I saw the new Blade Runner movie. The production was great; the plot was filled with holes. Below are the questions that I had after watching the film. These questions contain spoilers, so don't read this if you haven't seen the film yet and care about the plot not being spoiled.
Characters:
K (Ryan Gosling)
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford)
Joi (Ana de Armas)
Luv (Sylvia Hoeks)
Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright)
Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri)
Niander Wallace (Jared Leto)
Freysa (Hiam Abbass)
Mariette (Mackenzie Davis)
Questions:
1) How did K deduce that Dr. Stelline is Deckard's daughter? I think the viewer is supposed to make this connection by the fact that Dr. Stelline got emotional about K's memory of the horse when she confirmed its authenticity. But that is an incredibly weak connection.
2) Why was Luv trying to kill K? Perhaps she was only indirectly trying to kill him, as K impeded her in her pursuit of Deckard. But then why did her team attempt to blow up the old casino that K and Deckard were in, especially if she wanted Deckard alive?
3) Why did Wallace and K not work together? Both characters had the same goal--to find Deckard, although their motivations for doing so were different.
4) What happened with Wallace? Wallace did not have any additional screen time after his failed attempt at extracting information from Deckard. So as far as we know, he is still out there, attempting to accomplish his goal. This was a loose end that was not tied up.
5) What happened with Freysa and Mariette? Neither of these characters had any additional screen time after they rescued K and told him of the replicant resistance movement. They did not provide K with any assistance. So what purpose did that scene--really, even the existence of those characters--serve? This was a loose end that was not tied up.
6) Why did Deckard not just delete the DNA record of his daughter if he was trying to keep her hidden? Deckard clearly had not just access to the central database of DNA records, but also editing rights, as he was able to scramble his daughter's birth record and list her as dead. Why did he not just delete the record?
7) Why should K think that he was the child born of the replicant mother, Rachael? K had the memory of the toy horse with the inscribed date on it, which matched the date inscribed on the tree. This was how he theorized that he was the child of Rachael, I think. But K also knew that all his memories were implants. Why would the memory of this toy horse make him think otherwise?
8) Why did Mariette place the tracking device in K's coat? Why was K special such that she needed to track him? If it was to convince him to join the replicant resistance movement, does that mean that she tracked other replicants?
Related: Did Joi or K summon Mariette to simulate sex with K?
9) Why did K go to Las Vegas? Easy answer is because the wood that K's toy horse was made from was traced to Las Vegas. But so what? The wood could have been imported from anywhere. Did he really think that he would find his supposed father, who turned out to be Deckard, there? That is incredibly shaky reasoning. (But, fortunately, due to poor plot writing, K was able to find exactly whom he was looking for in the first building he entered. How convenient.)
10) Who stole the orphanage's records? What motivation did the thief have to steal these records? What information was in these records that was so valuable? This plot line was not at all pursued, and I suspect it might have been more important and helpful for K's search.
11) Why would K have the physical toy horse in his possession if the memory of the toy horse was not actually his?
12) What constitutes an acceptable replicant obedience test? As far as I could tell, the only difference between the first and second obedience tests administered to K at the LAPD office was the promptness of K's responses. Why would that force him to retire in 48 hours, as Lt. Joshi told him?
Related: How did that test ensure replicant obedience? The test seemed to require the replicant to say one-word responses, usually the last word that the reader said. Anybody could pass that test to give the illusion of compliance, and then immediately rebel.
13) Why did K have to run away after failing his obedience test? Who was coming after him? Why?
14) Why does Freysa have knowledge about Deckard's child? Naturally, she would have a vested interest in Deckard's child--a child of a replicant--but how did Freysa get access to that information? Was she in contact with Deckard? Does she have a connection to Deckard?
15) How did Luv's team know that Deckard would be with K in Las Vegas? Luv knew K was out trying to find the father of the replicant child (it's why she killed Lt. Joshi), but how did she know that K had found him when she pulled up his geolocation information on Joshi's computer?
I'll just respond here I guess.
ReplyDelete1) I agree that this was weak. The implication was that she was crying because it was her memory, but they kinda obfuscated that. I'm still torn between "that was a shitty attempt at a twist" and "they made us connect to K rather well by convincing us it was his memory".
2) They were blowing up the escape vehicle, not the whole casino, but were cutting it closer than they should have if they wanted him alive for sure. And I guess K kept asking the wrong questions and showing up in the wrong places?
3) Early in the movie: because Wallace could just wait for K to find things for him. They had him satellite-monitored.
Late in the movie: because K tried to disappear and kinda went rogue.
4) ... shrug ... but he thinks Deckard is dead, so no more torture time I guess.
5) Of COURSE there's a resistance movement. Time for a sequel?
6) Missing data is highly suspect, dead person less so. Shaky footing, but not a glaring issue.
7) Implanting real memories is illegal. The doctor said so. He can't distinguish real from implanted memories. He was told that memory was real. He assumed that meant that it was his, rather than that the best memory maker was doing illegal things. (it's also possible K was planted with that memory in that role to serve this purpose. Cue Twilight Zone music.)
8) They knew that he was onto something, and trained and conditioned as an investigator. He was going to get into trouble with someone they had plans for (Deckard) so they needed to know where K went, so they could pick up the pieces.
8b) Definitely Joi.
9) Setting up camp in a place nobody wants to go is reasonable. Cultivating bees outside your house when you're hiding is less reasonable, but makes finding you much easier.
The horse was marginally established as being in Vegas at time of creation, which would give much clearer information than just where the tree was. This wasn't clear, though.
10) This was not established, but I interpreted as one of the other replicants in Rachael's retinue/resistance. Maybe Freysa? But the reason is that there was just enough information to lead them there, and cutting unsearchable records won't get noticed until much later. No real way to follow up that investigation. Of course, as noted earlier, there could have been no way to lead them there, but we can't very well have a cyber-noir detective movie with no clues, now can we?
11) The doctor was never able to go back and retrieve it and evidently nobody ever found it or turned on the furnace, so it was just still there, 20 years later. As for why he kept it on his person after that, he thought it was his.
12) Short answer: it's the test for replicants gaining agency. It's measuring autonomic responses to emotionally provocative questions. Replicants aren't supposed to respond emotionally, ever. The focus shot on his neck when he failed it was a nod to that, but it's a piece that was covered in the original movie (and the book I think)
Failing the test means he was gaining agency, which is not what you want in your replicants.
http://bladerunner.wikia.com/wiki/Voight-Kampff_machine
13) Other people like K would be coming after him, as he was a rogue replicant. This is kindof a follow-on for the previous answer.
14) Freysa was in on the plan, helped get the child hidden and records scrubbed. Was there when the child was born.
15) I'm not sure she did, but she knew that's what K was trying to do, and having a rogue replicant (he lied to the lieutenant, after all) messing with your plans is never a good thing (from the corporation's perspective).
A few responses:
ReplyDelete3) ...I guess, maybe...
6) I guess when I said "deleted", I assumed that Deckard would have been able to delete the record without leaving a footprint.
7) But if implanting real memories is illegal, then why would Dr. Stelline tell him it was real? He was a cop, after all. I guess she had nothing else to lose by that point.
9) I totally forgot about the bees. Wtf was that?
11) I thought K had the horse in his possession before he went to the orphanage, and he found a second one there. Perhaps I incorrectly remembered that.
12, 13, and 15) Ok, I'll buy that.