Blade Runner 2049's First Full Trailer: Ryan Gosling Is 'Special'

Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic 1982 sci-fi movie, received its first full-length trailer on Monday, showcasing how new director Denis Villeneuve will take forward the tone, setting, and mood of the dystopian original.

The new trailer, which expands on the teaser we got late last year, packs a lot in its two minute twenty-one second runtime, eventually raising more questions than it clearly wishes to answer. That is a good practice for any trailer, but the fact that it opens with a mini-trailer of its own is a trend that is starting to get slightly annoying.

Jared Leto’s Wallace, a Replicant manufacturer, gets the first lines here: “Every civilisation was built off the back of a disposable workforce. But I can only make so many.” Then he strokes the face of a naked human, and whispers: “Happy birthday.” Sporting long hair pulled back, and a rough beard, this is Leto’s first role after his so-so Joker performance in Suicide Squad.

The trailer, like the upcoming film, is centred around Ryan Gosling, who plays a LAPD officer like Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard in the original. Robin Wright seems to be playing Gosling’s captain, and she gets a few lines in as well: “The world is built on a wall that separates kind. Tell either side there’s no wall, you bought a war.”

In terms of visuals, Villeneuve – with acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins – seem to have done a good job of contrasting the blue-grey hues of futuristic 2049 Los Angeles setting with the Mad Max-style inspired wastelands, to which Deckard presumably fled 30 years ago. He's also imbuing the film with background multiculturalism, with both Mandarin and Hindi (spot the 'बार') visible. Villeneuve previously helmed the brilliant 2016 sci-fi thought-piece Arrival, and the engaging 2015 crime drama Sicario.

“You’re a cop. I did your job once. I was good at it,” Deckard narrates over images of Gosling’s Officer K entering a derelict building. The rest of the trailer from there on includes a lot of action, with scenes suggesting that Leto and Gosling will end up on opposite sides.

And just like the original, there are multiple hints that Gosling’s character might be a Replicant himself, with Ana de Armas’ Joi cryptically telling him that he’s “special”.

Blade Runner 2049 flies into theatres October 6.