Blade Runner Black Out 2022
This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary. It should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real-world context. (December 2020) |
Blade Runner Black Out 2022 | |
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Directed by | Shinichirō Watanabe |
Written by | Shinichirō Watanabe |
Produced by | Joseph Chou Al-Francis Cuenca Shun Kashima Nobuhiro Takenaka |
Starring | Jovan Jackson Luci Christian Edward James Olmos |
Cinematography | Shinichirō Etō |
Edited by | Kiyoshi Hirose |
Music by | Flying Lotus |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 15 minutes |
Countries | Japan United States |
Language | English |
Blade Runner Black Out 2022 is a tech-noir cyberpunk anime short film directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and animated by Cygames Pictures. The short is one of three short films, alongside 2036: Nexus Dawn and 2048: Nowhere to Run, that serve as prequels to the live-action film Blade Runner 2049. It debuted on 27 September 2017 on Crunchyroll.[1][2]
Plot[]
In 2022, three years after the events of Blade Runner,[3] the Tyrell Corporation has developed the new Nexus-8 line of replicants, who now possess natural, open-ended lifespans equivalent to that of a regular human. This causes a massive backlash among the human populace, who begin hunting down and killing replicants, seeing them as a now very credible threat to humanity. One of these replicants, Trixie, is attacked by a group of thugs but is rescued by Iggy, who effortlessly disarms and kills them. Iggy reveals to her that he used to be a soldier on a planet called Calantha but deserted when he realized the enemy soldiers he had been fighting and killing were also replicants.
Iggy recruits Trixie for an operation carried out by an underground replicant freedom movement to destroy the Tyrell Corporation's database of registered replicants, so that replicants can no longer be hunted. Trixie befriends Ren, who is a technician in charge of launching nuclear missiles and a replicant sympathizer. Ren agrees to redirect a test missile to detonate over Los Angeles, blacking out the city and wiping out all electronic data. At the same time, Trixie and Iggy hijack a fuel truck to physically destroy the Tyrell Corporation's servers. However, Trixie is killed while battling security forces with Iggy. The operation is a success, with the servers destroyed and power to Los Angeles disabled. Iggy manages to escape and removes his right eye, the only thing that can identify him as a replicant.
The ending narration states that in the aftermath of the Black Out, all replicant production was banned and the Tyrell Corporation went bankrupt, only for the Wallace Corporation to acquire the company and restart production of a new model a decade later.
Cast[]
- Jovan Jackson as Iggy Cygnus
- Luci Christian as Trixie
- Bryson Baugus as Ren
- Edward James Olmos as Gaff
See also[]
- Blade Runner: Black Lotus, a 2021 anime television series also based on the Blade Runner franchise.
References[]
- ^ Barder, Ollie (27 September 2017). "'Blade Runner Black Out 2022' Is Finally Released And It Is A Fantastic Piece Of Anime". Forbes.
- ^ Complex, Valerie (29 September 2017). "Blade Runner Blackout 2022 Review". Gamespot.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (27 September 2017). "Cowboy Bebop Director's New Blade Runner Anime Is Killer". Kotaku.
External links[]
- Official website
- Blade Runner Black Out 2022 on YouTube
- Blade Runner Black Out 2022 at IMDb
- 2017 films
- English-language films
- 2017 anime films
- 2017 short films
- 2010s Warner Bros. animated short films
- 2010s science fiction films
- Films directed by Shinichirō Watanabe
- Blade Runner (franchise)
- Cyberpunk films
- 2010s dystopian films
- Alcon Entertainment films
- Warner Bros. short films
- Films based on works by Philip K. Dick
- Films set in 2022
- Films set in Los Angeles
- Science fiction short films
- Animated cyberpunk films
- Japanese neo-noir films