Keanu Reeves is Spike Spiegel-- Whoa..!

[Hammerhead]

Speed Racer

Did you even see it? From the trailers, I thought that it would suck (and I'm too young to have even seen the cartoon, so it's not like it was destroying my oh-so-precious childhood memories). However, my brother heard it was good, and I stayed around to watch it.

And it was pretty great, very entertaining. I'm not sure I'd call it any kind of masterpiece, but it was damn good.

Obviously you couldn't give have people with purple and green hair running around in a live action Bebop, and I'd be seriously surprised if Jet even still wears a pink shirt. But this live-action Bebop could kick seriously ass (I loved the show), and Keanu seems like a solid choice for the role.

I can't think of any actor that I'd rather see in the role...if you don't like the idea of "Neo" being Spike, who would you cast?

 

[Mallus]

Lol. Speed Racer doesn't exist in my reality.

Did you see it? Or are you blotting it out of your memory?

 

[Relique du Madde]

I didn't see it. I also didn't that movie looked interesting enough to drop $10 to watch. From watching the trailers my conclusion was that it was stupid and that if my eyes didn't burn themselves out from sensory overload, I would end up having seizures, I would fail several SAN check and my IQ would drop before the end credits began to roll.


Also, I can't think of anyone who would be good as Spike Spiegel since his character has a lot of depth to him which martial arts skills and 'being able to act aloof and emotionless' doesn't cover.

 

[Mallus]

I didn't see it. I also didn't that movie looked interesting enough to drop $10 to watch. From watching the trailers my conclusion was that it was stupid and that if my eyes didn't burn themselves out from sensory overload, I would end up having seizures, I would fail several SAN check and my IQ would drop before the end credits began to rule.

We can't discuss a film you haven't seen, but if its on cable and/or you have insomnia, check it out. Parts of it are revolutionary, in a way that goes beyond mere deployment of eye-candy.

 

[RangerWickett]

I watched it on a 62 inch HD screen, on a blu ray dvd. Speed Racer was, without reservations, great fun, and visually amazing. It wasn't a spectacular 'film', but it was a great 'movie.'

 

[frankthedm]

Ein and Edd will make or break the movie. Those two add levity, but the Pembroke Welsh Corgis might be too adorable in real life. But the supersmart dog straight out of a Koontz novel should not be that great a challenge, even if it is adorably puppy-sized. Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV will be a real challenge though. There is a danger the director will try to make Edward more comprehensible and or reduce her to just a tag along for kids to identify with rather than the mostly harmless wacko the bebop crew keep with them due to her computer skills.

 

[Mallus]

Ein and Edd will make or break the movie.

Good point. I find Ed hard to watch, well, listen to, in the anime, even though I like the character. I'm not sure there's a way to make a live-action version work.

I imagine the writers will be sorely tempted to ditch both of them and focus on Jet, Spike and Fay.

 

[Arnwyn]

As long as Yoko Kanno does the music (and they use a number of tunes from the original series), I'll consider looking into it.

But needless to say, my hopes aren't high.

 

[frankthedm]

I think it's a solid choice. Spike Spiegel's emotional range and Keanu's match up pretty closely, and Keanu certainly looks right for the role.

Obviously you couldn't give have people with purple and green hair running around in a live action Bebop,

Why not? just make it a green tinge, like Spike really needs to wash his hair. That's the way i take it.