Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, the second full-length feature film based on the hugely popular anime series, just saw its official American debut last week. I was privileged enough to attend the red-carpet premiere in downtown Los Angeles, and it was a great event; the folks at Funimation are wonderful hosts, and attendees were treated to appearances from some of the English voice cast, as well as a Q&A session with many of the cast and crew involved in the film's creation. But the main event, of course, was the movie itself, and that's what I'm here to review... so let's get to it!
"But wait," you say. "You're the Los Angeles Console Game Examiner. You should be talking about games!" You're right! But hardcore gamers and devoted anime fans are often part of the same audience, and I was asked to cover the movie as a video game Examiner specifically because I'm a devoted fan of all things Fullmetal Alchemist. Aside from watching both FMA series in their entirety, I have played and completed both of the U.S.-released PlayStation 2 games based on the franchise (Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel and Fullmetal Alchemist 2: The Curse of the Crimson Elixir). So rest assured that the review you're about to read was written by someone who knows what FMA is all about!
Now, onto the review. The Sacred Star of Milos is meant to be an addition to the original manga timeline, and as such, takes place right after episode 20 of the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, and has no relation to the "first" FMA anime series. Specifically, this is right after Edward becomes aware that his brother Alphonse's human body must exist somewhere, and the two embark on a quest for foreign alchemical knowledge that might help them get their bodies back.
The fact that the movie takes place in the middle of the series' established timeline like this makes it tricky to review. On one hand, director Kazuya Murata does a good job telling a story that avoids retconning the events of a story that has already ended. But it's that very same concept that is perhaps the movie's greatest weakness: we already know how the series ends, and because the events in The Sacred Star of Milos cannot and do not have an impact on the established story, the movie unavoidably loses a lot of its gravity and urgency, coming off as one really long "filler" episode of a series that had very little filler to begin with. As fans, we know our beloved main characters -- Ed, Al, Mustang, etc. -- are all going to be just fine. There's no danger, no suspense.
Now, it's tough to fault the movie simply for being what it is (a standalone story), but the larger problem is that, even taken on its own, the tale told in The Sacred Star of Milos is good, but not great -- and for a series that has already established such an impossibly high storytelling pedigree, that's a disappointment.
The movie begins with a flashback, where we meet a little girl named Julia Crichton and bear witness to the tragic, brutal murder of her family. In the present, events are kicked off when a mysterious alchemist named Melvin Voyager breaks out of prison, even though he's just a few months shy of making parole. Ed, Al, Mustang, and Hawkeye investigate Voyager's former cell for clues as to what precipitated his sudden prison break, and find a newspaper clipping reporting that Julia is being detained in Table City, a fringe city that lies far to the west, on the border between Amestris and Creta. Mustang sends Ed and Al to Table City to investigate, and they arrive just in time to witness Julia break out of prison, eventually discovering that these events are only a prelude to a looming conflict.
Without spoiling any plot twists, here's the gist: the film centers around the people of the Milos Valley slums, a poor town at the base of Table City abused and enslaved by the corrupt Amestrian military officials there. Julia is part of a resistance group of Milosian freedom fighters working to take back Table City from their Amestrian oppressors, and Ed and Al become involved when they learn of the legend surrounding the Milosian "sanguine stone," which the brothers work out to be -- you guessed it -- a philosopher's stone. Julia intends to decipher the legend's riddles and use the stone in their fight, but Ed and Al are all too aware of the philosopher stone's dark secrets and work to prevent disaster from occurring while aiding the freedom fighters in their grassroots rebellion.
It's a good enough story, but it's one that takes far too long to get going; the first half or so of the movie's nearly two hours of running time contains way too much exposition for a story that is a fairly simple one at its core. By the time the action picks up in the movie's second half, I was desperate for things to get going already. Now, I am by no means a "forget the story and just give me the action!" kind of person, but the movie's self-contained story simply isn't complex enough to warrant all the time the characters spend talking about it.
But when things do pick up, the payoff is definitely rewarding! There are lots of great action set pieces and surprising reveals and betrayals in the movie's latter half that help the movie's self-contained story reach a thrilling conclusion. The moment when the chilling secret behind Table City's elaborate design is revealed stands out as my favorite part of the movie -- you'll know it when you see it.
So while The Sacred Star of Milos' plot never comes anywhere close to the heights that either of the anime series achieve, it mostly delivers as a self-contained story... as long as you can make it through the movie's unnervingly slow first half.
Sadly, the film's biggest disappointment for me is neither its plodding pace nor its good-but-not-great story. No, my most grievous -- and most surprising -- issue with the movie is its artwork and animation. In a few words: very much unlike Fullmetal Alchemist.
Fullmetal Alchemist as a whole has always been a series that could be counted on to have beautiful artwork and animation. Whether it's Brotherhood, the "first" series, or the first series' movie, The Conqueror of Shamballa, FMA has always been one of the best-looking, smoothest-moving, most stylistically impressive animes out there. Unfortunately, this simply is not true of The Sacred Star of Milos. I can't pinpoint exactly what happened here, but Milos' art has a look that can be easily described as "rough," with characters looking less detailed and flatter than they ever have. Sure, this is two-dimensional animation, but the detail, depth, and color shading that are so prevalent in both anime series is in short supply here. Main series characters whose looks have long been established, such as Ed and Hawkeye, look unmistakably different, and not in a good way. While I'm sure all of these elements were stylistic choices and not simple laziness, they're not choices that agreed with me in the least. Art is a pretty subjective thing, though, so your mileage may vary here.
What is even more surprising, though, is the often-choppy animation. It's not uncommon to see animation get shoddier as a long-running anime series wears on and budgets and time run out, but anime feature films almost always have first-rate animation because, you know, they're feature films. This simply is not the case in Milos, which seems to alternate almost schizophrenically between buttery-smooth animation and shockingly choppy movement. Thankfully, most of the big-time action sequences are animated pretty smoothly, but a lot of the quieter moments in between are not. Sadly, because FMA is one of the few animes that manages to look wonderful throughout the entirety of its run (of both series!), these issues stand out even more in Milos. This movie simply does not look as good or animate as well as either FMA series (not to mention The Conqueror of Shamballa).
On the other hand, the backgrounds are simply gorgeous. They have a lush, hand-painted look to them, and it's clear that a great deal of time and effort went into designing the backdrops and locations in which this movie takes place. Table City and the slums of Milos feel real and are painstakingly detailed, and have an organic, "lived-in" feel that few animated films achieve. It's even more impressive when the secret behind Table City's architecture is revealed and it becomes apparent just how much work must have gone into designing this location.
Another high point is the film's score, which is not at all surprising considering how wonderful FMA's music has always been. Taro Iwashiro's orchestrated music ranges from sweeping and epic for the big action scenes to moving and poignant for quieter, more thoughtful scenes and dramatic moments when the characters' emotional journeys need to be driven home. Appropriately, the music never steals the show, but it is memorable and I can't imagine watching the film without it.
The English voicework is also praiseworthy. FMA has always been one of the few animes with a consistently excellent English dub, and Milos does not disappoint in this regard. Vic Mignogna and Maxey Whitehead continue to impress as Ed and Al, and Caitlin Glass, Travis Willingham, and Colleen Clinkenbeard all faithfully -- and wonderfully -- reprise their roles as Winry, Mustang, and Hawkeye, respectively. But the new actors chosen to portray the film's original characters turn in excellent performances as well, Alexis Tipton and Matt Mercer (Julia Crichton and Melvin Voyager, respectively) chief among them. While anime purists will invariably almost always choose subtitles over English dubs, those who do watch Milos in English will most certainly not be disappointed.
In the end, The Sacred Star of Milos is a fun, but ultimately forgettable footnote in the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood saga. It invariably suffers due to its weightlessness as nearly two hours of "filler": we already know our main characters are in no danger and that nothing life-changing will happen to them, and while the film's original characters have well-written arcs, it was hard for me to get too invested in them since I knew they played no part in the rest of the series. Taken on its own as a standalone story, it is good but not great, with a first half that meanders far too long but pays off with an excellent second half and suitably exciting finale. The film is unilaterally brought down, however, by a rough, surprisingly undetailed art style and consistently choppy animation that fails to live up to the lofty standards set by both FMA series as well as The Conqueror of Shamballa, the other FMA feature film.
Ultimately, I do believe director Kazuya Murata should be lauded for taking on the uphill battle of inserting a compelling sidestory into a series whose tale has already ended -- that's a tough thing to do, and he did a good job. The end result is a flawed, but good movie that feels more like a really long sidestory episode of the Brotherhood series than anything else, and as long as you know that going in and are not expecting a heart-wrenching, dramatic finale like Shamballa, you'll have a good time.
PROS:
+ Great second half, payoff is worth the wait
+ The plot, viewed as a standalone sidestory, is good (if ultimately forgettable)
+ Gorgeous, lush backgrounds and detailed, lived-in settings
+ Excellent soundtrack
+ High-quality English dub
CONS:
- Slow, plodding first half
- The story's nature as filler for an otherwise finished series makes it tough to get invested in; there's little gravity or sense of danger
- Flat, undetailed art style and often-choppy animation do not live up to the series' high pedigree or feel worthy of a feature film
- Feels overlong at almost two hours
BE AWARE (independent from the review):
• For FMA fans only! Very little time is spent discussing the Elric brothers' tragic backstory and the reason for their quest, and the film assumes the audience knows about the series' world and lore (like philosopher's stones and such). Non-fans will be thoroughly confused and lost.
• Like the series itself, this is a dark movie. Quite a bit of unrelenting violence, bloodshed, and death. Not small kid-friendly!
Three out of five stars.
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