I saw this in the Commin soon section on Netflix and the synopsis was interresting enough so I went and read the manga first. I came back to this movie today and not gonna lie - I am dissapointed. Im not that kind of person who always says manga is better but in this case its like two completely different stories. Unfortunatelly this movie doesnt do the manga justice at all and even if Im judging it as a movie of its own, its just OK in my opinion.
First, this story would be better told in a series - I feel we needed more time to spend with the characters to learn about their inner motivation. The movie is almost 2 hours long and still it feels like its rushed. At the same time, some scenes are really dragging. I like slow-paced movies but in this case the long scenes didnt add anything to the movie itself.
I like the atmosphere, the visual effects (I was really sceptical about the CGI but it was Ok - still I think it would be better translated in animated medium) and the actors for the most part. The music was just not captivating enough, some scenes would benefit from more suspenseful, more haunting score.
Now lets talk about the changes in the story and characters. I understand that making creative changes in the story is neccesary and many times its for the better. I always welcome this creative aproach from directors and even if I sometimes prefer the original, I can still appreciate it. In the case of this movie, I cant say that. Im going to be honest, I didnt like any of it. It was all so rushed I didnt conect to any of the characters so I just ended up not carring about them. The explanations of their homonculi were rushed, shallow and the connection between them and the main character wasnt established good enough. But what was the most dissapointing for me personally was Manabu Ito. I loooved this character in manga. They were mysterious and enchanting, you werent sure what to expect of them. Were they just a curious young medic or was there something more behind their experiment? Did they perform the trepanation or did they just manipulate Nakoshi? Were they even a real person or just Nakoshi´s imagination? And when you learn why was their homonculus the way it was, you felt heartbroken. It all made sense. You get nothing like that in this movie. Here, he´s just a weirdo with too much free time on his hands. The ending of his arc in the movie is unsatisfying and tbh it didnt really make sense to me (maybe I missed something?).
The ending as whole is just a mess. Even if I dont compare it with the manga, its still just....meh?
I have so much more to say but its a bit hard for me to explain myself in english so Im just going to end it here. I dont regret watching it but I probably wouldnt recomend it to my friends.
Please, read the manga, its so good.
