Hagane no renkinjutsushi (2017) Reviews

• Can't expect much more from an anime adaptation

  bennyantlang2018-02-23

  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.

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• Somepeople just want to watch the world burn.

  robertashman2018-08-24

  If you watched the anime as a kid, you won't be disapponted. For added effect watch in Japanese with subtitles. Much better then the horrible dubbing..

• Suprised

  judy-a-h32018-08-18

  Started watching this film with low expectations and was suprised. As a fan of the anime, thought this adaptation was pretty good. Most anime to live action films have been terrible, but this one was alright. Glad they released this on Netflix and was happy to hear the English dub of this included the dub cast of the anime.

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• Not What You Think

  ledowdy2018-02-25

  Let me start off with a fair warning: this movie is not an "accurate" adaptation, and to be quite honest, it doesn't look like it was intended to be. This looks to be a new spin on the FMA story we all know and love. Much like how many people love the 2003 anime--and many prefer it over Brotherhood--it's different, but that doesn't necessarily mean bad. That being said, there are some issues I have with this movie, hence why I have only given it 7 out of 10. Let's start with my issues with the film, and the main issue I had was the leaving out of key characters. Bear in mind, it does appear that the movie was only meant to encompass events that took place during the first two seasons (with the exception of the inclusion of the mannequin soldiers). However, there are two glaring holes missing from this film in the form of Major Armstrong and Scar. Admittedly, though an enjoyable character, Armstrong did not appear to be needed for the direction this story was taken, so this is more of a personal preference. However, throughout the entire movie, I believe there were only one or two mentions of Ishval, and Scar himself never appeared or was even referenced by any of the other characters. The film did end on a note that left it open for a sequel, so if one does happen, Scar would most likely show up in that film. But to not even have a mention of him in this movie seemed like a serious oversight to me. And then of course there is the lack of the Mustang Unit. Of course, Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye were here--I'd like to see you try and make a Fullmetal Alchemist film without them. However, the other four members of Colonel Mustang's team--Havoc, Breda, Falman, and Fuery--were noticeably absent. And, like Scar, they were not even mentioned in passing. The only other issues I had with this film were that two Homunculi were killed off in this film, one of them MUCH earlier than he should have been; and it seemed like Edward and Alphonse did not get as much shared screen time as they should have. Now that the negatives are out of the way, let's talk about the positives. First up, the characters. By this, I mean that the characters that WERE included in this film were very much spot-on, both in terms of writing and performance. Special mention should be given to Yamada for his portrayal of Edward, since this was probably the hardest character to nail down in terms of emotional range, body language, and just the overall physicality of the character. Most, if not all, of these characters both looked and acted like they had been plucked out of the anime and dropped into a live-action film. All the characters were easily recognizable, both by their signature looks and by their words and actions. Speaking of looks, by God, the costume department deserves every award. Every last detail was perfectly replicated, from the Amestrian military uniforms to Edward's signature coat all the way down to Mustang's gloves. Everyone looked the part, and it was another layer that helped to ground you in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist as seen through a different medium. One thing that many people often complain about with live-action anime adaptations--besides story--are the effects. See Attack on Titan for more details. It's difficult. Things that work in manga and anime don't always look right when transferred over to live-action, whether by use of practical effects or CGI. However, this movie clearly spared no expense on their effects budget. Every single alchemical reaction was clearly put together with time, effort, and dedication. The only effects shot that looked, shall we say, "plastic" were the shots of the mannequin soldiers and one instance with Gluttony's stomach. Overall, this movie may not be what many people were expecting, but that doesn't make it bad. It just means you have to approach it with an open mind. It's worth a watch, and if you love Fullmetal Alchemist in any form, I highly recommend it.

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• Awesome Adaptation and a great movie to watch

  akashdeepsachdeva2018-03-15

  First of all, I am a huge fan of FMA. I wasn't expecting such a great adaption after all now a days, each adaption is just there to use the franchise and make money, fortunately, this trend is not followed in this movie. Costume design and CGI (10/10): The movie has unexpectedly good graphics. Costume detailing is done superbly, especially Ed's red jacket, his metal arms, his gloves and even Roy's gloves are made accurately. These costume designers deserve an award for these details. Also the sets were made accurately, detailing over stairs outside Marco's house, Railway station, Tucker's house, Lab-5, Ed's stone walls(although you can see its made of cardboard in a scene) were done perfectly. They tried to make them exactly like anime. Although I didn't like stone dinosaurs concept but Ed running ahead of popping round stone walls gave the exact nostalgic feeling of series. Also you may see one scene where Gluttony runs with big cardboard teeth its funny and its a mistake easily notable. Best part may be the Gate and the "One and All" sitting in-front of it. Plot (6/10): I have watched everything ever developed on FMA repeatedly(except manga, I started them but didn't had time to finish). Plot is not as expected since the anime is based on Ed and Al's bonding, it was completely absent in the film. They also skipped Scar completely, not much reference on Ishval war, no Huge's daughter, and the emotional scenes between Huge's, Nina with Ed and Al were missing (but they tried hard with flashback thing since you cannot convert a 20+ hours series into 2 hours). Other parts of the movie are exactly as in series and there is no element of surprise Acting (9/10) : Ed's acting was superb, giving character exact range of emotions and body language. Al's voice was too deep. Every other character like Roy, Huges, Tucker, Winry, Lust, Gluttony were played perfectly. You will definitely enjoy Huges character. Although Roy played a good part but there could have been more detailing on him instead of him just walking on everyone. Lust's voice had exactly the same intensity as in series. Tucker's character still gave me chills even when I knew what was he gonna do. They could have taken more psycho looking person as Tucker's character as the current one looked funny rather than scary psycho. Best scene : When Ed tells that envy had last life left, the confidence and performance was exactly what needed to be along with the small grin Ed gives every-time he discovers anything in his favor(in series). Hats off Ryôsuke Yamada, you pulled it off. Continuity (7/10) : According to me, this movie lacked background music at a lot of places. This is easily notable and hard to ignore. They could have spend more on it and put decent score in the background especially when Tucker was explaining and Ed. Rest of the plot is fast moving and OK to watch. You will not be bored even if you know the whole story. So overall, I will rate it 8/10. Its a good movie, these guys have put a lot of effort to create it and I hope they make another part too with a bit more detailing this time.

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