Blade Runner 2049 left me questioning reality

Sequel superbly acted, visually stunning but something’s missing

Acouple of nights ago I saw Blade Runner 2049 and now I don’t know what to think any more. I’m troubled with questions of a philosophical nature, searching for an understanding or meaning that appears to be tantalisingly, infuriatingly, just beyond grasp.

I’m mired in a deep reflective murk where any answers I do fall upon fast disappear. Like tears in the rain.

Just to be clear, none of this was sparked by the events of the movie. No. The story Blade Runner 2049 tells is disappointingly straightforward with answers aplenty. A deeply ambiguous, enigmatic puzzle to be studied, questioned and argued over for decades to come this is not.

Instead, my existential quandary revolves around the world’s reaction to the film and my own. Words like “masterpiece” have been bestowed upon it and the reviews range from an impressive five stars and skyrocket up to the dizzying heights of 100 per cent. Me? Yeah, I thought it was all right. This is why I’ve been dissecting my brain and questioning reality. Have I got it drastically wrong? Did I miss something? Was I in the wrong cinema watching the wrong film?

The only answer I’ve come up with is no. Obviously the rest of the world has got it wrong. Again. And that,

Meanest neighbours?

“For years now my kids and I have been bullied and intimidated by our neighbours because they don’t like the sound of children bouncing on a trampoline or kicked balls ending up in their backyard,” writes a reader. On Thursday morning the single mother-of-three discovered this scene in her Mt Eden backyard, a home she rents. A tree that she alleges her neighbours, who are avid, meticulous gardeners, can see and don’t find aesthetically pleasing had been cut down and the carnage left. She says she believes these neighbours came on to her property while she was at work and cut it back, threw the branches on the trampoline, ripping the mat and slashing the safety netting and the nearby football goal nets. “It’s not an attack on me, it’s an attack on my kids,” she says. And while she has reported the incident to the police, she is hoping security camera footage from a number of surrounding neighbours will positively identify the culprits.

That old, tired argument . . .

While discussing the Las Vegas massacre on Fox Business, one US commentator said: “If that psychopath had driven a truck into that crowd and killed 100 people would we be talking about truck control?” he said. Many other people found fault with his “argument”. One replied on Twitter: “We have truck control. Special licences. Insurance. Regulations. Weigh stations. Unions. Bollards. GPS tracking . . . ”