Blade Runner Vs. Blade Runner 2049: Which One Is Better?

10. Narrative

Blade Runner's overarching narrative is actually fairly simple for the most part, touting a killer set-up before Deckard ventures off on a breadcrumb-following quest to "retire" the replicants, ahead of that stunning ending. It's a film driven as much by its style and themes as its plot, and does great things with its minimalist approach.

Though 2049's narrative is of course built off the foundation set by the original, it is somewhat more ambitious, taking a less-repetitive investigative approach and spinning many more plates at once.

It retains certain mysteries will rustling up plenty of new ones, and smartly manages to feel relatively self-contained while both being a worthy follow-up and leaving the door open for more stories should Warner Bros. wish.

Winner: 2049 edges it, by doing some extremely impressive things with the pre-existing mythology and not feeling quite as repetitive as the original, even if you can argue that the film sags a little in the middle.