a5c7b9f00b Two alchemist brothers go on a quest for the Philosopher's Stone after an attempt to revive their dead mother goes horribly wrong. The plot takes place at the beginning of the 20th century, in a reality where alchemy is real, extremely developed and respected. The plot features brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric who, after attempting the forbidden technique of human transmutation, suffer the consequences. Alphonse loses his entire body while Edward loses his left leg. Edward then sacrifices his right arm to save his brother's soul by attaching it to a metal suit of armor. Edward is then given mechanical prosthetics known as "automail" in place of his missing arm and leg. Upon acceptance into the State Alchemists, he is given the nickname "Fullmetal Alchemist", all while searching with Alphonse for the legendary philosopher's stone, that will repair their bodies. They were going to make a live-action Fullmetal Alchemist one day. It's one of the most well-known and most beloved anime series of all time. It was inevitable. Still, these adaptations have never been what you would call quality entertainment. It's clear that all of Japan's creative talent has chosen to work elsewhere.<br/><br/>This movie being no exception. Now, granted, it has a few things going for it. For one, it looks much better than I'd dared to hope. Sure, even modern video games have more realistic textures, at least the best ones, but the effects in this film are realistic enough to please. It also helps that they look exactly how they're supposed to. Alphonse's armour looks frankly beautiful. Sure it's obviously CGI, but the design itself is straight from the anime and works surprisingly well. Likewise with many of the human character designs. Envy, for example, is nigh perfect and Gluttony, while looking a bit different, still retains the essence of the character.<br/><br/>They also got a few of the characters pretty well. Some, like Edward Elric and Colonel Mustang are a bit off - with Riza Hawkeye being miles off and in a really uncomfortable way - but Captain Hughes is just about as he should be. If he was given time to shine, that is.<br/><br/>And that right there is the biggest problems this film has. It's bullet point storytelling. It's trying to cram half a season into a run-time bit over two hours and it just doesn't work. Half of the scenes feel rushed, there's the bare minimum of character development if even that, and the cool fight scenes take up too much of the screen time. And yet there are scenes that go on way too long. There are odd pauses between lines of dialogues and the film has problems cutting away from a scene, leading to awkward silences. In the hands of a talented editor this could easily have been an hour and a half movie without taking anything away from the story.<br/><br/>If you absolutely have to see Fullmetal Alchemist as a live-action adaptation, there are a few good things in this film. Personally I had to immediately go and watch the original classic to purge this abomination from my retinas. Ok … They tried to make something - Efforts are appreciated but you can't redo anime moves and talking styles on a live action ! it's gonna be silly ( and it was ) The first live-action adaptation of the phenomenally popular Japanese manga created by female author Hiromu Arakawa proves to be a mixed bag of eye-catching visuals and uneven storytelling — rushed and choppy at times, and draggy and repetitive at others.
Netrewersbil Admin replied
295 weeks ago