Fullmetal Alchemist (2017) User Reviews

Surprisingly okay

[artur-artborg · 5/10 · 21 February 2018]

I was skeptical of this movie, to say the least. As a huge fan of both animes and the original manga, I doubted that Fumihiko Sori and his crew could do Hiromu Arakawa's masterpiece any kind of justice.

However, the end result is surprisingly okay. Sure, the CGI tends to be an eyesore, the acting is all over the place, and some characters aren't remotely similar to their badass manga/anime counterparts (here's lookin' at you, Riza). But on the whole, this film kind of works. The screenwriters made good choices in terms of what to adapt and how to fit it all together, and some characters (mainly Hughes, portrayed by Ryuta Sato) work really well.

Most importantly, the film has heart. I get the feeling that Fumihiko Sori and c:o genuinely cared about the adaptation, and that ain't nothin'. It's an ambitious production, though arguably an overly ambitious one.

FAR from a perfect adaptation, and nowhere near as good as the animes or manga, but it's not an insult to the original story, and not a bad way to spend two hours of your life.

Fullmetal Alchemist live action movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 7 June 2018]

I never read any of the comics or watched the Anime of "Fullmetal Alchemist", so I had no idea what I should expect from this live action rendering of the concept. I just had a little information about what it was about, so I sat down to watch it with no expectations or hopes, as I found it on Netflix.

It turns out that this movie was actually entertaining enough for what it was, although the storyline was somewhat simplistic, and there were no twists or turns along the ride.

"Fullmetal Alchemist" (aka "Hagane no renkinjutsushi") was long, painstakingly long. And they could have trimmed it down with some more intense and thorough editing, because there was a lot of stuff which wasn't really serving more than being eye-candy and filler on the screen.

The characters in the movie were adequate, although the lead role played by Ryôsuke Yamada was somewhat of a swing and a miss, because he was rigid and monotone in his performance. Yasuko Matsuyuki, playing Lust, was really perfect for the role, but it was a shame that she, as the villain, didn't have more time on the screen. Tsubasa Honda, playing Winry, was carrying a great deal of the movie, as she had to pick up where Ryôsuke Yamada came in short.

The visuals and special effects in the movie were amazing, and they carried the movie quite a long way.

An entertaining movie for sure but it was just way way too long.

Enjoyable albeit rather rushed

[huggie_g · 6/10 · 21 February 2018]

I'll firstly say I haven't seen the anime so came into this with an open mind. So can have no complaints about whether it's accurate to original source material.

As for the film: The base plot is pretty simple. Brothers set out on a life's pursuit to get one of their bodies back with the "Philosopher's Stone". And from that point of view the plot line is fine and it builds steadily to that. However, it proceeds to get rather confusing at various points. Nothing is really explained about what's going on in the world around, seemingly there's a Civil War. Various characters are introduced including the main villains. The purpose of the main villains is never explained or who they really are. Even by the end of the film their purpose, goals or origins remain completely unknown. I don't know whether that was the purpose to lead to another movie or was just because of time constraints.

Overall I enjoyed it. The visuals are great. Acting is ok, although it does become exaggerated and gimmicky but that felt deliberate. Story was good even with random characters. The main criticism is that the plotline just felt very rushed. Everything was thrown in all at once and then had to come to a head at the end. Probably could've done with being split into 2 films.

While it captures the look and tone of the manga/anime, Fullmetal Alchemist ends up as a disappointment in adaptation form

[gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297 · 5/10 · 24 February 2018]

A couple of years ago, my brother showed me an anime that revolves around two brothers Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric trying to use alchemy to get their mother by using an alchemical ritual only to end up with disastrous results. Alphonse loses his body and has his soul transferred to a suit of armor while Edward loses his leg and arm. A few years later, Edward becomes a State Alchemist working for the government to find him and Alphonse find the Philosopher's Stone, an artifact that would help them regain their bodies while performing human transmutation without a circle while discovering the truths about their world governed by the law of Equivalent Exchange, the stone itself, alchemy, their family, and evil forces using alchemy for sinister purposes. That anime was Fullmetal Alchemist.

When I watched the 2003 anime and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood with my brother, I was surprised at how beautifully written the story was and how compelling the characters and their motivations where. Their situations make you relate to them during their adventures, but not only that. It deals with deeper themes including the true meaning of family, and the difference between life and death. Nonetheless, I loved both of those shows and are now my favorites of all time. So, when a live-action film adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist was being made, I was really excited, hoping it wouldn't end being like Death Note (a USA live-action adaptation back in 2017 which disrespected the source material fans loved). Then, when it arrived on Netflix, my brother and I watched it... And sadly, it ended up being a disappointment. It's not as poor or terrible as Death Note, Dragonball Evolution, and The Last Airbender, but it lacked something that made both the manga and anime much more complex.

Let's start with the problems. Those who read the manga and watched the anime might be disappointed. I'm not going to spoil the story, but I will say this... the movie didn't include key characters that contributed to the story including Scar, Armstrong, Izumi, and Fuhrer Bradley. If the producers of the film ever make a sequel, they better bring them together. Not to mention the special effects on the Mannequin soldiers are really poor along with the other effects including the Homunculus. Also, the story fell apart. It had a decent start with an accurate depiction of the younger Edward and Alphonse using alchemy to try and bring their mother back, but the rest of the film suffers from some of the biggest problems. The writing is really weak because it had bits of the manga and place them out of order in a two hour and fourteen minute length, which results in uneven pacing that drags too long and because of that, the character development ends up lacking in comparison.

That being said, there are some good things that saved the film. The actors did a fine job capturing the personalities of Edward, Alphonse, Winry, Colonel Mustang, and the bad guys Lust, Gluttony, and Envy. The other actors who portrayed General Hakuro, Shou Tucker, and Hughes also did a fine job. The directing is actually really good. It captures the look and feel of the anime perfectly. Also, the music score is good. It's atmospheric, it has a great use of drama and action, and ends up being really powerful. And most importantly, some of the effects, including the transmutation sequences and Alphonse's metal armor, is nicely detailed and looks good in movie form. Oh, and the costumes are great and are accurate to the anime/manga counterparts. Kudos to the producers for being at least some effort.

Overall, Fullmetal Alchemist ends up being a huge disappointment. It has good intentions and is faithful to the anime/manga, but due to the weak writing and lack of character development, the movie just comes up short. My advice, if you want to see a live-action movie based on your favorite manga/anime, this film is only watchable. However, you might want to revisit the 2003 anime and Brotherhood again and remember the complexity they had. 2.5/5

Can't expect much more from an anime adaptation

[bennyantlang · 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.

Why this has such good reviews I will never understand

[Reckno64 · 3/10 · 26 August 2019]

Sure it tried, but it still wasn't very good. Aside from the problem that is adapting a 64 episode manga into a single movie, there are many other fundamental flaws with this movie too. One of the biggest is that Ed and Al's chemistry is completely butchered. Barely felt like there was a connection between them at all. Their fight in the abandoned factory was just painful to watch.

Trying to fit about 20 episodes worth of material might work if you knew exactly what to adapt and leave out, but this movie just doesn't do that. Important characters like Armstrong are completely left out while the drama between the brothers is regularly shown.

I am glad it worked for others, but this movie did not work for me. Highly recommend you stick to the manga and anime (FMA: Brotherhood in particluar).

So it appears this movie has been review-bombed by paid reviewers here to praise the hell out of this movie even though it's very problematic, as evidenced by the excessive downvotes to all negative reviews and upvotes to all the positive ones. What's the point of reviewing something on IMDB anymore if it's just gonna come down to this??? Sigh.....

Not What You Think

[ledowdy · 7/10 · 25 February 2018]

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.

Not as bad as The Last Airbender!

[jwcstorage · 5/10 · 20 February 2018]

This movie is quite the mixed bag which absolutely needed a bit more polish!

I usually know where I want to start with a review but this one was hard. Nothing is so horrible that it jumps out at you, but also nothing so good that it elevates the film. If you want to see a very condensed FMA in real-life form, then here it is!

As the flick condenses a huge manga and anime down into a very long feeling 2 hours, it does a commendable job hitting the key points and dropping the dead weight that isnt needed for the story. That isnt to say that those unfamiliar wont be confused, because they will be for sure! There's just too much lore to go over, and terminologies, for the movie to cover for the average audience viewer.

And those who love FMA will also feel disappointed, but again not in any one thing. The acting ranged from terrible to good, as do the sets, outfits, and actors. Everything is *HERE* but there is a lack of polish, as stated earlier, to the whole thing that will make you wish for someone to have gone over the movie for all the little details that mar this movie, so I'll start there.

The sets and outfits are all a bit *too* perfect, as in they look like stage pieces as opposed to something in a real world. Unfortunately, even when things happen which should impact these sets, such as Lust shooting her fingers out and impaling someone against the wall, there is nothing left behind. No holes, no blood, no damage, nothing at all. That pretty much bleeds into every visual aspect of this film. Its a hallow kind of substance. The few real world locations used, such as the outside of a large house, stand in stark contrast to the rest of the "clean as a whistle" aesthetic that other locations have. It all has a bit of a feeling of a live-action stage play.

The acting is all over the place as well. It is clear that the creators of the film wanted the characters to have the same quirks as their anime counterparts, but in doing so they made some characters over-act so badly that it feels out of place. They made Winry into basically an unnecessary character, there to exchange exposition in one of the numerous info dumps that happen throughout, which is a disservice to her character. Contrasting both of those is that a majority of the class is playing it VERY flat, so it makes any overacting stick out even more. The acting overall has a very 'teen flick' feel to it.

It hits story beats fine but at the same time it feels like you have been watching this movie since the beginning of time when the 60 minute mark hits. There are some major story moments that broke your heart the first time around that are still here to gut-wrench you once more.

The CGI isnt the best, but outside of Hollywood it rarely is. You get the feeling that things have the wrong weight or consistency quite frequently. Even though hes a suit of armor, Ed feels very stiff when moving as well, but he looks spot on!

There was a constantly droning "theme"? running throughout the movie, and they tried to make the strings sing at the right moments but the music felt like a blended mess of nothing that didnt help anything.

The movie gives you just enough of a taste that you'll wish it was something you stole that was still in pre-production as opposed to the final movie. Its not bad but it feels like more of a rough draft than a final release.

Satisfied feeling

[katarinagajdosikovadarkorbit · 7/10 · 19 February 2018]

I was able to watch it on netflix tonight and there are things I disliked and liked. As a manga reader and after watching the 2003 and 2010 anime, I will say few things. First come dislikes. What did I dislike about this movie? Mostly that they skipped few parts, I mean like 80 chapters of manga with this white army, which Hakuro created. That was unnecessary. Secondly, I did not like the plot twist in Hughes death, Envy as Roy killing Hughes? Nah, they should leave it on Maria Ross. Plus, I missed Mustang's team in this movie. I am not saying they should put everything in movie from manga storyline, but I wonder how will they connect it to other movies, if there will be more, but I think there will. Those are the main dislikes I can pinpoint, but I see more of them.(e.g. shouting of Lust on fire was better animated). About likes. Well, I like it is a long movie. I mean it is action packed and Fullmetal alchemist lovers will like it. Cast was pretty good. Japanese can make better live action than American, that I think we can all agree. Thing I liked most is that they were not stuck to just manga storyline. There was also a storyline from 2003 anime and they connected it nicely. It just fit together. About CGI, ye, we saw it a lot, but was there any other way to make hollow armor look hollow without CGI? No, plus Chimeras, alchemy ... I must say I liked CGI, it was not on american level, but it was satisfying. To sum it up, I enjoyed it, I missed few things, but, oh well, it was okay. For me it is 7/10. Just one more thing, before you guys think Roy killed Envy too ... well, watch the afterscene.

Comes up a little short

[jcjorgensen · 3/10 · 20 February 2018]

As a true fan of the Anime I was left a little disappointed. I wish they hadn't forced it so much. They seemed to be in such a rush to get as much of the series into one movie that they missed much and failed to hit the mark. Though the acting was the biggest distraction in some scenes. When trying to develop the characters, I felt, they kept them too animated for a live-action movie. I have seen some great live-action based anime movies to know that keeping some of the characteristics of an anime character is nice and draws the die-hard fans in, but over do it, and you are left with horrible acting. Rurouni Kenshin (or Samurai X to you American Dubbers) was a prime example of how an anime live-action is done correctly. Tackling only one story arch at a time, and with a perfect anime character to live actor blend. Maybe that's why this movie fell so short with me was because movies like Rurouni Kenshin and the Japanese Death Note (NOT NETFLIX'S) set the bar very high and I was expecting similar results, due to Fullmetal's popularity, but sadly it let me down. Now with that being said, I have seen far worse live-action based anime movies (Netflix's Death Note) to know this one is not the bottom of the barrel, but one is still scraping pretty low. I would love the opportunity to ask the creators to go back and do it again, because the series has so much to offer and with great potential.

Enjoy in aesthetic way

[mtlwinjj · 8/10 · 28 February 2018]

It's gonna be difficult to fit the long and complicated story line to fit around 2 hours. They've all done their best and you can't deny all of the actors and actresses are so similar to the characters and they really did well in bringing those characters to live action. Of course, it's gonna be difficult for fans who have been so familiar with the manga and anime for many years to cope with no element of surprise that may be you feel it's lacking. I know the story line by hard too so there was not much surprises in the movie but seriously, I'm surely satisfied with the casts and cgi and really enjoy the fantasy became reality and no doubt have to give 8 stars.

A decent movies, but for the fan its a must watch!

[zno-30600 · 7/10 · 20 February 2018]

Overall, its a decent movies that have many positive aspect, but the cinematography and directing are not as good as the original, pretty good acting, good cg, as any other anime adaptation it would have its story packed short, its a pretty good job for this one though, yet there's lot of good moments in anime left behind, i don't mind with japanese cast even if the anime setting in alternate universe of europe, otherwise it would've been a better portrayal of the character.

Attempting to Capture the Entire Series

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 5 March 2018]

Full Metal Alchemist was one of, if not, my favorite Japanese anime series. I haven't watched a ton but I have it up there, or above, "Inuyasha," "Bleach," and "Naruto." So, needless to say I was excited to see a feature film of "Full Metal Alchemist."

I was a little put off to start. The characters in the anime speak Japanese but not a single one of them is actually Japanese (but then again that's the case with just about every Japanese anime) yet all the characters in the movie are Japanese. After I got over the initial shock of a blond Japanese man playing Edward Elric I settled in for the story.

The movie was more-or-less a recap of the entire series. Of course they had to leave a lot out but it seems they captured most of the important moments--although, I don't know if that was a good thing. The show had its run and it didn't make sense to try to recapture it in a movie. Honestly, I think they should've made an entirely different story formatted specifically for a 90-110 minute movie. This movie was around 140 minutes and still missed a lot of things.

The CGI was excellent with the transmutations and most of the characters were spot on: Al in the armor was perfect, Gluttony, Envy, and Lust were precise and even Hughes was a great replication of the anime. Even with the excellence of the CGI and the accuracy of the characters I think the movie was too long and should've gone a different direction than trying to recapture the entire series.

If you liked the anime DON'T watch this

[jebellofiore-12078 · 1/10 · 23 February 2018]

Bad CGI, terrible acting and even worst adaptation. Alphonse is the only more or less acceptable thing, the rest is dreadful, i don't get why they try to shove anime's movement/personalities in human's acting, the end result is an awkward and weird, and when you combine this with bad acting it is just disgraceful. I loved the anime, and this was an utter disappointment

A good attempt

[lonestarr-50815 · 7/10 · 20 February 2018]

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Is it perfect, no far from it. I do think it's much more faithful to the source material then the live action Death Note was, like Death Note it is a very ambitious movie trying to pack a lot of story into a short amount of time. As a result, some characters are omitted and the story is condensed. To be honest, it felt like I was watching a fan-made movie with a big budget. This is not a bad thing, actually it was refreshing because it makes me believe those who worked on it really cared deeply about the original anime and did their best to show it. Other reviewer's issues with the show are right, the acting wasn't the best and I would have liked to have seen more comedy. Also elements of the story were passed over or not explained. What I did like was the homunculus, I thought they were done very well. While the story was condensed, it was still easy to follow and the movie had a good (sometimes too fast) pace.

Just No.

[jota-39302 · 1/10 · 26 February 2018]

No No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No NoNo No No No No No No

Shouldve been a series but still good

[craigchapman92 · 7/10 · 18 September 2018]

The ONLY problem with this movie is that there is only 20 hours to tell the story of an entire series. Some characters are omitted and the ending is rushed so they Should made it a series and it would have been perfect.

a terrible adaptation of what is otherwise a great anime and manga

[ramoncarrasquel · 1/10 · 21 February 2018]

Everything that made the original so good is missing in this movie, there are so many things wrong with this movie that I don't know where to even begin.

First, I have to address that adaptations have to change many things from the source material in order to work for a movie, but every change in here didn't benefit the story in any way.

My main complaint is that this adaptation COMPLETELY missed the point of the original, which was the relationship between Edward and Alphonse, throughout their we see them that they care for one another and acting like real brothers, as well at showing their ways in getting the philosopher stone, in here however, their bond is almost non-existent, we hardly see them interact, heck, Alphonse isn't even in this movie that much, and is only Edward who does most of things in this movie.

There's even a scene in the original anime where Edward and Alphonse go to visit Dr. Marcoh, but in here is Edward and Winry who go to visit him

And speaking of the characters , almost all the characters were butchered, Edward went from being one of the most iconic anime characters of all time, to becoming one of the least memorable action protagonists ever, all of his characteristics that made him so unique are not present, and when they tried to give him some of the personality he had in the original show, it just felt forced.

Like I previously said, Al is barely in this film, he hardly does something that affects the plot, and like Edward, all of his main characteristics are not present.

The same goes with pretty much all of the characters in this film, Winry went from being cute and likable to annoying and unnecessary, Roy went from being a bad-ass to a generic military character, the homonculis went from being great villians to being generic one-dimensional villian, and the list goes on.

Other characters like Nina or Dr. Marcoh are in a short period of time that when they die we don't feel anything from them

At the same time, there are a lot of characters from the original that are missing, like King Bradley, Armstrong, Scar, Izumi, the other military men, Hoheimen, etc.

The acting from this film goes from acceptable to terrible, especially Edward and Winry, who overact in what are suppose to be serious moments, and both of them have no chemistry at all on screen

The pacing is atrocious, t condenses too much in just 2 hours that the movie feels boring, long and slow, while at the same time, the movie is a complete mess for trying to replicate the anime that it feels very disorganized.

The only things reason I didn't gave this movie a 1/10 is because a) the guy who played Hughes was spot on b) the CGI for Al was decent c) at least is not as bad as Death Note

Not bad

[alison-racette · 6/10 · 20 February 2018]

This movie is well worth the watch, Though i'd recommend watching the anime first. There could be some parts that could be improved though.

Some animes should be converted into a real movie - this one shows why!

[ckelih · 5/10 · 7 November 2018]

I have to say that converting an anime into a real movie is one of the hardest things to do. But when you do you have to change also the mood and emotions cause if you import them 1:1 your protagonist will look like a douchy braggart. Facial expressions in animes are one of the most iconic things and very important sometimes but when in real life someone glances at you in a condescending and arrogant way not even the nicest person will be convincing! Whereas in an anime it's common that protagonists do that you will feel external shame if your hero does that. Let me also take as example the first 5 minutes of the movie (no spoiler). The first scenes with his mother seems so disconcerting and disconnected I dont know who approved them. You cant see the mothers face, you cant tell what they are feeling and you cant tell any emotion in this 5 minutes. It's like someone has taken every emotion out of a scene and made it suitable for a rational computer to watch and enjoy. If you will watch the scene you might understand what I mean. After all I would love to see a "all in one" anime movie for this franchise but this one here failed. It feels like a game developing company went out to create a movie from the story of Max Payne, oh wait a minute, someone really did that and we can see the outcome! Im sorry for all the FMA fans cause this anime is really good and very unique, also I bet the intentions of the movie-maker were really sincere but it's like you wish for a childhood were you eat sweets everyday but not consider that when you grew up you lost all your teeth and have diabetes stage 3! The really and only amazing thing in this movie are the special effects. They are state of the art and really well made though!

The Best Anime Adaptation I've Seen So Far (Which Isn't Hard To Beat)

[steventhegreat · 9/10 · 8 March 2018]

Honestly it makes me laugh how salty some of the FMA fans are. After reading reviews I had very low expectations (like live action Death Note or Dragonball Evolution low). And it VASTLY exceeded my expectations. First - the bad: -Occasional jank CGI - this is to be expected in a Japanese movie. And honestly it was actually GOOD in some parts. But just mediocre in some others, and a little hokey in a few places. But even in its mediocrity, it tried to encompass the look of the anime. -Missing the full cast. Part of this was it ended unfinished on purpose. It left room for part 2. MINOR SPOILER: Luis Armstrong, Bradley, Father, etc. Were not even in this movie because they never got that far into the plot. This is fine. It is actually a good point because they didn't try to rush it all in.

The Good: -Everything LOOKED on point. The characters looked like the anime characters. The locations looked good too. -The characters. What? I thought they were bad? No. They encompassed the original anime characters fantastically. I felt genuine emotion from the hughes and nina scenes that I hadn't felt in years since watching the anime the first time. They did these scenes very well within the limited ~2 hour runtime they had. -The story. Again - for an anime adaptation with a limited 2 hour runtime, they encompassed the critical parts of the story, and in my opinion, WITHOUT compromising like most movies do. The movie really felt like watching FMA. They didn't rush through to the end of it, they stopped where they thought a good stopping point would be. And it actually felt right. I don't know what fans were expecting - they would have hated it if they would have rushed it through completely.

Overall, I was very pleased with the movie, and would even watch it again or recommend it to my friends who are FMA fans. This movie is close to the best-possible realistic scenario for a FMA anime adaptation.

It was meh,

[redjonman · 6/10 · 24 February 2018]

If you watched the movie because you are a fan then you probably expected that it was going to be bad as hell. The thing is that as a "movie" it was fine. Compared to the anime though it was shit.

The movie fails in every aspect to deliver the chills that you get from watching the anime BUT we all expected that.

It is understandable though since we do not have the technology yet (We do but it is expensive af) to make a "Good" live action movie. There are things that can be achieved in anime that you simply can't put into a movie, such things include: Facial expressions, the anime faces, the hairstyles (They look terrible IRL), the CGI for the super powers which is bad... like really bad and so on.

In order to achieve the fine perfection the anime has, the budget of the movie itself must be like insanely high. The reason is because first of all this should not be a movie but a series of maybe 20 episodes(1hour each). Cause squeezing all this content to a 2 hour movie is just not going to work.(Even 4 hours is too little I count the sequel as well). Another thing which I PERSONALLY WANT TO BE FIXED is the god damn hair, for the love of god it just looks fake af please moar realism to dat.

Anyway having to write all of the flaws is actually super boring so im going to focus on the positive things.: Nice audio.

Anyway, I really hope the one piece live action series will do great as it will have one of the biggest budgets every like 10m/episode.

Insulting

[simonanter · 2/10 · 9 September 2019]

If I wanted to insult the fullmetal alchemist stories I couldn't do better than this movie. One good thing about the movie are the visuals but that's it. That's also the reason I gave this movie 2 stars instead of one.

The choice of filming locations is awful, the atmosphere completely failed, the fighting scenes bad and everything in between ridiculous. They failed Ed's character and made Al completely obsolete.

I'm not against any further live action adaption but not if they're as bad as this one is.

I Literally Just Made an IMDB Account Solely for This Review. IT'S TRASH.

[jameslyhaymeson · 1/10 · 23 February 2018]

There has to be a more dignified way to disgrace and crap all over what is easily one of the greatest anime of all time (brotherhood) and legacy in the genre of anime and manga (original anime, original manga).

I'm starting with the writing. They literally treat the audience as if we are humans from 200 years ago that just woke up from a cryogenic freezing tube and need to know what movies are. So they dumb down almost every interaction and conversation to the point where you have no idea what's happening because none of it has any substance to it whatsoever. The dialogue and direction are hilariously atrocious and I did actually laugh to myself a few times. They actually say what they're doing and explain their motives behind everything to each other all the time even though THE OTHER CHARACTERS CLEARLY ALREADY KNOW THIS INFORMATION but again, they're trying to resonate with their target audience of 200 year old cryo tube humans. Or possibly dead animals, I really don't even know. It's so bad. The score is something that no one should have gotten paid for. In fact, I should receive a stipend from the Japanese government every month for having been subject to listen to it. I'm a musician so I'll spare you all the 14 page tirade I want to go on right now. The direction and character development was wildly jarring and no character goes anywhere and no one gets to the end of their character arc without having first had an hour of nothing happen to them or express (or uh... ahem.. ACT...) literally anything that didn't seem like it was on a teleprompter in front of them. AND JUST HOW IT OPENS with Ed (why just Ed and not the both of them, you ask? Because they wanted to show off where every cent of the budget went. Al's CGI. That's why they couldn't afford actors so they got random dinguses from nowhere to do the jobs). Ed is chasing down the priest and yeah, if you know the original content, sure that makes sense. But if you don't, it's literally Ed trying to rob someone for 20 mins like a criminal. And then the military shows up and arrests him for no reason. At all. Other than maybe the script said to. But then he shrugs 3 guys off of him and since no one handcuffed him or restrained him in any way, he outruns them all somehow and disappears into the sunset. .....

It's a disgrace to FMA and Netflix should feel disgusted. If I were running Netflix, I'd feel more pride having my company's name on a high end pornographic film than this smut.

Pretty Decent

[Malvenido · 6/10 · 19 February 2018]

Unlike other "live action" films, this one is faithful to the the manga/anime! The visual effects are awesome. Some cast's perfomances were a bit lame, though.

Should you watch it? Yeahh! However, if you haven't read the manga or watched the anime you may find the ending not so satisfactory.

My advice: Give the anime FMA: Brotherhood a try and all the doubts on your mind will be cleared up.