Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Kanketsu-hen - Saigo no Rensei

THE FINAL ALCHEMY is the final instalment of the FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST trilogy...and thank heavens for that! It was shot back to back with the second film, and while I didn't particularly like that or the first one, this one is astonishingly bad, complete with CGI that would look out of place in a modern video game. It's a bloated, overlong affair which mainly consists of different characters squaring up to each other and making various threats while CGI swirls and flows in the background. Some of the visuals are okay, but as a competent, coherent film this is a huge mess and has to rank as a disappointment whichever way you look at it.

Objectively, this film deserves a rating of 4/10, or 5/10. Without knowledge of manga/anime, it is difficult to understand what is happening on the screen. The story starts from the middle, the threads are suddenly interrupted, only to return at the end of the film (I will skip the example so as not to spoil, but it is enough to see this film to understand what I am talking about) and the characters don't have a moment to be well portrayed.

The choreography of the fights is tragic. They wave their arms like paralytics, shoot from their hands like Spiderman, and as if that wasn't enough, transmutation is shown in a primitive way, as if someone animated it in stop motion in Paint. In general, this film looks a bit like an amateur work created by fans.

So why did I give it a 6/10? I even had fun on it. It was fun to remember this story. That a completely new way of presenting this story about brotherhood and bravery is ok as a one-time experience for a fan of the series. This is nothing fantastic. It's an average film at best, trying to cram several dozen hours of an animated series into less than two hours of film. It's not hard to imagine how this film came out, since he so desperately wanted to tell the whole story of the brothers.

This looks more like a cheaply produced television soap than a fantasy movie. Honestly, I cant this serious. Perhaps only suited for a diehard kind of niche group of fans who are into these kind of stories?

The bad; this movie has got incredibly cheap looking special effects. That's a real bummer for a fantasy movie, in which it is paramount that we, as viewers, get to believe in another fantasy world. None of that.

More bad: the actors look the part, with all sorts of weird kinda hairdos and makeup, but that's about the only thing positive that sets them apart from C-listed actors who would usually only star in television soaps.

FMA anime/manga is one of my favorites, I just finished the trilogy live action just to see it and.. well it really didn't live up to any sort of good expectations for it.

Plot: Overall a miss.

Revenge of Scar is probably the best if I were to choose? Likely because there's not a lot of plot points that busy themselves in the story telling. So much of the plot points and what made FMA great wasn't present in these movies because they had to cut off so many. They just took what they thought were good memorable points then threw it in the pot with no seasoning. I am wondering if someone who hasn't seen the source material can really bond and understand the nuances of the characters.

Acting: Mostly miss if you're not used to the styling.

They chose to do an 'animated' telling... you know how in anime they react dramatically? That's in here. The slapstick comedic timing, exaggerated reactions etc. I have watched a lot of Japanese shows that do it this way so to me I'm used to it but I am aware it can be so cringy because it takes you out of the moment.

CGI: Miss with very few exceptions.

The bad effects are too noticeable especially in the first and third film. I know people can tell it's CGI because normally it's quite impossible for it to be done irl since it's clearly not animatronic nor practical but see they also didn't do the CGI any justice. You can tell they poured their heart out in making Alphonse look good because he actually is able to blend in with the environment, perhaps some of the alchemy effects as well are good but the rest... not so much

Costumes: Average.

Wigs were bad and you can tell they're wigs. First film Yamada (Edward) dyed his hair and it was really a trashy job people thought it was a wig. They sorta fixed it next installment but...eh

Costumes were I think the better part of the film. It looks worn in for the most part and they tried to really replicate what the anime characters were wearing so that was nice.

---- Overall not really something I'd recommend for a live action show but well some people clearly like it so who am I to say what other people will like or not but this review isn't it. Perhaps if you view this as like a fanmade trilogy with more budget in it then you might have a better time.