For me, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (the true anime adaptation of the
manga, as the first Fullmetal Alchemist
anime series has a completely different story, but is great as well) is one of
the greatest anime series ever made. It’s
conceptually inspired and extremely well-written, exhilarating and riveting. Thus, I’ve always been wary of a live-action
movie adaptation for it. Not only
because live-action adaptations of anime have a bad record – for every Blade of the Immortal, there are ten Attack on Titan – but because it’ll always feel underwhelming, for it is virtually impossible
for one movie (or a few) to truly emulate the quality development that arose
from 64 episodes. Even when peripherals
are cut off, leaving just the essentials, a live-action adaptation still won’t have
the time to thoroughly explore the intricacies and depth of the anime’s
storylines and characters.
Hence, right from the start, I
was already expecting the live-action Fullmetal
Alchemist movie to fall short. It’s
inevitable, especially with something as complex as Fullmetal Alchemist.
Nevertheless, I was hoping it would still be enjoyable and worthwhile to a
degree. Or, at the very least, it wouldn’t
suck.
Well, it isn’t a dumpster fire
like Dragonball Evolution,
thankfully. It’s not an atrocity against
its source material. It still is disappointing
though, especially since it actually starts with promise.
I enjoyed the first 45 minutes or
so. But, as it progresses, the inherent key
limitation of a live-action film adaptation, which I mentioned above, manifests
itself, bringing the movie downhill.
Since it lacks time to explore things, it’s forced to have tons of
exposition scenes to dump information. And
with the action and spectacles few and far between, it can get boring and
pretentious.
Moreover, though it has some
solid castings – especially the actors for Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes, who are perfect
– the lack of time prevents characters from being developed and peeled off
effectively. The Elric Brothers don’t come off as a tremendous duo. The Homunculi appears
one-dimensional. Roy Mustang’s
multi-layered characterization is criminally abandoned. And (SPOILERS) Hughes’ death lacks impact, as
the audience isn’t given enough time and shown enough of his life to deeply
care for him.
In relation to this, many
important characters are absent, particularly fan-favorite Alex Louis Armstrong. Again, it’s because there’s no time to show
them. The absence of certain characters
compromises the emotional weight of some scenes or events. For example, (SPOILERS) the absence of Elicia
Hughes (she’s still in her mother’s tummy in the movie) precludes the
heartbreaking interment scene of Maes Hughes.
However, one iconic scene that is as
potent in live-action as it is in anime is the Nina Tucker/Alexander scene. It’s brilliantly chilling. In fact, maybe even more so than the anime, because of the
great CGI chimera, as the accentuated, pseudo-realistic look of the tragic, abominable
creature makes it significantly more unsettling than when it’s just hand-drawn animation.
The biggest positive of this film
is probably how quite good it looks. The
costumes and production design are impeccable.
The cinematography is as striking as the best live-action anime films I’ve
seen. And most of the CGI work is pretty
superb (again, a big reason why the Nina Tucker/Alexander scene worked).
I say “most” because it does have some CGI that looked unconvincing and
messy (e.g. Gluttony and the white alchemy ghouls at the end). On the other hand, I was very pleased by how
amazing Alphonse looked.
To sum it up, there are three
things that I notably love (yes, love) about this movie: 1.) the casting for Roy Mustang (especially him, since he’s a favorite character of mine) and Maes Hughes; 2.) the Nina Tucker/Alexander scene; and 3.) the CGI Al. As for the other aspects of this film, my
reaction is either “That’s okay” or “Meh.”
There isn’t anything particular that I strongly hated. All in all, it’s an unsatisfying
adaptation. It’s diluted, as expected, and nowhere is
it near the greatness of the anime. But,
at least, it didn’t make my blood boil.
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