Commentary — ‘Altered Carbon: Resleeved’ Only Works Because It Is A Spinoff
by Frank Martin
Spinoffs are an opportunity to expand lore and give fans more outlets for story. At the same time, these side stories also run the risk of simply loading more material into a franchise that has no business being there. This is when the material and characters do not connect enough to the main tale and just feel like an opportunity to cash in. Altered Carbon: Resleeved borders on this territory. It features a stand-alone story that doesn’t necessarily connect to the larger narrative from the show. But it does feature the main character, which is just enough to make its original yet generic plot interesting.
The main character of both the show and the animated film is Takeshi Kovacs (Ray Chase). He’s called an envoy, which is essentially a super soldier specializing in infiltration. In this future time, minds can be stored on devices that then can be swapped into different bodies across centuries. The film sees Kovacs assuming new a body in order to investigate a Yakuza ritual that involves passing the torch from one leader to the next. However, Kovacs uncovers a conspiracy involving the original leader, who has been manipulating the ritual in order to stay in power indefinitely.
For the most part, the plot is a generic story set within the Altered Carbon universe. The animation style is unique and the fights are fun to watch, but the film’s story doesn’t match the intensity of the show. Instead, Takeshi Kovacs himself is the main draw for Altered Carbon fans. Seeing his adventures and how he can plug himself into different missions across the years is an interesting draw. Without it, the film’s story simply wouldn’t be interesting enough on its own. But because Kovacs has history and the audience is already familiar with him, he brings all of the baggage fans already know, making the film worthwhile.
Altered Carbon: Resleeved is now streaming on Netflix.
