Is it just me or was Blade Runner 2049 LOUD?

Haha, yes, I had the same problem with both films, at Regal Cinemas. I wonder if this was just an issue with the theaters' sound systems or if the mixing was really done that way on purpose. Maybe it's a Hans Zimmer thing.

Reading the other responses, it’s safe to say the movie’s score and sound was intense. From my experience (saw it in IMAX at my favorite amc theater - amazing quality all around), it was certainly overpowering but in a very good way. I felt the bass more than anything, and in my mind the film benefited greatly from this. All the sounds put me right in the action/story.

Glad I'm not alone in this. The movie was absurdly load.

This movie wasn't loud at my cinema... But my local cinema has a pretty decent sound system, powerful bass, low distortion and it is also designed properly.. it's dynamic (it gets loud and goes quiet very quickly), sounds do not echo or linger...

If your cinema has a crappy system movies could sound harsh... a good test is to compare the previews/trailers to the main feature... does the main feature sound better than most of the previews? If not, then the system is probably not among the better ones...

Dunkrik however, is a loud movie and certain parts are meant to be loud, e.g. the bullet in the street scenes are supposed to sound like bullets, loud, sharp and sudden... You should flinch... The score in Dunkirk is also loud at parts... Blade Runner 2049 is not at this level at all, although it does have some strong bass in parts... There is a lot of "slam" in Blade Runner during the few action scenes, e.g. the first fight scene... You feel each hit, but it is more a bass thing, rather than overall loudness..

Agreed...too damn loud.

Oh, don't even get me started on Dunkirk. All right, I did watch it in IMAX, which definitely enhanced the issue. But yes, Dunkirk definitely suffered from the loud music that drowned out the dialog. For the first time I was glad there were subtitles for a movie at the teather, since I live in a non-english speaking country.

I noticed some of that with Blade Runner as well, despite having watched it at a regular teather. The music was a little louder than the usual, but it wasn't nearly as bad as with Dunkirk. It didn't get to the point of interfering with the dialogue. So it was okay by me.

However, in retrospect, it was a plus for Dunkirk. The unsettling score really kept me on the edge of my seat, it was like an infinite ascending spiral, it played like a ticking time bomb with an endless timer.

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Yes. The Dolby Atmos speakers rattled the walls. It took me out of the film.