Review of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2011) by Rach S — 15 Jan 2012

The second Fullmetal Alchemist feature film is finally here (in North American theatres at least), and has the wait been worth it? Well that depends. For starters I had not done any research on the film per se, or knew the details of the story, that way I was going in fresh. However now having actually seen the film I can honestly say that it is not as good as the first feature Conquerer of Shambala.

That doesn't mean that the film isn't enjoyable. For starters the first movie is a conclusion to the first FMA series, while this one feels more like a side story or one shot story (like the Naruto movies) It is it's own story and does not take place after the second TV series FMA Brotherhood, so you only have to know the basics of either series in order to understand what's going on in this one. The story is fairly basic, and at times it's predictable. While watching this I found myself predicting what was going to happen, in the end I was right in many aspects. The acting (well voice acting in this case) is great as always, and that's what drives the story a long. If you are familiar with FMA in any aspect, you'll find something to like about it, and you should see it for completist sake. You don't have to see it in the theatre necessarily, because all they are doing is really just playing the Blu-ray from the projection booth. The Blu-ray version will be available in the early Spring. As basic as the story is, it's still a believable one, and I think that's why I gave it a higher rating that I should have. Some of the characters from the TV series make an appearance, but it's rather small. Overall it's decent, just not on the same level as the first film. It's basically like comparing every Zelda video game to the so called masterpiece that is Ocarina of time...if you can get that analogy then you know what I'm talking about.