The Prestige + more FMA

[meganbmoore]

Finally watched The Prestige...you know, the movie with Batman and Wolverine as magicians.

I liked it, but not as much as I did The Illusionist.  It was a little too caught up in being smart for a movie where I'd figured out(while trying NOT to figure them out and just watch but realizing it anyway) all the twists at least an hour before it ended.  I'm not sure I quite liked either Bale or Jackman's characters, though I appreciated the tragedy of Jackman's character.  I did like the story and the obsessive one-up-manship, and the story, just wish it'd been a little less caught up in being smart.

I'm also up to episode 33 of Full Metal Alchemist.

Sigh...poor little woobie homunculi kid...99.9% of my instincts said he was badbadbadbadbad(and knowing about Izumi's kid from the manga, I figured out who he was pretty quickly) but the other 0.1% said "poor helpless little woobie...let me scoop you up and hug and cuddle you and make it all better."  Poor little guy...he's the perfect example of why you shouldn't take candy from strangers.  Also odd that he's Wrath...in the manga, it's the president.  I wonder if this means he won't be evil in the anime?  That's ok...traumatizing Al like that(and what did he think he was doing!  He could get blood on Al's seal doing things like that!) in the manga earned him enough hatred to last through the anime.  Though, I'm currently in the middle of that storyline in the anime, so maybe he still does it.

Not much of Mustang, Hawkeye and Scar in these eps, which is a pity as they're my favorites. OTOH, they DO have Izumi and Greed, who I adore...Greed is a blast(and the only homunculi I really like...though even gone evil, anime!Wrath has  the woobie factor...manga!Wrath is the only one I want to diediedie, though) and Izumi is made up of almost as much pure awesome as Hawkeye is...ok, a little bit more than Hawkeye, really, but Hawkeye's unphasable-ness(unless she thinks Roy is dead) gets her the win.  

Speaking of Hawkeye, did I mention in the last post that Barry gets killed by Scar and thus doesn't have his crush on Hawkeye, followed by Roy's reaction and then instant submission when called off by Hawkeye?  Not getting that in the anime makes me sad beyond words.

Here's a question for those who have seen the entire series:  since I'll be finishing the series in the next few days, do I want to go ahead and watch the movie when I finish, or wait a bit?

Comments

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I liked the cinematography of The Illusionist better, but the plot of The Prestige is more interesting I think. In addition, Bale & Jackman are delicious hence The Prestige wins in my books ^^;;

[fivil.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the Illusionist - at least not yet - despite the fact it has the delicious Edward Norton in it. But I definitely liked The Prestige a lot, just my kind of plot twisty movie. I figured out the plot twist, too, way before it happened, but that's what made me like the movie even more.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You know, normally I don't mind figuring out the twist in the least, but here, i got the feeling they were relying too much on it for my figuring it out to have no affect.

[with2l.livejournal.com]

those two movies look good in the preview, but I haven't went out to see a movie that's not G rated in about 4 years now. Hopefully I'll be able to check it out later on if it goes to HBO.

parts of FMA made me a little sad, I really wish it went longer in the end, I like the twist in the manga so much more. Oh well, at least the animation is good during all the episodes, unlike other popular animes.

[jennawaterford.livejournal.com]

You've pretty much gone beyond where there are any overlaps between the anime and the manga, but it's very good. I had the inverse experience where I watched the anime first and then read the manga so went from great to greater in that order. The anime is really good but I think it's more emo than the manga. The movie is good -- go ahead and watch whenever; no need to wait.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed that the anime really cranks up the emo...started to really stand out back in laboratory 5. I think the anime is still using the manga stories as a framework, but less and less so. It's probably at the point of being where publication was when the anime started.

[jennawaterford.livejournal.com]

well, you'll see what I mean. It's of course going to have some of the manga elements in it because the themes carry through from earlier, but most of the content wasn't even written yet when they produced the anime and Arakawa-sensei requested the stories not be the same in the details. From about the time Izumi shows up, things veer off pretty drastically.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I remember the mangaka saying that it was going to be very different in the anime than it was in the manga when I reached the point where he/she(?) mentioned it in the anime. It's kinda like Samurai Deeper Kyo where the manga is the framework from the start, but FMA used a lot more of the manga than SDK did(course, much as I love both anime and manga SDK, FMA is better on both counts)

I think the first jolt was learning who killed Winry's parents...I had to rewatch it a couple times then go seek confirmation because it floored me. The changes have been much easier since then.

In general, the anime is almost but not as good as the manga, but stands up well on its own. It's fun, has a good story, nice animation and clearly respects its source and has good characters. Those are my requirements for manga-based anime where I've already read the manga...everything after that is a bonus. The one thing I think it does surpass the manga in is with Scar...posted a little on that in another FMA post...the one before this, I think.

BTW, adding you as a friend.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

I need to see The Illusionist, but Prestige got points in my book for featuring Tesla.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Tesla WAS one of the highlights. But yes, you very much need to see The Illusionist.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Hmmm . . . most of what comes to mind when I try to recall the plot is "Tesla hangs out in Colorado and invents a duplicator machine before being attacked by the evil Edison's thugs. And there was some filler with Batman vs. Wolverine."

Which leaves me inspired to create a 'Tesla Geeks' Cut' version of the movie.

And see the illusionist.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

lol. yeah, tesla and michael caine's character were the highlights. it was, imo, one of those movies that has a good story but gets too caught up in the twists.