FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST (2017 - Japanese)

Studio:     Netflix
Director:    Fumihiko Sori
Writer:     Fumihiko Sori, Takeshi Miyamoto
Producer:  Yumihiko Yoshihara
Stars:     Ryosuke Yamada, Tsubasa Honda, Dean Fujioka, Misako Renbutsu, Kanata Hongo, Shinji Uchiyama, Jun Kunimura, Yo Oizumi, Ryuta Sato, Fumiyo Kohinata, Yasuko Matsuyuki

Review Score:

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Summary:

A young alchemist searches for a fabled stone that may allow him to transfer his brother’s soul out of a steel armor shell.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Resembool, 1904 – Edward and Alphonse Elric, two young brothers aspiring to become State Alchemists, unsuccessfully attempt to resurrect their dead mother Trisha, even though human transmutation is forbidden. In accordance with the Law of Equivalent Exchange, Ed loses a leg and Al’s entire body disappears into the Gate of Truth, an ethereal plane where alchemists attempting human transmutation confront a cerebral deity identified as ‘Truth.’

A flashback later shows Ed returning to the Gate of Truth to trade one of his arms for Al’s soul. Ed embeds his brother’s soul in a suit of armor. Ed’s limbs are replaced with automail and he eventually becomes the State’s Fullmetal Alchemist.

Reole – Ed and Al use alchemy to battle a rogue pastor thought to possess the Philosopher’s Stone, which Ed believes will allow him to restore Al’s human body. Their destructive faceoff ends when Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist of the State Military, intervenes with his soldiers. Roy uses fire alchemy to burn the pastor’s stone, proving to Ed that it wasn’t authentic. Roy has Ed taken to East Area HQ. Lust, Envy, and Gluttony, three artificial humans identified by ouroboros tattoos and known as Homunculi, observe from a distance.

East City – Accompanied by Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, Roy informs Ed that the military has been attempting to create artificial stones, but needs something bigger to transmute a human. Ed recounts how he has toiled as a State Alchemist specifically to learn the stone’s secret and hopefully restore his brother.

Ed’s friend Captain Maes Hughes arrives with General Hakuro for an unscheduled inspection. Having already met up with Al in Reole, Ed’s automail mechanic and childhood friend Winry Rockbell also arrives to see Ed.

Lust, Envy, and Gluttony confront the disgraced pastor. Lust kills him. Envy demonstrates his shapeshifting ability by taking the pastor’s form.

Ed, Al, and Winry have dinner with Maes Hughes and his pregnant wife Gracia. Ed has a nightmare about the Gate of Truth.

Acting on General Hakuro’s instruction, Roy escorts Ed and Al to see Shou Tucker, the struggling Sewing-Life Alchemist who once successfully transmuted a talking chimera. While Ed meets with Tucker, Al and Winry play with Tucker’s young daughter Nina and her dog Alexander.

Hughes has an uneasy conversation with Roy. Hughes intimates that top brass believes someone in the military has been instigating unrest since the Ishvalan Civil War. Although Hughes claims to trust Roy, Roy feels he is under suspicion.

After Ed and Tucker discuss transmutation theories, Al stays behind so that Tucker can inspect him further. Tucker suggests to Al that he may not be Al’s soul, but a false memory implant.

Ed and Winry go by train in search of Doctor Marcoh, a stone researcher who went missing one year earlier. They find Marcoh living under the name Mauro. Marcoh initially tries shooting Ed and Winry under the assumption that they were sent by the military to take him back. Recognizing that Ed opened the Gate of Truth by trying to transmute a human, Marcoh warns Ed to stay away from the Philosopher’s Stone.

Lust enters. Marcoh shoots Lust, but she absorbs the bullets. Lust kills Marcoh with pointed tendrils from her fingertips and then vanishes. Before dying, Marcoh gives Ed a stone.

Winry stays behind to speak to authorities while Ed returns to Tucker and Al. Tucker shows Ed that he used what he learned from Al to create a new talking chimera. Ed realizes to his horror that Tucker actually fused Nina and Alexander together. Ed also concludes that Tucker did the same thing to his wife when he created the other talking chimera two years earlier. Ed violently beats Tucker until Al intervenes.

Roy, Riza, and the military come to take Tucker into custody. Tucker vows to see Ed again.

Hughes comes to see Ed with Roy’s other lieutenant Maria Ross. Ed tells Hughes he is close to uncovering a military secret for which Marcoh was assassinated. Ed, Hughes, and Ross ponder the possible location of a secret laboratory where Marcoh performed his stone experiments.

General Hakuro enters. He tells the trio that Lab Number 5 should be located in an abandoned cannery. A soldier enters to inform the general that riots are underway in Reole. Before leaving, Hakuro instructs Hughes to stay behind to help Roy.

Ed, Al, and Winry rush to the cannery, but find no evidence of a laboratory. Al confronts Ed with Tucker’s claim that he is actually a false memory, and questions if Ed even knows where to find Al’s missing body. Frustration between the two brothers escalates into a physical fight. Winry points out to Al that Ed prioritizes him above everything else. When their confrontation subsides, Ed renews his promise to get Al’s body back.

Looking at the locations of unrest on a map, Hughes realizes that someone is orchestrating public dissension. Hughes also traces the epicenter to a POW camp he believes to be the actual location of the secret lab. Lust confronts Hughes. Lust cuts him, but Hughes escapes by throwing a blade into Lust’s head.

Hughes calls Roy from a payphone to tell him the lab’s location and to warn that the military is in danger. Disguised as Roy, Envy confronts Hughes at gunpoint. Envy momentarily transforms into Hughes’ wife Gracia before shooting Hughes dead.

Soldiers escort Ed to East Area HQ where he is detained alongside Roy’s lieutenant Riza. Riza informs Ed that Roy is wanted for Hughes’ murder. She adds that Tucker was released. Ed and Riza escape by overpowering two guards and begin making their way toward the POW camp.

With a line of soldiers behind her, Ross attempts to arrest Roy. Ed and Riza arrive at the scene. Roy incinerates Ross using fire blasts from his fingers. Ross shakes off the ash, revealing that Roy deduced Ross was actually Envy in disguise.

Lust and Gluttony join Envy. Revealing themselves as Homunculi, Lust confirms she intended to frame Roy for Hughes’ murder. Gluttony transforms into a monster that chases the soldiers. Envy goes in search of the person who freed Tucker. Lust gravely wounds Roy when he stops one of her tendrils from piercing Riza. Roy tells Ed to pursue Lust.

Ed uncovers the secret laboratory where Tucker has Al restrained to a table and Winry unconscious. Tucker forces Ed to remove his automail arm by threatening to shoot Winry with a handgun.

Tucker claims to have discovered the secret of embedding a soul in an object using the Gate of Truth. Ed horrifyingly realizes that the artificial stones were created by transmuting souls of human POWs, effectively making the lab an extermination camp.

Before Tucker can shoot Ed, Lust kills Tucker. Roy and Riza enter the lab. Lust calls out General Hakuro, who is revealed as the mastermind behind the operation. However, Envy taunts Hakuro by saying that even though she showed him how to make the stones, she did not tell the general how to use them.

Hakuro counters that Tucker already figured out how to use the stones anyway. Hakuro explains to Ed that human transmutation was prohibited not because it was unethical, but to prevent the creation of powerful soldiers. Hakuro reveals that the ceiling above is stocked with thousands of dummies set to become his invincible army. Hakuro activates the stones, transforming the dummies into sentient Cyclops monsters. The dummies call Hakuro “father,” but still devour him like zombies.

Lust leaves Gluttony to eat all the dummies he wants. Roy uses flame alchemy to help Riza escape. Riza rejoins her soldiers and leads them in gunning down dummies by shooting their heads. Using Ed’s automail arm, Winry helps Al battle dummies while Ed goes after Lust.

Ed and Roy end up battling Lust and Envy outside. When she doesn’t die, Lust reveals that her heart is the true Philosopher’s Stone, which makes her seemingly immortal. However, Ed and Roy realize that Homunculi actually have a limited number of lives. Roy uses his flames to incinerate Envy, who dies against a fence as a charred corpse.

Al and Winry join the final fight against Lust. Roy ultimately incinerates Lust and tears out the stone, destroying her.

Roy gives the Philosopher’s Stone to Ed. Over Al’s protests, Ed uses the stone to return to the Gate of Truth. Truth prepares to take the stone in exchange for Al’s human body, which Ed sees inside the Gate of Truth. However, Ed resolves to find an ethical way to restore Al’s body instead.

Ed returns to reality. Al agrees with Ed’s decision to not use the human soul in the stone, although both brothers are elated to confirm Al’s body still exists.

Ed tells Roy to rise through the ranks and expose the truth about what the military did. Ed, Al, and Winry travel on a train in search of their next adventure. A small lizard creature breaks out of Envy’s charred corpse and scurries away.

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Review:

Prior to the live-action movie, I didn’t know much about Fullmetal Alchemist as a whole, other than that it has existed for quite some time in various forms of media. Originally published as a serialized manga between 2001 and 2010, Fullmetal Alchemist also spawned two anime series, two animated features, several video games, light novels, and more.

Fullmetal Alchemist is so enduringly popular, I’m blushing slightly at admitting I haven’t paid significant attention to it until now. But the fact that I instantly recognize its red-coated, blonde-haired, glove-wearing hero and his steel armored partner, without previously knowing their names or consuming their adventures, says something about how the property has permeated the pop culture consciousness.

Anytime I review an adaptation of something so treasured, I usually open with a bit of background like the above to let readers know what page I’m starting on. Invariably, opinions in these cases often split along dividing lines according to personal investment in an IP. So you’ll find naysayers wagging fingers because “so and so was changed” or “such and such wasn’t exactly like it is in the source material.” Meanwhile, newcomers shrug shoulders with, “eh, I don’t see the problem.”

Refer to any online discourse involving Netflix’s previous anime adaptation “Death Note” (review here) for an example. In the meantime, consider this my declaration that I have no dogs in such fights where the “Fullmetal Alchemist” film is concerned. I’m coming in cold to its world of early 20th century industry meets monster-summoning magic.*

*I know. As the movie explains, alchemy is science-based, thus not truly magic at all.

Two young brothers, Ed and Al, aspire to be science-minded conjurers of sorts. They’re gifted at alchemy, but get in over their heads when they break a taboo by trying to resurrect the dead. Ed literally pays with an arm and a leg while Al loses his entire body.

Ed ends up with mechanical limbs. Al’s soul becomes embedded in a suit of armor. The siblings’ new lifelong goal involves finding the fabled Philosopher’s Stone, which could be capable of putting Al back into his human body.

Whether the Philosopher’s Stone actually exists or not, several lesser stones are also causing conflicts. Three seemingly immortal beings known as The Homunculi are up to no good while several military men and women stand in opposition to their evil plans. With a traitor somewhere in the military’s midst, Ed, Al, and their childhood friend Winry get caught in a conspiracy set to expose the most devastating alchemy secret yet.

When you remember that creator Hiromu Arakawa spent ten years developing Fullmetal Alchemist in static illustration form, it’s easy to see why the Fullmetal wiki houses a daunting depository of seemingly countless characters, places, plots, etc. Considering how much material is available for employment, “Fullmetal Alchemist” mostly chews off only what is essential for its streamlined adaptation, and what is digestible for neophytes who have a lot to get up to speed on. Again, mostly.

A fair deal of exposition ends up unpacked, but not so much that your memory has to rewind far to recall where/when someone was introduced, or to keep subplots straight. The movie does still have a few extraneous characters however. As an outsider, I can point out a few individuals who would work better as one singular person if only a compact film script is considered. Yet they probably weren’t merged specifically to stay true to the series, or to satisfy dedicated fans.

I suppose the undesirable alternative to including more material than functionally necessary is to pare things down like “The Dark Tower” (review here) did, i.e. stripping fiction to where a few names are retained while everything else remains unrecognizable. No one wants to see that happen to a beloved property again. Thus, I have to curtail how far I take criticism of a film for being “too accurate,” even when erecting speed bumps that harangue momentum.

At the same time, it’s difficult to not wish “Fullmetal Alchemist” had cracked at the screenplay another time or two to find the solidly enjoyable 90-minute movie inside its two hour and 14 minute frame. The content itself may not be overwhelming. But chatty conversations introducing everything pull out the pace, allowing the accordion of action and interludes to sag overmuch during the latter.

When those interludes manage to hit emotional beats on their heads, hiccupping tempo becomes a secondary concern anyway. Between brotherly love boiling over into frustration and a disturbing reveal regarding the fate of a little girl and her family’s dog, I have a hard time choosing which of “Fullmetal Alchemist’s” heartbreakers punches the gut hardest. Rain spattering the photo of a pregnant wife may be manipulative, but the surprising sadness motivating several moments adds unexpected maturity to the cartoonish conflicts of cyclopean creatures and megalomaniac soldiers.

Quieter lulls like those won’t win favor with anyone expecting more electric activity. “Fullmetal Alchemist’s” post-title opening promises cinematic craziness in what ends up being the movie’s best sequence. Never again does anything come close to equaling the explosiveness of stone creatures crumbling tall towers during alchemy anarchy, not even the climax. It’s both odd and disappointing that the film frontloads in this manner only to slow down somewhat instead of speeding up.

Nevertheless, some compelling characters, even when they’re short on real estate to develop relationships as far as they could conceivably go, add oomph in areas where the movie otherwise misses it. It’s obvious Winry means more to Ed in the manga than she does in the movie for example, given the hints at their background that this script has no available time for. But there’s enough sincerity in what does make it onscreen to put plentiful heart and humor into animation-inspired energy.

Franchise fans may have dissenting perspectives on how well “Fullmetal Alchemist” fulfills its potential, or how faithful it is as an adaptation. I don’t have either barometer. I can only convey that the live-action movie, while choppy in its narrative plotting, by and large entertains as a standalone entity of uniquely intriguing imagination.

NOTES: There is a post-credits scene. The original Japanese title is “Hagane no renkinjutsushi.”

Review Score: 70

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