Netflix "Full Metal Alchemist" Quick Review

Two alchemist brothers go on a quest for the Philosopher's Stone after an attempt to revive their dead mother goes horribly wrong.

What went wrong might have been the entire script of this adaptation of a popular anime cult classic.

Netflix's Full Metal Alchemist (2017) is a film from Fumihiko Sori and starring Ryosuke Yamada, that sometimes is super fast paced and at other times, very slow paced film or kid's film that I think might be too slow for kids, but not smart enough for adults. A bit of a mix that I could not finish because I truly felt I was wasting my time watching it.

Looking around the web, it seems that critical details of the 27 volume anime series that might have helped define the story, were left on the editing floor to pack this visually confusing film into two hours. So tons of subplots from the anime series were left out in the cold, in the hopes that they could be further explored in future movies.  Um... I hope there won't be more.

They took a hauntingly complex and great theme and threw it all out to make a quickie, action-packed two hour film full of action that needed a hell of a lot more explaining than what they gave the viewer. The pacing of the film would drive you to want to drink... or in my case, just hit the stop button.

Really...  that is all. That's how bad it was, and I'm usually pretty patient with crap.

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