20/11/2021
I Saw You, Space Cowboy - a Spoiler-Free Review™️ of Cowboy Bebop Live Action
My overall score: 6.5/10
tl;dr - I think it's worth a watch, but only if you can accept that it never aimed to be the same as the anime.
- The Good Bits.
The Music: Yoko Kanno knocks it out of the park. The music throughout is everything you would expect from her, and it does everything, with the old familiar hits, and new compositions that can be as loud and in your face, or so subtle that you hardly notice it's there, punctuating the emotion conveyed throughout.
The Sets: I love the aesthetic, quite faithful to a lot of the recognizable locations and scenes people love. It has this "lower budget with a lot of effort" feel, that actually works for how it comes across on screen.
The Cinematography: By and large, the camerawork was solid, and framing some scenes must have been quite the challenge. But it comes together beautifully to make a LOT of wallpaper-worthy images, and near-perfect recreations of iconic scenes.
The Pupper: Ein is an absolute treasure, a precious doggo, and the best screen presence and actor on set. 15/10, I will stan this beast.
- The Bad Bits.
The Acting: While the cast clearly did what they could within the scope of the Director's vision and the Writer's framing, there are certainly parts that are stilted, hammy, overacted, and leave you feeling like it gets the wrong tone in the scene. There are some wins here, too, but but they don't feel as impacting.
The Writing: What can I say... oof. I get that this is to appeal to a broader audience than the original, but they rely far too much on odd phrasing, tired tropes, cliché setups, and only one real twist that doesn't impact near as hard as it could have.
The Special Effects: This is where it's really only half bad. A lot of the more subtle effects work perfectly for visual enjoyment, but then the larger effects, both digital and practical, sometimes break any immersion or suspension of disbelief, and can completely ruin the tone of a scene.
- The Ugly/Weird.
The Narrative Changes: Most of the new things put in for plot or narrative choices feel out of left field, or forced, but most of them DO pay off in a satisfying way, so I can't put it in the Bad column. But it may be a bit jarring or eye-roll inducing when they first occur.
That Final Scene: I know what they were trying for, to capture the whimsy and manic nature of who/what is presented, but oh boy does it not feel right. I give the person props for committing to the part, and doing what they can with what they were given, but I want some of what everyone involved was smoking, because it had to have been GOOD.
The Plot: I leave this for last, because it has the oddest syncopation, which is both out there, and yet completely fitting. Much like Jazz, the freeform music everything around the show is based on, the plot is loose, unstructured, and yet, it has a rhythm to it that if you can fall into beat with, can be really enjoyable, even if it's barely held together in places and starts to become noise.
- The Overall Take.
I can say I enjoyed it, and would happily watch a second season, despite its flaws. I can't ignore where it falls short, but I can get behind what it's trying to do, and I can honestly say that if you're a fan of Bebop, or even just a purveyor of streaming irreverent stuff that is a bit off kilter, then give it a chance. You might just find it to be delightful trash, or even something that resonates with you.
Thanks for reading, this was kinda fun to put together, and hope it gives some bearing, regardless if you liked the show or not.
- Shep
