Killer Bean Forever

''Killer Bean Forever'' is a 2008 American computer-animated action film written, produced, and directed by Jeff Lew, starring Vegas E. Trip, Bryan Session, David Guilmette, Matthew Tyler and Jeff Lew. It was preceded by two web shorts: ''Killer Bean: The Interrogation'' in 1996, and ''Killer Bean 2: The Party'' in 2000. Taking place in a world of anthropomorphic coffee beans, the film's plot follows a bean assassin named Jack "Killer" Bean, who is sent to hunt down a crime boss, while he himself is hunted by mercenaries and the police.

In 2020, an animated series that continues the story of the film was announced, and premiered on September 6, 2020, but was cancelled in August 2021. In the same month, a game simply titled ''Killer Bean'' was announced, which also continues the film's story. The movie has obtained a cult following online since 2018.

Plot

One late night in the city of Beantown, professional assassin Jack "Killer" Bean has problems sleeping due to some gangsters holding a loud party in a nearby warehouse - when his requests for them to turn the music down is refused, Jack storms into the warehouse and kills everyone inside. Their leader is revealed to be the nephew of Cappuccino, an Italian American crime boss and drug lord. A police investigation led by Detective Cromwell occurs, during which he has a confrontation with Vagan, Cappuccino's lieutenant and hitman.

The next morning, Jack sees the investigation from his apartment and attempts to assassinate Cromwell with a sniper rifle, but is stopped by his boss, who berates him for drawing attention with the warehouse shooting and reminds him of his intended target - at the same time, Chinese assassin Jet Bean is sent to Beantown on a mission from his boss. At the same time, Cappuccino learns of his nephew's death and vows revenge on Killer Bean, while Cromwell manages to identify Jack from his signature on the bullet casings left at the warehouse.

Killer Bean storms another of Cappuccino's warehouses later that day, only to find it empty, and is ambushed by Vagan with a sniper rifle. The two engage in an intense gunfight, with Vagan being forced to retreat after Jack destroys his scope with a shot. He then heads to a pub across the road to get a drink, but is confronted by Cromwell, who interrogates him and offers to turn a blind eye if he assassinates Cappuccino, having been on the drug lord's case for several years to no success. When Jack leaves, Cromwell discovers a note left in the warehouse - "Shadow Bean, you are too late" - and attempts to confront Jack over this, but is incapacitated as Jack escapes.

Cromwell calls his friend and intelligence officer, Harrison "The Dye Beano", who reveals that the Shadow Beans were a private organization of assassins who formerly carried out operations for the government before seemingly disbanded. That night, Killer Bean then raids Cappuccino's third, main warehouse and manages to kill both all of the gang members inside and the platoon of mercenaries sent by Cappuccino to assassinate him, but is ultimately knocked out after Vagan sends an exploding motorcycle into him.

Jack is interrogated by Cappuccino on his motives and why he wants to kill him, only to discover that Jack's target was Vagan, not Cappuccino. Vagan kills Cappuccino as the two have a standoff, with Jack accusing Vagan of betraying the organisation and destroying their databases. However, Vagan reveals he used to be a Shadow Bean as well, codename "Dark Bean", but the organization has since regressed from vigilantes to guns-for-hire who will work for anyone. After being instructed to deliver guns to a group of terrorists he had been working to take out for years, Vagan turned his back on the corrupt agency and stole all the data he had gathered so he could continue his work in private. Jack refuses to believe Vagan and shoots him, but with his dying breath, he warns Jack that he is now compromised as well and that the Shadow Beans will send another assassin to silence him too.

Cromwell, who had witnessed the warehouse battle from afar, arrives with a police strike team to apprehend the survivors, and Jack turns himself in, believing that Cromwell and the police can protect him. However, Jet Bean, who was the assassin sent to kill Jack, arrives in Beantown and manages to trace Jack's location by tricking the officers into confessing Jack's location and then getting himself arrested. After slaughtering his way through Cromwell's forces, Jack and Jet Bean engage in a long duel - while Jack attempts to convince Jet Bean that the Shadow Beans are corrupt, he does not believe him. Jack wins the duel and mortally kills Jet Bean, before receiving a call from his boss, who wants to talk things over. Jack replies that he'll come, but not for talking. He says this right before he departs for the Shadow Bean base with a police van filled with weapons, seeking revenge.

Voice cast

* Vegas E. Trip as Jack "Killer" Bean. He is an anthropomorphic coffee bean and assassin working for the Shadow Agency as a Shadow Bean, until he finds out their true nature. He uses a pair of gold-plated handguns and martial arts to assassinate his targets.
** Trip also voices DJ Bean, Cappuccino's nephew and a gangster who dreamed of being a DJ at a night club, but was killed by Killer Bean for annoying him with his loud music, the News Reporter, and other beans as extras.
* Bryan Session as Detective Cromwell, a police detective who is put in charge of hunting down both Killer Bean and Cappuccino.
** Session also voices Vagan (Dark Bean), a gangster running guns for Cappuccino and former Shadow Bean for the Agency, having quit after they betrayed him.
* Matthew Tyler as Cappuccino, an Italian international crime boss and drug lord who wants to exact revenge on Killer Bean for killing his nephew.
* Jeff Lew as Jet Bean, an Asian assassin working for the Shadow Agency who is sent to hunt down Killer Bean.
**Lew also voices other beans as extras.
*David Guilmette as the Leader of the Shadow Agency, Killer Bean and Jet Bean's mysterious boss who is only heard on the phone; credited as "The Voice".
**Guilmette also voices Harry, a police officer and Detective Cromwell's friend, the Mercenary Leader, who claims to have hand-selected his squad at the Academy 10 years ago and, along with them, is sent to kill Killer Bean on Vagan's orders, The Bartender, the bar owner who works at the bar, and other beans as extras.

Production

The concept for ''Killer Bean'' came in a short produced by Jeff Lew in 1996 entitled "The Killer Bean: The Interrogation", which was later called "Killer Bean 1". Jeff Lew intended this short only to teach himself animation, and it only received about 3000 hits. After practicing animation for about 2 years, Lew started work on "The Killer Bean 2: The Party", a 7-minute short. "The Killer Bean 2" took about 3 years to create, and was released on iFilm in 2000. In about 6 months, it received about a million views, which was significant before YouTube. A later edit, "Killer Bean 2.1", was uploaded to DivX in 2004. "Killer Bean 2.1" was also later uploaded to YouTube in 2009, which has since gained more than 4 million views.

After receiving various calls from movie producers that never developed, Lew decided to make a full feature film himself. The first rough draft of the screen play took about 5 months. Previsualization (previz) took about one and a half years. One mistake Lew regretted was not making the concept art before previz, which meant that many of the previz shots could not be reused for final animation. Lew then posted an ad on Craigslist for voices, and auditioned about 20 people and cast four. The concept artist for the characters was Von C. Caberte. By July 2005, all pre-production was completed.

The film took about five years to create, with approximately one and half years in pre-production and three years in animation. ''Killer Bean Forever'' had approximately 1000 animated shots. Generally, animators are given 1–4 weeks to complete one shot, and thus to create 1000 shots would have taken 20 years. Lew used an inexpensive 2D motion capture system to speed up animation, primarily with lip-sync. During this time, Lew also worked as an animator on major Hollywood productions including ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and ''X-Men''.

Release

In 2008, the worldwide rights to ''Killer Bean Forever'' were acquired by Cinema Management Group. That same year, the film was screened for buyers at the Toronto Film Festival.

The film was released on DVD in the United States on July 14, 2009.

In May 2018, the film was officially uploaded to YouTube in its entirety in 4K resolution, gaining over 50 million views as of July 2023.

Reception

Scott McDanel of RMU Sentry Media called the film "an absolute dumpster fire," but wrote that he would "still highly recommend it as a 'it's-so-bad-it's-good' flick."

The YouTube upload significantly contributed to the movie's cult following, causing moments and references of the film to become a meme.

Earlier shorts: ''The Killer Bean 1 & 2''

The first short, "Killer Bean: The Interrogation", was released in 1996. The short features Killer Bean captured by mercenaries who interrogate him. In this short, the beans are more like jelly beans rather than coffee ones.

The second short, "The Killer Bean 2: The Party", was released on August 8, 2000. The short is about Killer Bean being annoyed by the loud music at a nearby party held by some gangsters. When they refuse to turn it down, Killer Bean arrives to do it himself, but the gangsters won't go down without a fight.

A third short, "The Killer Bean 3: Forever", was originally intended to release in 2002, but was scrapped in favor of the movie ''Killer Bean Forever''. The trailer featured Killer Bean on a roof, breathing in, and breathing out.

2020 web series

In January 2020, The Killer Bean Channel posted a picture on YouTube community revealing Killer Bean's return and will have a 10+ episode series, although it has been delayed since late February. The Twitter account of Killer Bean claimed that YouTubers and fans will voice act the characters in the series. On May 10, the first teaser of the miniseries was released to the Killer Bean Channel.

On May 10, 2020, ''The Return of Killer Bean'', a teaser for what could come in the new series, was released onto YouTube. "The Return of Killer Bean" was released as a teaser for the upcoming 2020 series in 4K. The short features Killer Bean (Jeff Lew) attacking a group of mercenaries, but when the last surviving bean (Christopher Giersz) threatens to shoot a hole through his car door, just like he did with his mother's, Killer Bean attempts to reason with him. Claiming that the mercenary has some personal problems, Killer Bean lets him take his car and throws him the keys. The last bean tries to find the keys in some trash bags, but when he finds them, the keys are actually an explosive device. The explosion throws the mercenary into a garbage can, though he survives, before Killer Bean leaves in his car.

On September 6, 2020, the first episode was released.

On November 20, 2020, the second and final episode was released.

In August 2021, due to the new ''Killer Bean'' game in development and getting false copyright claims on YouTube before, Lew announced that the series is no longer in production.

On October 1, 2022, a new series titled ''Killer Bean - The Prequel'' was officially announced. Taking place before the events of ''Killer Bean Forever'', the story follows Killer Bean's Shadow Bean training into the Shadow Agency. The first episode titled ''Driving School'' was released on September 29, 2022.

Cast

*Jack "Killer" Bean (voiced by Jeff Lew) - A bean assassin and a former Shadow Bean who is trying to hunt down and end the Shadow Agency.
*MAX (voiced by Various Actors) - An AI drone built by Kessler who helps Killer Bean hunt down the Shadow Agency.
*Kessler (voiced by Charles White Jr.) - A former Shadow Bean and engineer who specializes in computers and built an AI drone named MAX.
*Reximus (voiced by Max Lundgrem) - A gamer bean who is the leader of his clan.
*Sniper (voiced by Rin Monjica) - A female assassin who is Reximus' second in command.

Episodes

Pilot (2020)

Season 1 (2020)

Mobile game

In 2012, a mobile game, ''Killer Bean: Unleashed'', was released for Android and iOS. Taking place shortly after ''Killer Bean Forever'', the story follows Killer Bean who is on the run from mercenaries, while hunting the Shadow Agency's top Shadow Bean, Major Firepower. In 2021, the game received several updates on Android, the first updating the game to a newer version of Unity to prepare for new levels. Then, the game was updated to use 3D models instead of sprites and added the Pixel levels. Later updates added new levels and enemies.

''Killer Bean'' (video game)

A third-person, open-world shooter game based on ''Killer Bean'' was announced in August 2021. Lew plans on bringing the game to Windows and consoles such as PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch for around $20 USD.

Killer Bean, Jet Bean, Vagan (Dark Bean), Detective Cromwell, and Chintow will be playable characters, all with different playing styles. The game will have a larger focus on action, and less sci-fi elements, compared to the YouTube series. The game will have text based dialogue, making for easier localization. The game is set to simply be titled ''Killer Bean''. The game takes place after the two episodes of the now-cancelled Killer Bean YouTube series.

In August 2023, an official trailer was uploaded for ''Killer Bean'' (video game), announcing a demo and showcasing gameplay of the game. The demo will release in 2023 and the game will launch in early access on Steam in February 2024.

References

External links

*
* {{rotten-tomatoes, killer_bean_forever

''A Killer Bean Story''
a postmortem documentation of ''Killer Bean'' by Jeff Lew.

Official Killer Bean Merch
at Etsy

2008 films
2008 computer-animated films
Films about Asian Americans
Film and television memes
2008 action thriller films
2000s crime thriller films
American independent films
2000s American animated films
2008 directorial debut films
2000s English-language films
American computer-animated films