Sam Foulkes

It’s not difficult to understand this as a strategic cash-grab during a lull in the grotesque stream of Marvel-property film adaptations. As a film on its’s own merit? Uninspired. As a sequel? Deeply boring. As a swan song for the Gen X narrative (or lack of one) as a relevant force in the creative marketplace? I think it’s on point.

Originally not an anime fan. Bebop changed all that. Opened the door ghibli, perfect blue, ghost in the shell, etc. Grew up playing jazz. Bebop struck a chord. Grew up in love with cinema. Bebop hit home. This was uninspired at best. Like if someone only saw stills from the original and inferred the characters. Too many studio people interfering with what should have been a pretty basic and faithful adaptation. Like shot for shot with some enthusiasm. Many of the themes in the series were ahead of their time. For instance, Jupiter Jazz pts. 1&2 deal with some gender stuff that might seem superficial, but it’s actually thinking gender out far enough to a fringe world where things become re-complicated “in the old way” instead the live-adaption reduces Grim to a contemporary trans figure with a tattoo that reads “fender” with a slash through it. That isn’t an improvement, it’s a regression. If Netflix would have done this five years ago, maybe it would have had a chance. But at this point the game is starting to change and they clearly shot their wad after the fact here. Maybe this will be like the Tobey McGuire Spider-Man and we’ll get a decadent adaptation in a dozen years or so. Two thumbs WAY down :(