Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)

nCowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)

nDirector: Shinichiro Watanabe, Hiroyuki Okiura, TensainOkamura

nMy exploration of anime films continues and this time Intackle Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, an anime film that always pops up as the onesnthat “you gotta see” so I decided to finally give it a spin. The trailers fornthis film called it “Today’s hottest kind of cool” and a “gritty futuristicnthrill ride that definitely delivers the goods” so of course my curiosity wasnsparked. My only concern was that I had never seen the series that the film isnbased on, so I was sort of going into this movie naked, not knowing anythingnabout what the world of Cowboy Bebop was all about. But then I learned that thenfilm was designed so that newbies like me and fans of the show could enjoy thenfilm alike. I’m sure I’ll enjoy this film a bit more after I’ve seen the entirenshow, but I like watching anime films perse, so I decided to watch it evennthough I have not seen the show. Still, just in case you’re interested, thisnfilm takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the show. So, how was my firstndip into the world of Cowboy Bebop?

nThe story for this film is fairly simple, a terrorist named Vincentnwants to destroy the world via a virus he wants to set lose upon the world onnHalloween Night. The government puts a hefty bounty on the head of thenterrorist, so of course, Spike and his crew of bounty hunters decide to gonafter the guy, so they can cash in all those millions. Problem is that Vincentnhas gone into hiding, and Halloween night just keeps getting ever so close! Hownwill they stop the terrorist attack from ever happening? As you can see, the story is nothing complex, a weakness of this film in my opinion, I was expecting a bit more. Thankfully, the visuals are top notch as is the animation.

nNow taking in consideration that I knew nothing of thenconcept behind Cowboy Bebop save for the fact that it was a beloved series, I’dnsay that I grasped the concept behind the whole thing pretty quickly. The ideanis that these are a group of Bounty Hunters who are always looking for newnbounties in order to make money, the idea being that they are only in it fornthe money. They aren’t cops or detectives or anything of the sort, they just donthese missions for the money, hence the tag line for the film “They are goingnto save the world, but not for free!” Spike Spiegel is the leader, he’s you’rena-typical “cool dude” always posing, saying cool things, smoking his cigs. Ohnand he’s good at martial arts at well! Then we have Jet Black, the aged toughnguy/father figure who owns the spaceship they fly called ‘The Bebop’. FayenValentine, the sexy chick who used to be a bounty but now forms part of thengroup, Ed who is a computer whiz and is always getting them all the info theynneed during their missions and finally, Ein a dog with human intelligence who’snalso a genius at chess.

nBut of course, me being a Cowboy Bebop rookie, some elementsnof the story flew right by me, for example, I didn’t exactly grasp the idea thatnthe whole film takes place in Mars because humanity had to flee from earth.nHumanity has spread itself throughout different planets because of this. Thenyear wasn’t clear either. In fact, to me the movie simply takes place in a strangenamalgamation between New York City, France and the Middle East. So of course,nnot having seen the show will put you at a small disadvantage, but not enoughnof a disadvantage that you won’t be able to enjoy the film. The whole filmnstarts like you are walking into the middle of a film already in progress; Inactually liked the fact that the film wasn’t spelling things out for thenviewers. You have to sort of figure things out on your own and get on thenbandwagon and I liked that about this film. From what I hear the show isnstructured in the same way. So the film doesn’t treet its viewers like idiots,na cool thing. Also, this is an animated film that’s rated ‘R’, so it has profanity,nnudity, guns, violence, the works. So cool, an anime film entirely directedntowards adults.

nSo with all these cool things going for it, why did I end upnfeeling underwhelmed? Not saying that it’s a bad film, it has some great thingsnabout it, and actually, I feel that I need to watch it a few more times tontruly grasp the thing, but at first glance I felt the film was in need of a bitnmore action. As it is, the film has some cool action scenes, like for examplenthe one that takes place on a train, which was awesome. There’s also a climacticnspaceship chase sequence that I enjoyed, but in my opinion it needed a bit morenthan that. I think the big draw of the film is more the chemistry between thencharacters, but for a show with emphasis on gun play and fights, the film mightnhave needed a bit more of that, or maybe editing a bit of the melodrama to makenthe pacing a little quicker. But I will say that when the action starts, it’snpretty cool. The animation, the angles chosen by the director and animators, Inloved all that stuff because that’s what I love seeing in animation, things thatnaren’t done often in live action films. I was kind of saddened to hear that thenshow has a lot more space adventure in it, because sadly characters do not goninto space on this film. I love sci-fi films that take place in space, so thatnwould have added a whole other level of cool, but alas, that never came to be,na missed opportunity in my book. Still, we do get cool spaceships and I alwaysnenjoy those, even if they aren’t flying around in space. Actually, Spike hasnthis whole scene that’s a chase as he drives this cool little spaceship (called The Swordfish II) which was prettyncool stuff, love the design work on this film.

nHollywood has shown interest in making a Cowboy Bebop livenaction film but its taking a while to lift off. Shinichiro Watanabe, the creator of CowboynBebop assures us that its happening, but that it’s all very secret andnhush-hush. At one point Keanu Reeves was going to play the role of Spike, sadlynthe project has been in development hell for so long that Keanu now feels thatnhe is “too old” to play Spike, so he turned down the project. While it’s truenthat Keanu at one point would’ve been perfect for it, he actually looks a bitnlike Spike, I agree, too much time has elapsed and maybe the film would benefitnfrom having a younger actor play the role of Spike. Keanu also stated that the film would cost a fortune to make, so maybe that’s holding it back a bit as well, similar to how the live action Akira film is being held back for the same reason. But one thing’s for sure, Inwould love to see a live action Cowboy Bebop movie. In the meanwhile, you got the show (which I hear is better than the actual film) and this film to quench your thirst for Cowboy Bebops special brand of “Jazzy”naction, just remember that its manufactured for fans of the show, newbies mightnfeel just a little bit lost, still there’s fun to be had if you decide to takenthe plunge.

nRating: 3 out of 5