If you’ve read this far, it’s probably time to address the biggest and most heated debate in the Blade Runner universe. The first one, set in the year 2033, centers on Niander Wallace, the new villain played by Jared Leto: Yep! But if you’re curious about what else happened in that 30-year gap, there are a few short Blade Runner 2049 tie-in movies you can watch to get up to speed. So Blade Runner 2049 picks up 30 years after the original? I’ve never bothered with any of those, but you can find both versions on the elaborate "Ultimate Collector’s Edition," so go nuts. It’s much more similar to The Final Cut than the original release-there are no voiceovers and no happy ending-but there are some scene-to-scene differences, and some purists prefer the visual design of the original to the remastered look of The Final Cut.Īfter that, you can check out the International Version, which is just a more violent version of the Theatrical Cut, or the Workprint Version, which is more or less what Blade Runner would have been before all those concessions were made to appease confused test audiences for the original release. To my mind, the original release (which is now called the "Theatrical Version") is definitely inferior-and Blade Runner 2049 has pretty clearly jettisoned that happy ending-but if you’re a completist, it’s interesting to see the somewhat bastardized version that originally arrived in theaters.Īfter watching that, you might want to check out the Director’s Cut, which was released in 1992. (For what it’s worth, neither Ridley Scott nor Harrison Ford are fans of it.) Even more controversially, the original version included a disjointed happy ending that was patched in, bizarrely enough, with unused helicopter footage from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
Most Blade Runner diehards loathe this voiceover, though some defenders have argued that it ultimately helps to entrench Blade Runner in the neo-noir genre.
#Blade runner 2049 streaming movie#
When Blade Runner was originally released, it included an elaborate voiceover narration by Harrison Ford, which was added when test audiences complained that the movie was too confusing. This is where it gets a little complicated. Let’s say I get really, really into Blade Runner.
That alone should be enough to get you prepped for Blade Runner 2049-so if you want to stop here, you’re good. It’s not available on any of the major subscription streaming services right now, but you can rent it on any of the major paid streaming services- Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, et al.-for a few bucks.