can’t breed, so might as well kill her. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/193 "2017-11-04T21:16:56Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > And isn’t that a lovely little bit of misogyny. She can’t breed, so might as well kill her. It, not her. At least that was my interpretation. I doubt he thought of it as a her at all. ---
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/194 "2017-11-05T10:46:20Z")
Wallace killed her because he enjoyed it. I think it was a mistake to make him that kind of monster. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/195 "2017-11-05T14:11:02Z")
> [@nicky](#): > > Wallace killed her because he enjoyed it. > > I think it was a mistake to make him that kind of monster. I agree. He regarded her as Product. Not a living being. I was not defending his behavior in my post up there. I was simply describing what I felt he had been doing. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Tilt-A-Whirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@Tilt-A-Whirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tilt-A-Whirl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/196 "2018-01-06T18:24:15Z")
I’m late to the party, having just seen it at the local second run theater. I love the original, and have watched it many times over the years. To me it’s a perfect, self contained work of art, and didn’t need a sequel. That said, I enjoyed the new one, and wasn’t offended by it, but it just didn’t have that spark of genius that the original did. The one thing I felt it lacked compared to the original was a feeling of immersion. I just didn’t get that feeling of being on the rain soaked city streets, surrounded by the strange denizens of the city. The new one felt like I was observing from a distance. When “Rachael” was talking to Deckard, I didn’t think it looked like Sean Young. To me it looked like a different actress wearing the same outfit and make up. I was surprised to read that it actually was a CGI creation. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/197 "2018-01-07T06:35:27Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > 1. Fertile replicants makes a ton of sense as a strategy. Remember, sexual reproduction is exponential growth, manufacturing is linear growth. So while it might be cheaper and faster to double or triple production by making more factories, the only way to get to 100x production is through good old fashioned sex. No. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/198 "2018-01-08T05:20:46Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > No. You’re no fun anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/199 "2018-01-08T05:39:52Z")
I loved the original because of the combination of noir and sci-fi: the robots are more “alive” than the beaten-down gumshoe sent to kill them. I wanted to like the sequel, but the noir element wasn’t there. Too much sunlight, too many honest people, and Gosling is too pretty. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088/200 "2018-03-26T21:24:42Z")
I just saw it last night, and I loved it. > [@Omniscient](#): > > There are a couple decent explanations of the 2 DNA copies from the records in this thread that seem solid, but you’re not figuring that out in movie. Seems to me like it was added on to help with the “K is the child” head fake while making the plot more confusing. I agree that it wasn’t very explicit, but I understood it immediately as I was watching. Two kids, a boy and a girl, with the same DNA. That doesn’t mean twins, it means that one of the DNA records is fake. Just a copy of some other person in the system. I’ll have to go watch that scene again to be sure, but since they mention the genetic disorder, I assumed that the girl’s DNA was real, that the replicant child was a boy, and that they’d chosen the girl because she would die young, the way that it’s a common trope (maybe was also an actual practice) to create a false identity by finding someone who died as a child in a place where the death record isn’t computerized. You then have a real birth certificate, and no other real person out there to trip you up. Not sure how well the details of that work out, but it made sense in my mind as I was watching it. And of course we are encouraged to think that K is going to be the child by lots of other things in the movie. > [@](#): > > The horse memory being used in lots of Reps and K serendipitously finding it seemed all too convenient. The conversation that K has with Lt. Robin Wright makes this work for me. K is aware that his memories are fake, and that they’re probably there for psychological conditioning reasons. There could be thousands of other replicants with the horse dream, but none of them would find the real horse because they wouldn’t (a) see the same date carved on a tree and (b) follow the trail of the DNA to the child slave place. None of them would even look for the real horse. > [@](#): > > They really should have done a little more work to spell out how and why Ana was put in the bubble and how they get her that plum job. Seems like they put her pretty close to the threats if they really wanted her hidden. Maybe. Although if you want to avoid casual detection, a remote job and a medical condition that means no one can ever get close enough to examine you seems like a pretty good cover. > [@](#): > > Wallace made no sense as a character. He was a cartoon. His motivations actually made some sense, but turning him into this weird, gratuitous villain made things way more confusing and lame. If he’d have been a plain ole greedy CEO running a conspiracy to track down this special prototype that ran off with Deckard years ago, that actually would have been relatable and allowed for some needed exposition. It worked for me. The major theme running through both movies is how human the replicants are, and how inhumane the humans are. Wallace is power corrupted to the extreme. He’s a god-king pharaoh creating and destroying in his golden pyramid. For all the talk about how sexual reproduction of replicants is more efficient than manufacturing (or however they’re made), the real reason he wants to make them reproduce is that he wants to be a god. I definitely want to watch it again. The visuals are stunning, and I expect there are many nuances to discover on a reviewing. One minor detail that I noticed that most movies would just miss entirely. In the last scene, K’s clothes have faint dried salt patterns on them after the fight in the ocean. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-2049-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/798088.md?page=11)