Fullmetal Alchemist Live Action Movie (Thoughts/Review) *spoilers, obviously*

[DominantPoet]

I just finished watching this on Netflix and wanted to babble on about it and this is really the only place I can probably do it, so!

Firstly, I'll preface everything by saying I have watched both anime series, the original and Brotherhood, watched the animated movies. I've never read the manga entirely.

So this movie is apparently divisive, as are most live-action adaptations of anime, especially ones of such beloved stories like FMA. Which, I'll be honest, isn't surprising. It doesn't go out of its way to explain much of anything to the audience for newcomers, and there are a number of things changed or omitted due to the fact this is 8-10 25 min episodes crammed into a movie that's just barely over 2 hours long. However, much of what was omitted character wise makes sense, both because certain characters didn't need to be in this for what they told to work, and because they otherwise wouldn't get much screen time even if they were in, and would have just made the movie seem worse for being in it.

Some notable examples of this are the brothers' teacher, Izumi, and Alex Armstrong aka the Strong Arm Alchemist. Both of which, overall, are rather important to the brothers' story, neither of which are in the movie. As well, there are only three of the Homunculi (Lust, Envy, and Gluttony) and the others are nowhere to be seen at any point. Again, though, this makes sense, the others don't have much need to appear, as they don't particularly play their roles in FMA until later on. King Bradley is alluded to once as Fuhrer, but only verbally, of course.

As well, there are a number of things that would have given characterization, but wouldn't have worked well timewise (Ed's enrolling in the military and proving his worth as an alchemist, for example), and so are not in the movie either. The Ishval Civil War is mentioned several times, however, we are never shown any of it. Nor is Scar in the movie at all, for the same reasons as mentioned above.

The movie essentially focuses on Ed and Al in their search for the Philosophers Stone. It starts with them chasing down the fake one that the priest has, and ends with them discovering the truth behind how to create them in Laboratory 5.

Their childhood is only briefly touched upon at the start of the movie when we see their mother die, and then watch as they try and resurrect her. Of course, the outcome of that experiment is seen in flashback, using the older actor for Ed. The kids basically get sucked up into a tornado that rips their house apart and what not before it goes to black and time skips ahead. While this does lessen the emotional impact of the scene (which is a recurring problem in the movie), they were never going to show Ed as a child losing his leg, and then his arm in the fashion we see in the anime(s).

While the battles with the Priest to get the fake stone are certainly not terribly done, it does come across as "cheap", especially when Ed summons up his infamous spear weapon from the ground and fights some creatures. That's another problem with the movie - there are effects that work, and work well. Others do not, and snap you out of immersion rather quickly. Al, for the most part, is an effect that works very well. Mustang and his fire as well. Gluttony, what few times he uses his effect, does not. Both Lust and Envy, however, are done rather well in the effects department.

One thing they did keep in the movie, which honestly surprised me, is Tucker, and his daughter Nina. And yes - they do keep everything that happens with Nina in the movie. It's not quite as gut-wrenching when the reveal of what Tucker does with her and Alexander comes about, but it's still pretty hard-hitting none the less. For one thing, the entire scene is extremely well lit, it's very bright and sunny, despite the obvious horrors that have transpired. But it is still, none the less, done fairly well, and gets the point across that Tucker is a bad, bad man and a general sack of shit.

The other scene that is generally emotionally stirring for many is the infamous Hughes death scene. To their credit, this is done almost exactly as it is in both anime series. Hughes realizes what is happening, is attacked by Lust but manages to evade her and get to a phone booth to contact Mustang. It is then implied that something happens and Mustang kills Hughes, only for the truth to be shown several moments later. Hughes, generally, is as he is in the animes - a very nice guy, and loyal to a fault to Mustang. He has his family as well, which is only shown in a brief scene. Hughes isn't around quite enough for people who don't know what's going to happen to really get attached to him or care about him, so again, the scene lacks as much emotional impact as it otherwise would, but it's still done well.

The rest of the movie up until the ending is pretty condensed, and speeds along rather quickly, too quickly IMO. One of the scenes I was most amped to see myself is, thankfully, in the movie, wherein Mustang takes his revenge on Lust and literally just keeps setting her ablaze until she dies. The problem is in how it all comes about, as it's quite different from the animes. Lust and Envy are attempting to sneak out while everyone is dealing with the army of cyclops creatures, and Mustang gives chase. Then Ed shows up, then Al and Winry.

Some of the elements that make the scene so badass in the anime are there - Mustang is skewered on his lower left side, he's had to cauterize the wound with fire himself, and he does make a crazy about getting Lust to fall to her knees. However, he hasn't lost his gloves, necessitating the cutting of the circles into the backs of his hands, nor the lighter. He also kills Envy first, telegraphing his intentions to kill Lust as well, instead of simply surprising her with the fact that he survived her attack. It all makes for a very different type of feeling, although it is still a pretty bad ass scene.

Overall, the movie still conveys the major points the story arc otherwise has in the animes. It follows major scenes quite well, aside from the climax and ending, and the characters actually all look/act like they should, with some minor detail exceptions. Ed has an inferiority complex about his height, Winry is obsessed with machines, Ed and Winry have unspoken feelings for one another, Al questions his existence and if Ed created him to be a fake brother, their brotherly bond is displayed extremely well. The Truth is there along with the Gate when Ed does visit there. Al's physical body is with the Gate as well, of course. The State alchemists are seen as devils by many. Ed, and eventually Al, can transmute without a circle due to their visiting the Gate and seeing Truth. Mustang creates flames by snapping his fingers, so on and so forth.

It is by no means a perfect movie, it has numerous flaws, but it's certainly a passable movie, and it was clearly done with love for the series. It's a shame they weren't given a bigger budget, however. And there are certainly much worse adaptations out there *looking at you, Attack on Titan  *

It's certainly worth a watch, and I enjoyed it myself, as a fan of the series overall.