Cowboy Bebop: A Netflix Review

 


Periodically, reviewers rate a science fiction work poorly because they are not familiar with the initial work, nor are they fans.

Example: When X-Men: Dark Phoenix was released, critics panned it because the main character died at the end.

This, of course, is as silly as saying 'Titanic' was a poor film because the boat sank at the end.

Of course the boat is supposed to sink at the end! We knew that going in! But if, somehow, improbably, you didn't know the history about the Titanic sinking, you might conclude the movie sucked after seeing the ship go down. And so it was with fans of the X-Men universe who actually picked up a comic book once in a while. They knew Dark Phoenix was supposed to die. (Hint: It's right there in the name, "Phoenix." Duh!) But critics didn't know the history, so they failed to see the point.

Something similar seems to be happening with the live-action version of Cowboy Bebop, produced by Netflix. For those who are unfamiliar, Cowboy Bebop was originally a Japanese Anime series which blended aspects of sci fi, noir, spaghetti western, and kung-fu action genres. The series is slavishly devoted to the same style of the original Japanese anime - right down to the hot-jazz opening credits number, "Tank."

The combination of styles, in which jazz music is lionized, where ports of call exist on outer moons like Europa and Titan, and where tobacco has somehow persisted as an addiction in spite of all technological advances, truly appealed to me. Seeing Netflix do something almost akin to a "cut and paste" version with live-action feels very, very loyal. And because I liked the original so much, I'm loving the Netflix version with John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda.

The critics, nearly all of them outside the Japanese Anime beltway, just don't get it.

No, the show is not serious, any more than the 1990 movie based on Dick Tracey, starring Warren Beatty, was meant to be serious. That movie, like Cowboy Bebop, was slavishly devoted to the original format. But that's the point. Cowboy Bebop is pure fun. And it's meant for fans, not the uninitiated.

Okay, maybe there are some offensive lines, like the one where a cougar named "Woodcock" is accused of blackmail, and she responds to Jet (a black character) by saying, "Yes, it is, because you're black, and you're male." Or when Jet complains about money, and Spike suggests that he sell off his mechanical arm, Jet answers, "Or I could put my fist up your ass." To which Spike responds, "And it would feel really good, but would it solve anything?" But Cowboy Bebop was always about risque sexual innuendo and walking the line in such a way as to not-so-carefully cross it once in a while. It was, and still is, the Japanese Anime version of a Quentin Tarantino film, and there's no reason to change it now, live-action feature or not.

So watch the cartoon first. Get a feel for it. THEN watch the Netflix version.

You'll be glad you did.


Eric

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