Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
The key to the future is finally unearthed.
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
In Blade Runner 2049, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “replicant dystopia”. The story fights on E8/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing identity, technology, freedom, memory, power.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Same subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)E7/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)E11/E14 · rare rung · power, technology
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)E6/E11 · rare rung · power, technology
Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds (2010)E6/E11 · rare rung · identity, power
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)E6/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013)E11/E12/E13 · rare rung · power, technologyAlso bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Blade Runner (1982)alters at E6 · same rung · rigorous
Appleseed (2004)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Status Update (2018)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Ghost in the Shell (2017)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Bicentennial Man (1999)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
RoboCop (2014)alters at E6 · same rung · looseAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
The Matrix (1999)consciousness in machines · simulated reality
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)consciousness in machines · cyberpunk scrapyard
Oblivion (2013)consciousness in machines · post‑apocalyptic AI colony
Astro Boy (2009)consciousness in machines · robotic metropolis
Tron (1982)consciousness in machines · digital grid
Echelon Conspiracy (2009)consciousness in machines · autonomous surveillance AISame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
Aladdin (2019)consciousness in monsters · freedom, identity
Disenchanted (2022)consciousness carried elsewhere · identity, memory
Criminal (2016)consciousness in the dead · identity, memory
Night Carnage (2025)consciousness in aliens · freedom, identity
Underworld: Awakening (2012)consciousness in monsters · identity, power
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)consciousness in animals · identity, power
