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Sterile as a freshly unwrapped hospital sponge the best thing about Blade Runner 2049 is its surefooted commitment to boredom - blast me if you want but Ridley Scott's original film is boring too; boring not as a pejorative but merely a descriptor. A kinder phrasing would probably be patient, but I mean boring. Problem with the sequel is we've been bored by all this before - we've luxuriated in this dystopia in a million things since, and I don't think Villenueve & Co. bring much new to the table. It's pretty, but almost entirely in an obvious way - I can't really think of a single shot that made me gasp with real awe. (Arrival it ain't.) And its world feel big and empty, and save Luv herself (a deviously splendid Sylvia Hoeks) sparingly populated with shit worth caring about to a fault.
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