Ended up watching the whole of Cowboy Bebop live action thing this weekend. Like many, I love the original, but wanted to avoid knee-jerk "this will suck" reactions and give it a shot, and while I think it does ok on some fronts I felt like it stumbles on a whole lot more. There are some nice visual bits, and some of the casting does work - agree with the above that Jet is great. The script is embarrassing in places though - littered with bad quips and sarcasm, and often delivered as if it's a race to get to the end. A lot of the action gets scaled back, is shot very close-in, and just isn't as compelling. When you do start looking at direct comparisons to particular stories and characters, it does go totally off the rails. I can deal with changes, but a lot are pretty significant - major characters are written out, and others are written in with more detail - and these feel like deviations that are to bring it more in line with conventional narratives rather than actually delivering anything meaningful.
It's not the worst anime live action adaptation I've seen - Netflix's take on Death Note reigns supreme - but it's not great either.
It's not the worst anime live action adaptation I've seen - Netflix's take on Death Note reigns supreme - but it's not great either.
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