alex_with_a_P

Overall a an okay to good documentary until the last 10 minutes when the filmmakers are trying to make a connection with January 10th but coming to a misguided conclusion.

The similarities aren't that people got radicalized (they weren't on Jan'10 btw) but that both events seemed to be instigated by the FBI. The bomber literally spills the beans to a letter to a mother of a victim that the head of operations. The documentary glosses over it, the same way that they gloss over Carol Howe becoming an informant for the bureau of tobacco and firearms (ATF). The same organization that perpetrated Waco and radicalized those guys in the first place. How can this documentary so blind?

Why I still give this some stars is that some of the interviews with the victims are very eye-opening and encouraging. Especially the part where the victims try to investigate on their own, again, the documentary never bothers to follow through with this thread but instead makes a huge leap to Jan'10. An event that is quite recent and still needs some proper evaluation and investigation by historians as well as journalists to see the full picture, but there are some similarities with the fact that which if the "instigators" went to jail and which didn't (because they are working for the Bureau).

4 out of 10.

I liked the original series, although it also had it's ups and downs. But this movie has two major problems: It is sandwiched between episodes of the series and therefore nothing will affect the series whatsoever. So there is an air of "none of this matters in the long run" while watching it.

The other problem is that it's way too long for a Cowboy Bebop movie. Too many superfluous scenes which stops the movie dead in it's tracks, many, many times.

Like the two detectives investigating the case felt pointless and their comedy antics were unfunny. The two new additional characters don't fare better, they are bland and clichéd. Electra is just cold and always looks grumpy, we don't see any flashbacks or personality from her. Apparently she was designed after the actress Gina Gershon. I know I sound like Mugato but she just looks like Faye with different hair, it's the SAME FACE, I feel like I'm taking crazy-pills. The antagonist in particular was very stereotypical anime villain who checked all the boxes (long hair, narrow eyes, always have a diabolical smile, be reserved, talk in a monotone voice, wear a long trenchcoat and have unlimited stamina). It was honestly jarring that the movie was trying to create empathy for him towards the end, all while we see this guy mass murder his way through the city with no remorse or emotional traits whatsoever. I have no clue what they were trying to go for when they pulled out the emotional sledge-hammer at the end, or why Spike cared so much.

Too bad, since the series was able to introduce new and interesting characters within minutes. We get a lot of fanservice from Faye and Ed, Jet is criminally underplayed, and Spike gets to kick some ass here and there. But he feels not like the same character, especially when he falls madly in love. This felt especially jarring to me since we know this takes place during the series where he still has an obsession about another woman. The plot is unnecessarily tangled with a pharmaceutical company who ties to cover up a failed experiment from the past, I suppose, honestly it was not important enough to engage an audience, it's just an excuse to throw more henchmen at Spike so we get an action scene.

Anyways, the tone of the film was more serious than the series. Also for all the talk about Space Cowboys we don't get to see much of space, which is an important ingredient of the show. It's one of many reasons why this thing feels off to me. If it wasn't for some fantastic animation sequences I would have fallen asleep. Some of the action sequences are worth the price of admission. We get one of the best hand-to-hand combat scenes here and some beautifully shot aerial combat scenes in anime, period. For some people it's enough. But it doesn't change the fact that I think it was a huge mistake to make a movie that takes place inbetween episodes of the series. It always feels like a cop-out when animes do this. I rather would have seen a prequel with Jet & Spike only, where they are working against each other and later become partners. Or a continuation of the series. But given the nature of the ending of the series though and how beloved it is among fans, it would have been too much of a gamble to ruin the legacy. Entertaining at places but overall too long and not the brightest case the crew has to solve.

5 out of 10.

For me, one of the biggest disappointments. I've seen the film three times over the years, but it just doesn't get any better. The film simply doesn't know what it's supposed to be, and you can feel that Nolan only made the film out of obligation. There are many interesting themes in RISES, but none of them are really explored. On paper, it's exciting that the police are being militarized, but what has Batman, or rather Bruce Wayne, done about it over the years? We don't even get his opinion or perspective on the situation. I simply don't buy that he just stood there and watched over the years. Bruce Wayne is somehow just passive in this film. Instead, things like the reactor are introduced as if it was a Marvel film. Our protagonist has a busted knee, OK, interesting, what does the film do with it: nothing, of course! He just gets a Bond gadget and then things work out again, until they don't..... he's a paraplegic now, oh well, nothing a Lvl42 healer can't fix. All this messing around about nothing is the reason why the film is so frustrating. I would have preferred if they had brought Ras Al Ghul back. Screw the explanation, who cares, after all he is a much more charismatic villain than Talia, who only gets 3 minutes of screen time (including the bed scene) and then ends up as an internet meme. Wayne and Ras at least have a shared history/former friendship that would have at least spiced up the film a bit.

The cameo role as an anarchist judge should actually have gone to the Joker instead of Scarecrow, at least the Joker would have been given a small guest appearance (even if another actor should have done it). The emptiness that the Joker leaves behind is clearly felt in the film. Joseph Gordon Levitt is wasted here, at the end he has to babysit a school bus. You can tell that Nolan has zero interesting ideas or motivation here. Catwoman, Dick Grayson and Gordon are only given boring fetch quests here. If you compare it to Batman Begins where Gordon actively helps Batman to outdo the villain, it's a joke. Here Batman faces Bane for a second time, this time in daylight. Nice touch but what has Bruce learned? How will he deal with Bane this time? Oh forget it, one hits the other on the head/mask until someone is too tired and gives up. I have rarely seen an unspectacular final battle like in this film. In fact several moments feel underwhelming like Batman's first return in the beginning of the movie, the first encounter with Bane etc...The cinematography is lacking here. No epic images here, as was at least the case with the predecessors. One of the most important aspects is that there is zero perspective of the citizens of Gotham here, although Nolan admits to being inspired by A Tale of Two Cities, but it doesn't come across at all. The city seems emptier here than the toilet paper corner in Walmart during Corona times. Street crime has fallen to record levels, but what about the bankers and white collar crime? As always, this is swept under the rug here, and there is no perspective on what Bruce Wayne thinks about it, as he is part of this group of economic exploiters, whether he likes it or not. But it would have been interesting to see how he would have dealt with it and realized that Batman can't just punch bankers. And that's where the crux of the matter lies with Nolan: he pushed the Batman series more and more towards realism, but Batman is a power fantasy that doesn't work under real conditions or at least reveals an ugly side that nobody wants to see, especially not in a Batman film. You're supposed to have fun. So the film backtracks and brings these exaggerated comic elements into play, like the reactor/bomb, football game explosion, the police officers who are held captive in the sewers for months but apparently have good showers and food down there. Why they were kept alive at all is another mystery that I have given up on solving. Nolan has taken on too much with this film. There is a reason why a large number of viewers rejected this film, but to this day there are hardly any people who have changed their minds and the film is already 13 years old.

Final verdict: the film has dropped the ball in every respect. It is watered down, without vision, tried to chew on big themes but suffocated by its own ambitions, and at almost three hours long it is more pompous than this review.