I think the original is marginally better in almost every way I can think of, but the fact that 2049 is this good is completely surprising. The third act left a little to be desired, and I think the villains are poor caricatures of the original’s at best (and boring at worst), but Gosling’s journey is genuinely interesting. Beautiful film that raises lots of interesting questions, and I’m looking forward to watching it again.
That being said, I have no idea if my 4⁄5 is a good score. Also considering a 4.5. I genuinely feel like I need to see it another few times before I settle into a final rating. But it’s hard, as a diehard fan of the original, not to love this film. I did love it. 4.5 is probably right.
But I don’t want to oversell it.