'Altered Carbon: Resleeved' - Movie Review

A classic Anime film - made in Japanese and in Japan - this was released shortly after the second season of "Altered Carbon" hit Netflix. Takeshi Kovacs is resleeved on Latimer 250 years before the events of season 1, but still long after the revolution. Unlike the Takeshi we know from the TV series, he barely questions his "assignment" from the head of the Taneseda family at all, and never mentions Quellcrist or the revolution, he just starts fighting. Not that he's given any time to question: this is a bloodbath from end to end (when it's not visually referencing "Ghost in the Shell" and maybe "Bladerunner" to a lesser extent).

This is an inelegant money grab rooted in the success of the first season. Takeshi Kovacs doesn't sound like Takeshi Kovacs: and I'm not talking about the person who did the voice work, I'm talking about the way he speaks and thinks. Here, he's merely a smart man in a difficult situation fighting to survive. As mentioned, he shows no relation to the person we know from the other season(s).

This is modeled on "The Animatrix," a semi-related movie rooted in the success of "The Matrix" done in an Anime style ... although I give that one some credit for originality where this gets none. Most of the film is computer animated. The characters appear to be hand-drawn, but machine animated. They certainly don't move like humans ... rotoscoping might have been better (not something you'll hear me say often!).