Watching 'Fullmetal Alchemist'

Fullmetal Alchemist is the 2017 live action Japanese adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's revered manga of the same name. The manga has had two anime adaptations in the past with this being the first foray into the live action realm. The film was directed by Fumihiko Sori, who also directed Vexille, and the 2002 adaptation of Ping Pong, and was written by both Sori and Takeshi Miyamoto. The film stars Ryosuke Yamada, who was also the lead in the live action Assassination Classroom, Tsubasa Honda, who played the lead on both the animated and live action adaptation of Ao Haru Ride, and Atomu Muzuishi, who was in Corpse Party Book of Shadows, and they play the central trio of Edward, Winry, and Alphonse. The film runs for a total of 135 minutes.

The narrative follows the lives of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse, who are in search of the philosophers stone, which has the capability to perform alchemy without the law of equivalent exchange being applied to it. The reason for which is so that they would be able to get Alphonse’s body back. The body was lost when the two brothers attempted to bring their mother back to life after her passing at a young age. Through their journey in search of the stone they are accompanied by Roy Mustang, Maes Hughes, and their childhood friend Winry. As they get closer to the philosophers stone they descend deeper towards a larger conspiracy that involves artificial humans run on philosophers stones.

The film blasts through at a blistering pace, covering plot point after plot point from the original manga, and this makes it feel as if you are watching a greatest hits album on screen. They manage to get from the start of the narrative to the end point of the film in two hours while it took the anime a couple dozen episodes, much to the hindrance of the film. This is because when significant events transpire on screen the emotional weight of the event does not hit with the same amount of strength as it otherwise would have done had they taken their time with the film. As a result it felt as if it was a two hour trailer to a much longer epic.

I have watched the original Fullmetal Alchemist show, and the Brotherhood incarnation as it was airing ten years ago now, however I have not seen anything of them since. Despite this, the show left a lasting impression where I still remember who Edward is, who Alphonse is, who Winry is, how they feel about each other, what pushes their buttons, what makes them emotional, how they felt when a certain character was turned into a chimera. All because we spent a lot of time getting to know them as people. Looking at the film on its own, I have no idea who any of these characters are, what they like, what they do not like, and how they feel. This is a detriment to the story as who they are as characters is pivotal to the emotional weight that the narrative drops on the viewer. For example, the seething rage Roy Mustang exuded when he obliterated Lust in the anime is visceral and hard to watch, while the live action film shows the scene because it happened and people remember it.

They recreated many of the iconic moments, however that was all. It felt like a checklist of things that they needed to do in order to make it feel as if it was a Fullmetal Alchemist film, when in actuality it is the characters that make the story not the overall narrative (at least I personally think so.).

The acting in the film is very much hit and miss. There are moments when the acting is fantastic and there are moments when the acting is overly, cartoon like, which breaks the immersion of the film. The worst cases of the acting are unfortunately the two boys that were playing the young versions of Edward and Alphonse. Some of the best moments came from Ryuta Sato, who played Maes Hughes, lighting up the scene whenever he is on the frame. There were moments when the central trio were great, the best of which came from Tsubasa Honda, despite the fact that she felt like a character that was in the film because she is Winry. The best character scene involved Edward, Winry, Maes and his wife having dinner, and personally this is the scene I think about most when I think about this film.

The visual effects range from average to terrible. One particular moment when Gluttony was going after some guards felt as if it was made by students on the budget of a ham sandwich. The CGI at times stick out like a sore thumb when it is interacting with the characters on the screen, and the opening action set piece was a really big offender of this. The music as it turns out left no impression at all.

There is the very real possibility that I may be looking at this through the eyes of nostalgia and judging it based on my memory of the original anime, and manga. I might also be a lot harsher on this property as a result of that. However, it is because I love Fullmetal Alchemist so much that I am being so harsh on the film, I want to see the properties that I love be done well.

In closing, is this a good film? No. Is this a film a recommend to anyone? No. That being said, I would actually go on to recommend you watch the anime Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood instead. Both the anime and the film are available to watch on Netflix.