Sequels and revamps have always generated a collective amount of enthusiasm from fans – those who are eager to get a bit more from their beloved original. The 75-year-old action star, Harrison Ford, has been returning with a slew of sequels to his biggest and best old classics in recent years, with “Star Wars: The Force Awakes,” and then “Indiana Jones 5” set for 2020.

Now, after 35-years, Warner Brothers Pictures has released a sequel to Scott Ridley’s 1982 cult classic “Blade Runner,” a science fiction epic about a future world. In the original, a young Harrison played Rick Deckard, a man who operated as a Blade Runner. It was his job to “retire” or kill the society’s now illegal androids – robots who lacked the ability to feel empathy and only kept at bay by a series of implanted false memories.The plot follows Ford falling in love with Rachel, an experimental replicant who, in body and mind, is close to human.

Fast forward to 2049, Ryan Gosling plays a Replicant known as “K,”  a Blade Runner tasked with killing off his own kind. On a routine “retirement,” he discovers that a Replicant has given birth to a child – half human, half android – which could drastically alter their society’s societal boundaries. After being ordered to destroy the child, K and his holographic girlfriend, Joi, played by Ana de Armas, set out on an adventure to get answers from Rick Deckard. Ford’s character has been in hiding since the events of the first movie, and the search sets off a series of events that take characters down intriguing new paths. While these new elements add increasing depth to the sequel, there is still plenty of fan service and nods to the original that only help to expand on the classic universe.

The movie is visually stunning in a gritty Tokyo-esque Los Angeles, as director Denis Villeneuve litters the screen with wide aerial shots, gigantic seductive holograms and a neon-noir atmosphere. For potential viewers that have not seen the original, don’t be afraid of getting a ticket to see the sequel. There are 35-years worth of in-depth descriptions online you can read on the way to the theater, plus the movie throws newcomers a bone with an explanatory opening clip. With a running time of two hours and forty-four minutes, all I can say is try not to drink any water before you go.