'Blade Runner 2049' Is Better Than Ridley Scott's Original Masterpiece

Sequels have a reputation for being vastly inferior to their predecessors and are often dismissed as pointless cash grabs. The critical scorn for sequels is especially strong when they are following up a film that is widely considered a classic that cannot possibly be improved on. Think of 2010: The Year We Make Contact — the 1984 sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); The Two Jakes — the 1990 sequel to Chinatown (1974); or any of Disney's live-action remakes of their own animated classics.