An excerpt from my script review for Blade Runner Down which will be available 03/06/23:
2.) Plot Stability
This section was my biggest complaint with the script.
So the whole script revolves around Deckard needing to find and kill an alleged SIXTH replicant that escaped from the initial group he was hunting in the original film.
Wait…let me back up…
What he’s really after is a “cure” for Rachel who has surpassed her “Sell by” date.
They’ve been hanging out in the snowy woods of Oregon, banging like bunnies in some wooden cabin.
That is until she’s stiff as a board (not from pleasure), and he’s forced to put her in cryogenic sleep to stall until she can be fixed.
Now he’s tasked to find the sixth, by Rachel’s original inspiration named Sarah, who runs the Tyrell corporation.
The initial stuff at the Tyrell Corp all happens pretty quick, and having only watch the original film once, I had to look a bunch of shit up.
Okay…so the issue with the plot…
Deckard’s single clue is pictures of a surgically removed heart of one of Tyrell’s original masterminds, named Isidore…who I kept calling Isildore, like from Lord of the Ring because…c’mon…we’re one fucking letter off.
Anyway, there’s little to no reasoning behind why this clue will lead to anything, and in fact, for the first half of the script it doesn’t.
Deckard is running from the “new” version of his former Blade Runner life named Andersson.
(With two S’s because…future.)
Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of cool shit to see this time around.
The underground parts of the city.
These “cattle cars” filled with replicants being shipped to their demise in fire and brimstone in the basement of the Tyrell Corporation.
Local terrorists/activists nicknamed “Rep Sympths” who blow all kinds of shit up…and side with the replicants saying they have rights, but hate Tyrell for making them, and the UN because…reasons.
They’re just an angry bunch.
My main issue is just the task Deckard is given…wait…it’s not that…
It’s the task he’s given with such shitty clues to follow up on…and after 10 years!
It didn’t make sense.
I’ll try to focus here…
So he finds Isidore by putting the pictures into the police computer system, and generating a 3D model.
From that he discovers an incision too small or precise for regular tools…or something.
After what feels like too much chasing he calls his old doctor buddy from the police force.
Doc buddy says “vet” (as in a veterinarian) and magically Deckard lands on Isidore’s doorstep, only he’s now working under the name Dr. Doolittle and fixing replicant animals.
Once Deckard conveniently “tricks” his way in, by being thrown out the first time, Isidore figures out who he is, and we’re given the big reveal of who the Sixth 6 is…
*SPOILER*
It’s none other than the Blade Runner chasing him…Andersson. Right, with TWO S’s!
And when Andersson figures out who he really is, he goes on a human killing spree because…replicant genocide.
Was this plot horrible?
No…it just felt like the story was trying to do too much without developing anything worthwhile.
You want to focus on replicant sympathizers and a government that’s rounding them up for secret extermination? Great.
Concerned more with Deckard wanting to save Rachel? Even better, just give him better clues to start off with.
I didn’t hate this story by any means, I just wish it had focused more.
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