The Live-Action Adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist, which was filmed in Italy and Japan from June to August 2016 for a December 2017 release. Directed by Fumihiko Sori (Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, live-action version of Ping Pong) and starring Ryosuka Yamada as Edward Elric, Tsubasa Honda as Winry Rockbell, Dean Fujioka as Roy Mustang, and Atom Mizuishi as the voice of Alphonse Elric. It was licensed by Netflix and released in the United States, United Kingdom, and other territories in February 2018.
After a childhood attempt at human transmutation goes awry, alchemist brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric are on a quest to find the Philosopher's Stone, which they believe holds the key to regaining Ed's arm and leg as well as Al's body. However, they are pulled into danger as they infringe on military secrets and run afoul of mysterious creatures called Homunculi.
Two sequel films were released in 2022, Fullmetal Alchemist The Revenge Of Scar and Fullmetal Alchemist The Last Transmutation.
The film provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adapted Out:
- Scar and Major Armstrong, both key characters in the manga, are missing here. Wordof God, the two were hinted to appear in the sequel.
- "Granny" Pinako doesn't appear, while Van Hohenheim is reduced to a single mention of the boys' father at the beginning. As their scenes were outright skipped rather than re-written without them, they presumably still exist in this continuity.
- Izumi and Sig Curtis are absent in this film as well.
- Gracia Hughes is still pregnant with Elicia in the film, rather than Elicia being four years old.
- Maria Ross's partner and Armstrong's subordinate Denny Brosh doesn't appear; Ross herself is Demoted to Extra.
- The Slicer Brothers and Barry the Chopper don't appear to be guarding the fifth laboratory here; instead the heroes face Lust, Envy, and Tucker and Barry's role of inducing Al's existentialist crisis is given to Tucker.
- Since we never see Winry at home, we also never see her dog Den.
- Rose is absent, with only Cornello showing up in the Reole segment of the film.
- Adaptation Dye-Job:
- Winry is a brunette here, while she was originally blonde. According to an interview, this was done on purpose to contrast her hair color from Ed's in order to highlight his unique ancestry, especially because both of them shared a lot of screen time. In addition, it was stated that gold and blonde looked very similar.
- Shou Tucker has wavy black hair rather than straight receding light brown hair.
- Gracia was blonde in the manga/anime but has brown hair here.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- While his manga counterpart has a Hair-Trigger Temper, Ed is significantly more level-headed and less quick to anger here.
- Roy Mustang's more sympathetic moments early on are removed or downplayed, so his seeming murder of Hughes (as Envy frames him instead of Maria like in the manga) looks more believable.
- Winry is more of a Genki Girl than her more calm manga counterpart.
- Adaptational Attractiveness:
- Shou Tucker was a middle-aged man in the original and looked fairly disheveled. Here, he's visibly younger and considerably prettied up, to the point that he's a borderline Unkempt Beauty.
- In the source material, Alphonse's body in the Gate was severely emaciated and haggard in the original, due to spending years without food, water or grooming. Here, though we never see his face, he clearly has smooth, clear skin and isn't much thinner than Ed is..
- Scar is more thuggish looking and intimidating in the source material, while in the film series, he is more easy on the eyes and does not look like someone who can kill.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- The military's zombie army is introduced in the climax of both the source manga and this film. In manga terms, this puts their appearance at volume four rather than eighteen (of twenty-seven).
- Downplayed, but The Stinger reveals Envy's tiny true form, which first appeared in volume twenty.
- Adaptational Modesty: Ed is subject to much less Clothing Damage than he is in the original.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- General Hakuro is now working for the Homunculi alongside Shou Tucker, completing the army's immortal army much sooner than their manga counterparts.
- While both incarnations weren't good people, this version of Tucker is connected to the military's secrets at Lab 5, while the original character acted independently and out of self-interest.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Father Cornello is far from the charismatic cult leader he is in the manga, being introduced running away from the Elric brothers and taking a random woman hostage in a town square, rather than fighting them with his chimeras.
- In the manga, Mustang manages to defeat Lust by himself by searing his wounds shut. Here, he is assisted by Hawkeye and later Ed.
- The mannequin soldiers are much slower, less durable, and less vicious here — they are easily defeated by a squadron of soldiers with plenty of ammunition, while Hawkeye specifically noted that guns were ineffective against them in the manga.
- Gluttony's mouth belly is his One-Winged Angel form in the manga, here it seems to be his primary way of eating. He's also notably slower and seems to lack the laser like ability he had in the manga.
- And This Is for...: Mustang invokes Hughes's name as he pulls Lust's philosopher's stone out of her.
- Ascended Extra:
- Winry is directly involved in Ed and Al's journey a lot more than she was in the manga. This includes visiting Ed at the tail end of his first trip to Reole, being the one to discover Dr. Marcoh in place of Armstrong, visiting the Tuckers prior to Nina's transmutation, and being held hostage at the 5th Laboratory.
- General Hakuro was a very minor character in the manga, but his role is massively expanded here. This especially noteworthy considering that major players like Major Armstrong and Fuhrer Bradley are Adapted Out.
- Age Lift: Ed, Al, and Winry are in their early twenties instead of teens. Alphonse's voice is noticeably older in the live-action adaptation, implying that he's aged, contrary to his anime/manga counterparts which explicitly state that he (his soul) stopped aging upon being bound to the armor.
- Alternate Continuity: The story begins similarly to the manga, but diverges as it goes along.
- Almost Dead Guy: Dr. Marcoh and Hughes separately manage to point the heroes to the 5th Laboratory as they die.
- Become a Real Girl: Seems to be Lust's goal considering her insistence that she is human.
- Big Bad: The Homunculi mention a creator but Lust leads the trio in the movie, manipulating the greedy Hakuro and Tucker to commission a Philosopher's Stone for their goal. Though Hakuro attempts to double-cross her, she merely calls him out for the idiot he is as his mannequin soldiers devour him.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Hakuro reveals himself as a major villain and most of the villainous things done in the movie were his doing, but the moment he unleashes his army, he ends up being devoured by them instead, leaving the role of Big Bad (or at least final villain) to Envy and Lust.
- Composite Character:
- Winry accompanies Ed to Dr. Marcoh instead of Major Armstrong, who was Adapted Out.
- Hakuro, who was originally a minor general in the Manga, appears to be the General in charge of East Command instead of Grumman, who was a separate character in the manga. He's also combined with the Central Command general who awakens the mannequin soldiers in the manga.
- Shou Tucker is the one who suggests the false memories idea to Al instead of Barry.
- Mustang is framed for the murder of Hughes instead of Maria Ross and he is also the one that sees through Envy's disguise as Ross later on.
- Compressed Adaptation: Unlike the source material where the plot points were more spread out, Hughes's murder and the subsequent Frame-Up, Ed and Al discovering the 5th Laboratory, the release of the Mannequin army, and Mustang killing Lust with Envy barely surviving all happen over the course of one night.
- Computer-Generated Images: How Alphonse (in living, hollow suit of armour form) is brought to the screen.
- Continuity Nod: Mustang pointing out that Envy (disguised as Maria Ross) lacks Maria's mole is taken from the scene where Hughes points it out to Envy when they are framing Ross for the murder of Hughes.
- Cue the Sun: The sun rises over Laboratory 5 after the fight between Mustang and Ed against Lust and Envy, as well as Riza and the other soldiers against the zombie army.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Dr. Marcoh is killed by Lust just as he meets Ed for the first time, while the manga counterpart survived to the end.
- Hakuro gets killed by an army of zombies.
- Demoted to Extra: Maria Ross does appear, but she has much less involvement in the film due to Mustang being framed for Hughes' death in place of her.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lust acts as a big sister to Gluttony and Envy, providing comfort and security to the former and in her fight against Ed and Mustang, protects the latter from Mustang's attacks when they're weakened.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Though the Homunculi work with Hakuro and Tucker to create a Philosopher's Stone, Lust shows disgust at their stupidity and greed, eventually killing Tucker.
- Finger-Twitching Revival: Al's fingers twitch upon awakening in Laboratory 5.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: At the end of the fight between Ed and Al, Winry smacks Al with a wrench and calls him out on doubting Ed as much as he did.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Lust acts as the Big Bad leading the Homunculi trio shown but she notes they have a creator whom they all serve, though this character is The Ghost in this film and appears in the sequels.
- The Heavy: Lust is leading the Homunculi shown, as befitting of a film adapting the first part of the manga where she played this role to their creator.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Hakuro releases the Mannequins in a bid to seize power...and is promptly killed by them.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Shou Tucker wears one to emphasize his specialty in biological alchemy.
- Live-Action Adaptation: Of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist.
- Neutral Female: Winry stands on the sidelines of Ed and Al's fight in Laboratory 5.
- New Child Left Behind: Elicia Hughes becomes this by adaptation.
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: The Mannequins are defeated by Riza and a few soldiers, simply aiming for their heads as they shambled slowly towards them.
- Sequel Hook: Ed gets his hands on both Marcoh and Lust's stones but doesn't use it to retrieve Alphonse's body since it would be sacrificing himself as exchange for it. At most he uses it to go where Al's body is, promising to get it back. Thus Ed, Al and Winry set off to find a way to do so safely. Meanwhile Gluttony, mourning Lust's death, escapes Laboratory 5 unseen. Post-credits, Envy is also seen reviving themself in his true form and scurrying off, leaving their charred corpse behind. What's more Lust does mention Hakuro having superiors meaning someone is pulling the strings of the military behind the scenes. Plus, you know, someone had to have made the Homunculi in the first place.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Downplayed. Shou and Nina Tucker aren't killed by Scar in this version, and Shou instead lives on to work for the homunculi and corrupt military. He is eventually killed in Laboratory 5 by Lust, while chimera!Nina's fate is never explained.
- Voiceover Translation: When it had no English dub, this is how Netflix's English audio description track handled dialog. Essentially, the subtitles were read out-loud by a female or male voiceover with the Japanese dialog audible underneath, timed so that most of the underlying dialog is unobscured.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The film never explains what happened to the Nina/Alexander chimera after Shou is arrested.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The reason Lust kills Dr. Marcoh.
