It was a breezy autumn day as we walked towards Empire Leicester Square cinema to see Blade Runner 2049.

I would have preferred to see this film on a bigger screen, but the only showing on at a convenient time was in one of the small screens at Empire Leicester Square.

The auditorium looked familiar when we got in. I think this is the same screen where we saw the wonderful T2 Trainspotting a few months ago.

The screen is not very big and the seating is widely stretched, so if you are sitting towards the sides as we were, then your view is somewhat skewed.

Even though this showing was late afternoon rather than evening, it was almost sold out.

After the usual interminable adverts and trailers, the film we’d come to see started.

Being the only person in the world not to have seen the original Blade Runner, I was able to enjoy this sequel fresh and unencumbered by preconceptions, without constantly comparing it to the original.

‘Blade Runner 2049’ looks and sounds amazing.

The oppressive interior and exterior colour tones give an ominous air to proceedings; the featureless skies loom threateningly over what is left of life on the planet. The soundtrack complements and ramps up this feeling of oppression and menace.

The scenes in Officer K’s (Ryan Gosling) apartment and in the streets where he wanders give an intriguing taste of what life could soon be like as reality morphs into augmented and virtual forms.

When ‘Blade Runner 2049’ ended, I felt stunned. Although it was around twenty to thirty minutes too long, it was gripping, well acted, and visually entrancing.

I wonder if the original was as good?

Related Post: ‘T2 Trainspotting’, Empire Leicester Square, London

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In the early afternoon of this bitterly cold February day a second visit to the Paul Nash exhibition at Tate Britain was very enjoyable.

There probably won’t be another retrospective of Paul Nash’s career for at least a couple of decades, so it was good to make the most of the opportunity to admire this wonderful artist’s work again before it gets packed up and dispersed back amongst its various owners.

From Tate Britain we scurried through the late afternoon twilight to our next port of call – Clos Maggiore restaurant in Covent Garden.

We hadn’t been able to get a table in the much sought after conservatory but the table we were given was very good, cosily tucked into an intimate corner.

The meal was superb, washed down with a couple of glasses of excellent aromatic Malagousia dry white wine from northeast Greece.

Happily fed, we made our way to the Empire Leicester Square cinema for the evening showing of T2 Trainspotting.

It was on in Screen 7, a small auditorium that was sold out for this showing.

From first minute to last ‘T2 Trainspotting’ was superb – funny, vibrant and gripping, with terrific performances from the reunited Renton (Ewan McGregor), Sick Boy now partially domesticated as Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewen Bremner), and Begbie (Robert Carlyle).

One of the most entertaining scenes in the film is the one set in the Scottish Parliament where Renton and Simon go to make a presentation to try and secure funding for their business.

Although the reality is that they intend their venture to be a seedy sauna, their presentation makes out that it will be a wholesome business featuring local arts and crafts, the epitome of gentrification.

Jonny Lee Miller’s face is a picture as Ewan McGregor delivers his bullshit spiel.

T2 Trainspotting is an exhilarating couple of hours, in my opinion just as good as the original.

Roll on T3.

Related Post: ‘Uncut Gems’, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA)

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