Movies
Slight improvement over the anime series and the animated films, but still pretty mediocre. The bad guys are infinitely more interesting than the protagonists, the plot has some interesting bits, but overall it was still too flat and cheesy for my liking.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Transmutation
Not the easiest franchise to turn into a live-action film, and the struggle shows. While the film is quite ambitious, certainly the second half, the bland direction and poor use of budget let this fantasy/adventure down. Not that I liked the animation better, but they could've done more with these films. Edward and Alphonse are finally able to locate Vader, creator of the homunculi. He has a pretty evil plan that will give him unlimited power, the brothers team up with former adversaries to stop Vader's plan and save all the people in the Kingdom. If they can beat Vader that is. There are some pretty insane creatures here, which could've been cool if they hadn't looked like they'd run away from a 20-year-old video game. The film gets too sentimental at times and the runtime is excessive, but if the visuals had been on par all that wouldn't have mattered as much. Not great, but at least it had potential.Read all
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar
It's obvious that Sori wanted to repeat the success of the Kenshin live-action trilogy, but he doesn't even come close. This second entry in the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist trilogy is a clear step back, and it's not as if the first one was such a great film. Sori lacks the talent to make a film like this work. Edward and Alphonse are on their way to Central, when they are attacked by a scarred assassin. He wants revenge for what he suffered through during the war, and his main targets are the Alchemists. He is a formidable foe and he nearly kills the brothers when they first come across each other. The performances are pretty overstated, the styling looks rather fake (not great for an anime adaption) and the special effects aren't up to par. I also didn't care much for the melodrama, luckily things get a bit crazier during the second half of the film, so there's at least some fun to be had.Read all
