Bebop Movie (Spoilers)

[Zilla]

I just watched the animated Cowboy Bebop movie.

STUPID ANTI-CLIMAX!

The visuals were amazingly stunning, and the fights were EXTREMELY well done, and the plot was epic and interesting, and all the characters were up to their old tricks (Jett gets no action though ) But the one thing that bugged me was the terrible ending.

I also spent the weekend watching the entire series. I like having this movie to add more flesh to the series, and elaborate on their adventures. It's perfect for that, totally fitting, and truly worthwhile for an experience in that regard. However, if you're looking for the epic final showdown, the last three episodes back-to-back make a better movie than this one. That's where the entire series hits it's peak, and Spike's story comes to it's end with the curtains falling on the stage and leaving you with the feeling of catharsis that really drives a plot home.

The movie, when it ended, felt so... pointless. In fact, now that I think about it, even without the Bebop crew there, the story would have actually played out almost exactly the same. Spike didn't even DO anything. He tried, and the team figured out the case and the mystery, but the one important thing that they did in all this was to help Electra escape from jail so she could shoot Vincent in the end.

Basically, this is like a REALLY good episode, but can't top the series for story.

[TheSparrow]

Yes Youre right, without the Bebop crew there the story would have played out exactly the same except for the fact that the entire population of Mars would have been infected and killed by the enhanced nanobots

[Mirai Gen]

I don't think there's any reason to spoil-text when you warned against spoilers in the thread.

Having said thus, yeah, agreed. It felt especially pointless considering Electra was like "I want us to die together!" and then he's like, "Oooohhhh, right, you!" she shoots him, the end. His recognizing her didn't even need to happen for the plot to make sense; they could have just never had him snap out of it forcing Electra to kill him (or even both of them to kill each other) leaving Spike alone.

I mean really the Bebop crew have always felt like catalysts who go out and do shit but in this one Electra and Vincent were the stars (IE Vincent beating Spike repeatedly), whereas Spike and Co were just there to fill the audience in.

[Zilla]

^ Exactly my point. Electra would have found Vincent there anyway, and there was no real connection between the crew and Vincent to begin with. Jet ended up doing absolutely nothing except meeting with Bob and complaining about how his companions wander off all the time. Faye didn't amount to much other than finding the guy to begin with, then getting herself captured and held hostage.

Ed had a fun interlude, similar to Mushroom Samba, though nothing can top Ein high on shrooms.

[Osterbaum]

Isn't this movie way old already?

[Zilla]

Aren't the PowerPuff Girls way old already? :P

I hadn't seen the movie before now, and I also hadn't finished the series before now. It was all thanks to the live-action movie news that I decided to finish it.

[Osterbaum]

You wanted to see how great the series is so you could then compare it to the live-action movie and see how crappy it will be.

[Mirai Gen]

What was funny is upon seeing this thread, I thought, wait, it's out? Already? Didn't it get announced like, two days ago?

Also I need to addendum something -
Faye didn't amount to much other than finding the guy to begin with, then getting herself captured and held hostage.
- Actually it was her that stopped the virus from killing the city by causing the rainstorm. But that isn't really that impressive considering if you move Spike vs Vincent Volaju up a couple of minutes before he blows the balloon Jack O Lantern absolutely everything happens exactly the same, only difference being there's nothing for Faye to do during the final moments.

It didn't feel so much like Faye doing something so much as just a way to make the fight Spike vs Vincent so Vincent could win. Again.

[Zilla]

Spike was also the one who antagonized him into blowing up the balloons to begin with, though I did just rewatch it and realize that the Bebop crew was responsible for distributing the anti-virus.

It's still possible that Electra could have escaped and given the antidote to the army who seemed intent on protecting the people, then gone to the tower and killed Vincent. Though it's also possible that she woudln't have known to go to the tower without the fact that Spike and Vincent fighting made the E flicker in the tower, and Faye revealing that he would be "at the bridge where heaven and earth meet."

Then again, it's also entirely possible that the fight on the train would have gone completely differently if Spike hadn't been there, and the whole episode would have ended with Electra stopping him on the train and a lot more people still alive.

I guess I didn't like that they tried to be heavily invested characters and for the most part were given backseat positions.

[Mirai Gen]

Even if they were small catalysts to change of the movie's plot, they didn't really claim victory over anything. 'Being in the way' doesn't really count as doing anything functional. Even though the movie would have been different, it also would have operated perfectly fine without the Bebop crew at all, albeit with a few minor changes.

Rename it Electra and Vincent.

[Osterbaum]

It's still a Bebop crew adventure.

Maybe what they were trying to do was sort of a; "Hey, look. These guys aren't actually great heroes. They're just people." Or something.

[Magus]

I never saw this movie as a climactic moment for the series, so perhaps I was less disappointed. I thought it was good, fine, like watching two episodes that are interconnected in the regular series or what have you.

If you insist that the Bebop crew be the end-all solution to every problem, just watch the first ten minutes where they bust up the convenience store robbery.

[Mirai Gen]

That's exactly the point, though - the robbery they did something important. They didn't get nearly so lucky with the rest of the movie because they all spent it getting their asses kicked.

[Osterbaum]

Maybe it's just a bit more realistic? I don't know, I kind of prefer heroes that aren't all mighty and sometimes get their asses kicked. But who obviosly can rise up triumphant when it is really required of them personally.

[Mirai Gen]

That would be totally fine if they hadn't lost every single time and therefore had absolutely no impact on the story.

I'm totally all about having heroes get their asses kicked once in a while but come on, the movie was just taking it too far.

[Osterbaum]

Opinion.

But the movie was still good.

[Zilla]

I do admire that Spike gets beaten up quite a few times in the series (Ballad of Fallen Angels, Pierre Le Fou, et al.) The movie was a decent story, but it didn't have any denouement, it ends less than a minute after the climax, and the climax isn't even really all that satisfying. Basically, the whole last bit was just "Hey, nobody died. Yay." There's too many loose ends. What happens to Electra? Do the police ever figure it out? What happens to Cherious Medical? Why did the military get involved?

I think I may like the plot of this live action movie better because it involves the syndicates, and they are the most core component of the Bebop universe, next to the ISSP. I still think some of the character's pasts are still largely unexplored, the Gate Accident isn't explained very well, Faye never had her ending fully panned out, same with Edward and Ein, and we also don't get to see how Jet handles Spike's absence after the fact.

I do also kind of wish there was more in this movie in that regard, even if it was only to explain the war on Titan better. That is still extremely murky.