Blade Runner Blackout 2022

Los Angeles, 2022 AD.  A new breed of Replicants, the Nexus 8, finds itself hunted, but not by Blade Runners.  The general public has found a way to identify any Nexus 8 and begins laying waste to them in a brutal manner.  Unable to stomach the death and malice brought to their people, two Replicants band together for what anyone would describe as a suicide mission.  But to prevent the savage end of their kind, no price is too high.  It’s the end of an era for the Age of Replicants, and the beginning of an uncertain future.

To help promote the upcoming release of Blade Runner 2049, Director Denis Villeneuve commissioned three short films to cover events in the 30 year time gap in the history of Blade Runner.  While the two live action shorts focused on characters who will have central focus on the film (Jared Leto’s Wallace and Dave Bautista’s Sapper), Blackout 2022 answers a key piece of historical mystery that has always been on my mind since the first trailers for 2049 debuted.  What exactly has happened to Los Angeles and why does it look worse than it did in 2019?  Blackout 2022 doesn’t answer that entirely, but still you can feel the ramifications of what happens here and how they’ll come into play in 2049.

This short is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who most of us know as the director of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy.  He’s a novel choice to go to for a project like this.  Much of the diverse neighborhoods and cityscapes of Cowboy Bebop, especially in Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, feel influenced by the classic Blade Runner film.  Here, he brings his A-Game as always.  The animation feels a lot like the kind he contributed to the shorts he did for the 2003 Animatrix anthology.  The combination of CG, hand drawn centerpieces and characters gel together pretty well, the short film never felt like a mess because of the fusion.  Throughout it all, Watanabe has even found ways to make nods to the original film itself. The pan up over Los Angeles with the flame trail is dead on what we saw in the opening sequence of the 1982 film.  Trixie’s boyfriend even quotes Tyrell’s thoughts on Replicants being “More human than human” to show his admiration and trust in Trixie.  Best yet, Edward James Olmos makes a welcome return as Gaff, Deckards partner from the original film.  He sounds a bit on the Aramaki side but it’s still good to hear his “city speak” once again.

In the short span of 15 minutes, you can easily relate to the plight of Replicants Iggy and Trixie.  Things have only gotten worse for their kind since 2019 and now it’s no longer just Blade Runners hunting them down, but humanity in general.  It’s scary to see the world devolve into such a land of hate.  Thankfully, there’s Rem, Trixie’s Replicant sympathizer love interest, who doesn’t get a lot of screen time actually, who gives you some hope that humanity isn’t all totally gone.  Trixie I feel left more of an impression than Iggy, thanks to her amazing combat skills and cute looks.  She’s very much the Anime equivalent for Priss from the original film, a pleasure Replicant with kick ass capabilities.  That’s not to say Iggy isn’t cool in his own right.  His philosophies and mindset continue much of the themes originating from Blade Runner and never feel rehashed or recycled, but fresh all on their own.

If anything, Blackout 2022 made me wish we had an Animatrix style anthology of Anime shorts based in the Blade Runner universe.  You could go all sorts of different directions from the making of a Replicant to Batty’s off world combat missions to Deckards days in the Blade Runner unit or a spin off tale with Gaff.  The possibilities are there and endless as far as im concerned.  In a way, Blade Runner Blackout 2022 feels like an “it’s about time” piece of entertainment.  As I said in my earlier review of the film, Blade Runner, unintentionally or otherwise, paved the way for a lot of the Scifi Anime we’ve seen in the last thirty years.  It only feels right that Anime decided to give back to the source for once.

9/10

Friday comes judgement day.  Ive been hearing nearly unanimous praise but haven’t read any reviews yet.  Could Blade Runner 2049 really be the Mad Max: Fury Road of 2017?  Brace yourself, the review will be up and ready to read on Friday morning.