Think Blade Runner combined with… well, more Blade Runner. It is an unavoidable fact that French director Guy-Roger Duvert’s first feature film borrows heavily from Ridley Scott’s timeless sci-fi heavyweight, and not just in its cyberpunk aesthetic. Businesses controlling the experience of being (or not being) human, a lead character with skeletons in his closet and some serious philosophical probing all feature heavily in 2047: Virtual Reality, unapologetically harking back to one of the jewels of contemporary science-fiction.
And much like Scott’s film, 2047 manages to make you think. It’s a provoking investigation of internet security and political game-playing that leaves you with thoughts long after the film finishes. It follows a chapter in the life of one man as he finds himself a piece in a dangerous game being played by the corporations, the government and internet terrorists, all of whom want control over a human population who spend most of their time online in the virtual world.
In the tradition of Netflix’s Black Mirror, 2047 focuses on a technology that already exists and has taken off in recent years – virtual reality. The moments in the real world have a stinging contrast to the fantastical simulations or ‘verses’ as they are called. It is the actions of those few left in the real world that bears heavily on the plot and provides you with the most opportunities for a bit of soul-searching.
However, 2047 fails to really impress. The moments where main character Nash (a chiselled, spirit-glugging Mike Dupod) is in the virtual world feel inconsequential. The escapade where Nash takes over the body of a woman, in particular, feels very far-fetched; a shallow combination of desert warfare and robots that don’t clearly tie in with the main story until its last moments. Efforts are not made to make the technological equivalent of waking up and realising it’s a dream engaging enough.
None of the actors put in a terrible showing, but the performances are as unmemorable as the characters. For a film with some impressive and beautiful shots of the neon-lit future, it’s astonishingly unengaging. There is nothing to make you sit up and take notice. There is no Roy Batty or moving rain-soaked monologue here. You are instead left with a slight headache as you try and keep up with who everyone is working for, a conundrum that overshadows any ethical debates brought up during the story.
Being so closely related to another film also means that 2047 cannot really be seen as anything new. Before long, this futuristic science fiction treat ends up feeling crusty and stale. The surface-level aesthetics and interesting themes are not enough to stop this flying car scraping along the pavement.
2047: VIRTUAL REALITY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: GUY-ROGER DUVERT / SCREENPLAY: GUY-ROGER DUVERT / STARRING: MIKE DUPOD, JANE BADLER, JOCHEN HÄGELE, MAXIMILIEN POULLEIN, KAYA BLOCKSAGE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
