A terrorist explosion releases a deadly virus on the masses, and it's up the bounty-hunting Bebop crew to catch the cold-blooded culprit.

As the eagerly awaited Cowboy Bebop feature film reunites the original director, screenwriter, composer and vocal cast, it's not surprising that the film plays like an expanded TV episode. What should be the routine capture of a two-bit hacker by Faye escalates into a deadly game of cat and mouse, as Spike and the gang struggle to prevent the evil Vincent Volaju from murdering every human on Mars. Director Shinichiro Watanabe handles the action sequences with his usual panache: inside the sinister Cherious Medical research facility, Spike fights a beautiful agent, using a push broom in a series of manoeuvres Jackie Chan might envy; the climactic duel between Spike and Vincent plays against innocent yet eerie images of a Halloween carnival. This will delight fans of the series and provide an excellent introduction for the uninitiated. --Charles Solomon