bennyantlang Review of Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist (2017)

Can't expect much more from an anime adaptation

[7/10 · 23 February 2018]

Extensive anime series like FMA have the luxury of time to develop their world & characters into something complex and relatable. Condensing 20+ hours of material into a 2-hour movie will inevitably mean changing, simplifying or removing elements, which will disappoint fans of the source material. But this film shows that it is possible to make a fun, coherent standalone adaptation out of the core components of an anime series. Coherent but not brilliant - which is still a step forward for live-action adaptations. This movie is a decent taste of the FMA world for non-fans. It could entice viewers to check out the anime, where most adaptations are so horrible they would just scare people off. Time constraints aside, the movie does a good job of telling FMA's story of family, loss and maintaining one's morality. The casting, costumes and effects are spot-on; almost too perfect for live-action, as if they tried too hard to be EXACTLY like the anime. The acting also suffers with this; Winry in particular is portrayed as an annoyingly over-the-top anime character which just doesn't play in "real life". But other characters (particularly Hughes) are played almost perfectly, and most of the cast lies somewhere in between - not great, but not intolerable. Of course, the story's most important components - Ed, Al and their relationship - aren't anywhere near as deep & authentic as they become over the course of the anime series. The motivations behind the Homunculi and other supporting characters aren't really explored. The Ishvalan Civil War (a key element of the FMA's emotional landscape) is barely mentioned, and Scar (a great character closely associated with the War) is omitted entirely. This is all obviously unfortunate, but there's no use complaining that Netflix couldn't cram the entirety FMA into one three-act movie. If you want the whole wonderful story, watch the anime. If you're ok with a faithful attempt at the story's gist, there's really not much wrong with this movie - which can almost never be said for anime adaptations.