The Fall of Men

Let's get one thing out of the way, in order to watch this, you need to have a good creative imagination to truly appreciate it for what it's worth. It's not trying to directly adapt the Dragonball/DBZ anime, but rather the content. Purists will probably be left frustrated, but that isn't a criticism I can put on this movie. It's more than just candy for the purists. At the end of the day, this is as what's described in the credits, a fan fiction. That said, this is a truly great fan fiction.

I am a huge fan of the original anime and manga. I consider myself very knowledgeable about the universe, its lore, and its characters. History of Trunks might be one of my favorite parts of the original anime, and I feel that this pays good homage and takes the original story in a riveting new direction.

The action is solid, and the exposition is great, with dialogue being handled by the narrator instead of the actual characters (a great choice, as English isn't the casts' primary language). I feel that this adds a nice twist, as the actors do a great job by just showing emotion and body language. Great job by the actors.

For a low budget film, this short is gorgeous. These people definitely have a future in feature film making and the cinematography is admirable. The fight feels truly like its telling its own story, one of the highest compliments I can give.

In summary, this is a great twist on the source material, with new dimensions added that feel like they belong. The acting is good, the voice acting is decent, and the action is just right. The music is fantastic as well. If you are a purist who wants a direct adaptation of the anime to the screen, with Trunks having purple hair and Bulma having blue, then this isn't the film for you. If you've got an open mind and would like to be taken to a place where it feels right, and the source material is still treated with respect, then don't pass this up.

Like many other fans of the Dragonball franchise, I am staunchly sceptical of any attempts to adapt content from the anime or manga into live-action sequences. I've long felt that the nature of the show (with its fast-paced fight scenes, wild hairstyles, transformations and ki-blasts) is not suitable for live-action. However, and to my surprise, Fall of Men has prompted me to reconsider my outlook.

Fall of Men is loosely based on the Dragonball Z storyline "The History of Trunks". However, Fall of Men gives the Dragonball universe a darker, grittier feel, unlike any live-action adaptation that has gone before it. In line with the themes of the History of Trunks movie, the sense of loss and hopelessness is conveyed very effectively throughout the film. This is perhaps amplified by the lack of dialogue; the film largely relies on visual cues to move the story forward, with the voice of Trunks dubbed over only to provide the audience with an insight into his thoughts and feelings.

However, this film's strongest suit is in its ability to filter out the details from the anime/manga that do not match its gritty tone. However, any details that are plausible in live-action have been retained, which will please any hardcore Dragonball fans. For instance, whilst Bulma is not portrayed with blue hair, Dr. Briefs is still portrayed with a cigarette and small black cat. In short, the film manages to stay loyal to the franchise, but has moved far enough from it to not appear parodical.

Further, when tackling sequences much more difficult to portray in live-action (such as transformations, ki blasts and movements at speed), Fall of Men manages to execute them in a tasteful way, triumphing where many live-action adaptations have failed (although a little more tweaking could be carried out in places).

For any Dragonball fan, this short film is worth a watch. Above all else, it has single-handedly demonstrated that a decent live-action adaptation of Dragonball is possible. The fact that this film did not have the backing of a major production company makes it all the more remarkable.

I got told about this short so eagerly looked it up; one of my mates is a massive Dragonball fan and couldn't rate this highly enough.

Having enjoyed the cartoons 15 years ago (but no way in Hell the Hollywood film!), I already knew the characters and story, though it's been altered slightly with Cell replacing the Androids.

What plagued the cartoons were the annoying monologues and thoughts constantly being spoken out loud, and where this short spared us of them, the boring voice-over replacement was a bit of a facepalm.

The fights were okay but seriously nothing special, and the ki blasts weren't very well imagined. I can understand that money was most likely a factor, but the scope and level of destruction that would be expected from two god-like figures battling it out just didn't come across. The actor playing Trunks - a man who'd spent his entire life studying advanced martial arts - really didn't have the physique for it either, which made his role a bit hard to believe.

Well, like I said: if you're already a massive Dragonball fan, you may well love this, but then, you may not, because where the effort's appreciated, this really isn't that great. If you know nothing about Dragonball, then this short will only confuse you and probably isn't even worth looking at.

The film is slow and that's its downfall, it drags in places, while it does give you a the sense of the characters desperation and the danger that they're in, the rest of it is just boring. where this film really shines is the Fight scene. Although its the only one in the film it makes up for the first half.

The fight has great atmosphere, you really feel the stakes (the whole film has good atmosphere even the boring parts)the music fits perfectly , well paced, and its choreographed well easily the best part of the movie.

The SFX are passable, the CGI on Cell is OK but some shots of Super Sayian Trunks look just plain bad.

The acting is alright... the actor who plays trunks is OK if not a little of the bland side (when he's narrating) Not all that bad though same goes for the guy who voices Vegeta.

The production design and set are impressive for a Fan production

Aside from some pacing issues , not great SFX , and kinda bland acting I was left satisfied.

Although there are a lot of incorrect and inaccurate things in the movie (like the hair colors for example) and the Trunks actor is not so great honestly, this movie is WAAAAAAY BETTER than the sh*** movie evolution. I mean imagine if these guys have a hollywood like budget, what can they come up with? It's very well understood that a fan made movie with low budgets would not have an AMAZING CGI and animations, but for what they had and probably with their experience, this is incredible! Shout out to the team who made this! You guys are awesome!