Yesterday I was relieved to learn that my jury duty case had been ended out of court, so the other jurors and myself were no longer needed. Since jury duty no longer occupied what would otherwise be free time, today I went to Manhattan to see the limited screening of Full Metal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos. I have to thank the Funimation website for listing where the film would be shown; for anyone who's interested, the film will continue to show in the Cinema Village theatre in Manhattan for the rest of this week. For everyone else, here is a list of current screenings nationwide.
I've never been a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, a fact that would baffle most anime fans. I've seen enough episodes of both the original series and Brotherhood to understand what the story is. I've also seen Conqueror of Shambala. I don't have a concrete reason for disliking the franchise; at the most, I can say that it has an oppressive cloud of sadness over it, or that's how I feel. It's not much of an explanation, I know. But despite my indifference for the franchise, the film was okay.
The film is set within the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood storyline, so it's not a movie sequel to the series. The film addresses a rather complex, centuries old conflict between the countries of Creta, Milos, and even Amestris where much of the FMA story takes place. Edward and Alphonse Elric pursue an alchemist fugitive named Ashley to Table City, a territory in Creta. This is where Ashley hopes to find his long-lost sister Julia. She lives among the destitute populace of Milos Valley, a small settlement of former Miloans that live in a valley below Table City. Creta had taken over Milos centuries ago in order to find the Sanguine Star, which would supposedly grant immortality and unlimited power. Of course, the Sanguine Star is known in other parts of the world as a Philosopher's Stone, the precious item that allows for transmutation while seemingly ignoring alchemy's Law of Equivalent Exchange. Julia is part of the Miloan resistance and they will soon attack Creta and take their land back using the power of the Sanguine Star, which requires a large amount of human lives in order to make...
Sleeping Ed.
I really liked Edward and Alphonse in this film. They're consistently complex characters with distinct personalities. At some point Ed and Al are in Table City researching the Sanguine Stone. They are led to a church, and Ed instantly groans as he is reminded of bad church experiences in the television series. It was a funny inside joke for those who knew of his early encounter with the church of Leto, and his overall disdain for the helpless and fatalistic attitude many religious followers in the series have. In general, Ed does the fighting and Al takes care of others, and that's the way it usually is in the series. Winry is the same person she usually is, always concerned but only useful in that she is the only person who can take care of Edward's auto-mail arm and leg. There are many other old and new faces in the film. It's very familiar and nostalgic.
The mysterious leader of Creta.
The film quality was lovely on an HD projector, but that might be particular to whichever theater is screening. The animation was good, not fantastic. The characters were simplified and without too much detail, similar to what I observed in Birdy the Mighty: Decode. And speaking of Decode, the fight scenes in this film were also animated in a loose but fluid manner. Ashley had two transmutation circle designs that Ed and Al were unfamiliar with, and these allowed him to perform some amazing feats. He shot lightning out of his hands like a Star Wars Sith lord and made snow like Frozone from Pixar's The Incredibles. Alchemy battles are intense and enjoyable.
While I'm not crazy about all things Fullmetal Alchemist, this was a decent film. I suppose you can think of it as a really long episode. One doesn't need be too familiar with the series to watch the film, just enough to understand alchemy basics and creatures like chimeras. It wasn't spectacular nor was it trying to be. Fans should be thoroughly pleased, although I found the story to be a little too complicated. There's more than a couple plot twists that had me scratching my head, but these are acceptable and shouldn't make or break the film for anyone. I'll admit, I haven't seen the Brotherhood series in its entirety. I'll be sure to let you guys know what I think of it when I do.
- Elijah Lee
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