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REVIEW: Attack on Titan: Part I (Live-Action Movie)


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BockLefty



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:20 pm Reply with quote
I'll reserve judgement. With few exceptions, manga and anime adaptations are bad. I'm not so bothered by the fact that it's a different take on the story as opposed to what that take means to the core story. Even with this review, I am not wholly convinced the changes to the characters are positive ones, but we'll see. Hopefully I am wrong.

Edit: And having actually read the entire review, how the heck could they have butchered Mikasa so much? She is a key character in the original story and one of the better, more entertaining ones. And this is what they turn her into? That isn't going to sit well with me.
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EighteenSky





PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Interesting, wasn't sure whether I'd want to watch this at some point as I rather dislike both the anime and manga but the trailer looked promising and this review seems to be the icing on the cake.

The way they created the titans I wasn't aware of and never really thought about that possibility but it makes a lot of sense. Though I think that this series is one of the easier to transition into live action. Try doing something like One Piece or Toriko and then you get challenging,

On the changing of Mikasa, I guess I'm alone in this but from the sounds of it I like the changes. Think she's a poor character in the original series who's nothing more than a token strong woman but her film origin seems promising as I can 'get behind her' so to speak, something 'uncomfortable' usually hooks me as is the case here.

Still hoping Michael Bay can get his hands on a future Hollywood version at some point. He could do wonders with this. Wishful thinking I know.
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Pipoko



Joined: 13 Jun 2014
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:56 pm Reply with quote
JesuOtaku wrote:
justsomeaccount wrote:

I also guess, by how much you praise the atmosphere and tone, that the performances are also spot-on, or good enough, aren't they?


Yup! I went in expecting j-drama style acting, but that's not what this was. Everyone gives a solid, realism-style performance to fit the horror tone of the movie. I didn't mention the acting in specific because there's not really a standout member of the cast, and it's all pretty low-key.

Also, I made careful not to spoil them in the review, but if anyone has questions about specific plot points, character changes, aesthetic changes, whatever, and doesn't mind being spoiled, I can answer them in here.

The greatest (vague) spoiler I'm dying to share after seeing this movie is something silly that happens in it that will totally never happen in the original material: spoiler[Eren touches a boob.]


What were the changes to Mikasa's character? Also, how'd you rank it among the various versions of the story (Manga, Anime)? I recall you basically giving all of them a A, anyway, but just curious.

It sounds like a very interesting take on the story that I'd eventually like to check out myself!
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unitmikey



Joined: 15 Feb 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:31 pm Reply with quote
Oh. My. God. This sounds so, so good and I am now going crazy in anticipation waiting to see this. The fact that they turned it into flat out horror sounds like an amazing choice (and i really wasn't bothered by the visuals in the trailers to begin with in all honesty, so the fact that they turned out great overall is a relief).

But oh no, Mikasa. That is the one part I am now worried about seeing...

Regardless of it being a good example of turning anime into live action, I am actually excited to see this as a good horror movie in general.
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JacobC
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Joined: 15 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:35 pm Reply with quote
Pipoko wrote:

What were the changes to Mikasa's character? Also, how'd you rank it among the various versions of the story (Manga, Anime)? I recall you basically giving all of them a A, anyway, but just curious.

It sounds like a very interesting take on the story that I'd eventually like to check out myself!


Okay, here's the breakdown of Mikasa's new character: spoiler[She's introduced as an extremely sweet and feminine dreamer dressed all in white, and she and Eren don't kiss or anything, but they're definitely romantically attached instead of being friends or family. (Both of Eren's parents are already dead, he's an orphan.) When the Titans attack, Eren gets shoved into a temple with other refugees, while Mikasa goes back for a baby that got knocked out of a woman's hands. As Eren watches from safety, a Titan reaches down to eat Mikasa and the baby, and when he tries to get out and save her, the scared refugees drag him away from the door. By the time he escapes (as all the refugees are also getting eaten), she's disappeared. So Mikasa becomes his motivation to join the Survey Corps, not his dead mother.]

spoiler[Of course, she turns out to be alive in another unit years later, as an elite subordinate of Shikishima, record-breaking titan killer who has the skills and legacy of Levi, but a completely different personality and story purpose. When reunited with Eren, she ignores him completely, consumed only with the desire to kill Titans after being partially eaten and left for dead. (The baby got eaten and she has a giant scar down her torso.) To make matters worse, she's revealed to be Shikishima's sexual subordinate as well. We don't see anything gross, but the movie is not subtle about the insinuation. Eren's "death" ultimately plays out the same way for her, except that she went from completely dismissing him to the "bottled-grief-expressed-as-recklessness" thing instead. But she's definitely being played as a broken and traumatized object of tragedy.] So there you go. Most unfortunate adaptive choice in a movie that's otherwise really smart about the genre change.

As for the different versions, it's hard to compare them. I think the anime and the manga are essentially the same story, except the anime is more visually refined and has great music and direction to go along with it, which gives it the unfair edge over the comics, but they're the same sort of experience. This movie is just a completely different thing, but as its own contemplative horror spectacle, it's an A-tier movie, barring some hoary old psychosexual deviations in the second act. Not just talking about Mikasa: spoiler[There's an entire subplot about the collapse of the third wall leading to famine, overcrowding, and a government-mandated decrease in marriage and child-having, with child-havers being disenfranchised in the process alongside jobless farmers like Sasha's family. (Another reason she's always hungry.) So a single mother named Hiana joins the Survey Corps because they'll give her child support in the process. But she's afraid that she'll die in battle, so after Mikasa is out of the picture, she tries to seduce Eren and make him promise to be a father to her child, hence the boob-touching I mentioned earlier. (Ironically, this causes her to get eaten.)] That stuff is kinda interesting and I can see where they were going in using it as a horror element, but it's also predicated on ye olde "scary female sex parts" tropes that we've seen in psych-horror a million times already, so it ultimately feels like a distraction.
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Pipoko



Joined: 13 Jun 2014
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:56 pm Reply with quote
JesuOtaku wrote:
quote


Interesting. Thank you for the answers! spoiler[Well, that's unfortunate. So, she's super feminine, is used to motivate Eren with her "death" and then ends up in another sexual relationship with a counterpart of Levi, in the progress making her character arc kinda make no sense? Yeah, series Mikasa is much better. Wow. ]
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kpk



Joined: 05 Apr 2009
Posts: 484
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:17 pm Reply with quote
I always felt like this could have been the Game of Thrones of the anime/manga world and I was so very disappointed when it was revealed that spoiler[Eren didn't really die. And I felt him becoming a Titan himself was such a stupis twist. It kind of ruined the show/manga for me, I mean it's still good but not as good as it could have been. Does he really die in the film?].
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:30 pm Reply with quote
Well that's a nice surprise to read that its turned out decent. I thought it was going to stink or be a half-hearted effort. Glad to read that its better than that. I don't mind at all if an adaptation is its own thing and not a slave to its original source material. It just has to be good for me. The focus on horror makes perfect sense as in the anime the characters were continuously pooping their pants in terror (too often and too exaggerated for my tastes at times). Being faced with famine, desperation, and a supernatural foe that is near unkillable sounds pretty horrifying to me.

Review wrote:
Mikasa is absolutely nothing like her wise warrior origin. She's a horror-fueled symbol of a happy and pure girl who is broken, corrupted, and "taken" from Eren. Her actions create an effective turning point in his arc, but it's for deeply uncomfortable reasons steeped in psychosexual horror tradition, which makes her a tragic object for new viewers to shrug at and old fans to feel betrayed by.

Ah, that's unfortunate. I'm ok with them changing her character but it sounds like with the singular focus on Eren that's described then she's going to become the person he needs to avenge in the story. So its no longer a triad of friends but I'm guessing closer to a single character's revenge story. A little disappointing to hear but I'll have to see it to judge if it was too much for me.

I'm not looking at the spoilers, because I'm interested in seeing this after reading the review and Zac's positive reaction. It would be cool if I could catch it in a theatre.
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Lostlorn Forest



Joined: 03 Apr 2014
Posts: 544
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:31 pm Reply with quote
EighteenSky wrote:
Interesting, wasn't sure whether I'd want to watch this at some point as I rather dislike both the anime and manga but the trailer looked promising and this review seems to be the icing on the cake.

The way they created the titans I wasn't aware of and never really thought about that possibility but it makes a lot of sense. Though I think that this series is one of the easier to transition into live action. Try doing something like One Piece or Toriko and then you get challenging,

On the changing of Mikasa, I guess I'm alone in this but from the sounds of it I like the changes. Think she's a poor character in the original series who's nothing more than a token strong woman but her film origin seems promising as I can 'get behind her' so to speak, something 'uncomfortable' usually hooks me as is the case here.

Still hoping Michael Bay can get his hands on a future Hollywood version at some point. He could do wonders with this. Wishful thinking I know.

I didn't think this comment could get worse until you mentioned Michael Bay. Rolling Eyes
TarsTarkas wrote:
Anyway, even if Hollywood gets its hands on Attack on Titan, it would be a crap shot on what we would actually get. Some directors would want not to just localize it, but to actually reimagine the series to their own ideas.

Excuse my newbness but, I hope that doesn't imply they'd try to alter the anime? I know I'm being silly... these big film companies can play yarn with it all they like, just don't touch the source material or anime in any way. Evil or Very Mad
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JacobC
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Joined: 15 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:36 pm Reply with quote
kpk wrote:
I always felt like this could have been the Game of Thrones of the anime/manga world and I was so very disappointed when it was revealed that spoiler[Eren didn't really die. And I felt him becoming a Titan himself was such a stupis twist. It kind of ruined the show/manga for me, I mean it's still good but not as good as it could have been. Does he really die in the film?].


spoiler[Nope, he still turns into a titan in the exact same way. It's the closest sequence of events to the original material by a far cry, and it's really well-done and cool to see in the movie.]

Another key difference that comes with the genre-change, though: spoiler[In the original material, Eren is laced into the musculature of the Titan in sort of a cool-looking puppetmaster way, and he emerges from the Titan in a state of peace and catharsis. In this movie, he's tangled up in this gross uterine sack, and he emerges screaming and crawling his way out like some horrible birth scene. So yeah. Even when it's the same, it's totally different.]
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:54 pm Reply with quote
Lostlorn Forest wrote:
EighteenSky wrote:
Some questionable stuff.

I didn't think this comment could get worse until you mentioned Michael Bay. Rolling Eyes

I concur. Completely.

Lostlorn Forest wrote:
TarsTarkas wrote:
Anyway, even if Hollywood gets its hands on Attack on Titan, it would be a crap shot on what we would actually get. Some directors would want not to just localize it, but to actually reimagine the series to their own ideas.

Excuse my newbness but, I hope that doesn't imply they'd try to alter the anime? I know I'm being silly... these big film companies can play yarn with it all they like, just don't touch the source material or anime in any way. Evil or Very Mad

Hollywood wouldn't be Hollywood if they didn't do that.
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Lostlorn Forest



Joined: 03 Apr 2014
Posts: 544
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 4:14 pm Reply with quote
nobahn wrote:
Lostlorn Forest wrote:

Excuse my newbness but, I hope that doesn't imply they'd try to alter the anime? I know I'm being silly... these big film companies can play yarn with it all they like, just don't touch the source material or anime in any way. Evil or Very Mad

Hollywood wouldn't be Hollywood if they didn't do that.

Anime cry I hope that isn't true. I don't think Hollywood would try to adapt it though, seeing as it's something a little bit more on the difficult side to turn live-action. Either way, Hollywood anime adaptions are a big NO. I mean they quite literally have casted Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi. It's terrible. I'm hoping the manga/anime are finished by the time Hollywood lays its sight on this series.
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DangerMouse



Joined: 25 Mar 2009
Posts: 3980
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 5:05 pm Reply with quote
BockLefty wrote:
I'm not so bothered by the fact that it's a different take on the story as opposed to what that take means to the core story. Even with this review, I am not wholly convinced the changes to the characters are positive ones, but we'll see. Hopefully I am wrong.

Edit: And having actually read the entire review, how the heck could they have butchered Mikasa so much? She is a key character in the original story and one of the better, more entertaining ones. And this is what they turn her into? That isn't going to sit well with me.


This. I don't mind some changes but that Mikasa stuff is just ugh, all I was hoping for was atleast the three leads to make this worth it and their teamwork even if things around them changed for a new version of the story.

I'll withhold judgement till I see it but even if it sounds like they did a surprisingly good job it sounds like they may have gone too horror movie for me to like it all that much (even if there's certainly plenty of horror elements to the original) and this butchering of Mikasa in pretty much every way is not going to sit well with me, like the review said many who are already fans would probably feel. Makes it stick out even worse that it sounds like some/most of the others got to come out more or less intact.
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Jose Cruz



Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1767
Location: South America
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 6:38 pm Reply with quote
Really excited to watch this movie. It has been months since I watched a live action movie. And I don't think I will watch any more until this one comes out.

walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Well, given the track record of live action anime movies, you really couldn't blame anyone for thinking it was going to be trash. Maybe that helps, since when something actually good comes out of that, it really stands out.


Have you watched the Gantz movies? Or the 20th Century Boys movies? Or Thermae Romae? Those were pretty fun movies all based on manga.
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BWLJ



Joined: 11 Jul 2014
Posts: 27
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 9:24 pm Reply with quote
JesuOtaku wrote:

Okay, here's the breakdown of Mikasa's new character: spoiler[She's introduced as an extremely sweet and feminine dreamer dressed all in white, and she and Eren don't kiss or anything, but they're definitely romantically attached instead of being friends or family. (Both of Eren's parents are already dead, he's an orphan.) When the Titans attack, Eren gets shoved into a temple with other refugees, while Mikasa goes back for a baby that got knocked out of a woman's hands. As Eren watches from safety, a Titan reaches down to eat Mikasa and the baby, and when he tries to get out and save her, the scared refugees drag him away from the door. By the time he escapes (as all the refugees are also getting eaten), she's disappeared. So Mikasa becomes his motivation to join the Survey Corps, not his dead mother.]

spoiler[Of course, she turns out to be alive in another unit years later, as an elite subordinate of Shikishima, record-breaking titan killer who has the skills and legacy of Levi, but a completely different personality and story purpose. When reunited with Eren, she ignores him completely, consumed only with the desire to kill Titans after being partially eaten and left for dead. (The baby got eaten and she has a giant scar down her torso.) To make matters worse, she's revealed to be Shikishima's sexual subordinate as well. We don't see anything gross, but the movie is not subtle about the insinuation. Eren's "death" ultimately plays out the same way for her, except that she went from completely dismissing him to the "bottled-grief-expressed-as-recklessness" thing instead. But she's definitely being played as a broken and traumatized object of tragedy.] So there you go. Most unfortunate adaptive choice in a movie that's otherwise really smart about the genre change.

As for the different versions, it's hard to compare them. I think the anime and the manga are essentially the same story, except the anime is more visually refined and has great music and direction to go along with it, which gives it the unfair edge over the comics, but they're the same sort of experience. This movie is just a completely different thing, but as its own contemplative horror spectacle, it's an A-tier movie, barring some hoary old psychosexual deviations in the second act. Not just talking about Mikasa: spoiler[There's an entire subplot about the collapse of the third wall leading to famine, overcrowding, and a government-mandated decrease in marriage and child-having, with child-havers being disenfranchised in the process alongside jobless farmers like Sasha's family. (Another reason she's always hungry.) So a single mother named Hiana joins the Survey Corps because they'll give her child support in the process. But she's afraid that she'll die in battle, so after Mikasa is out of the picture, she tries to seduce Eren and make him promise to be a father to her child, hence the boob-touching I mentioned earlier. (Ironically, this causes her to get eaten.)] That stuff is kinda interesting and I can see where they were going in using it as a horror element, but it's also predicated on ye olde "scary female sex parts" tropes that we've seen in psych-horror a million times already, so it ultimately feels like a distraction.


Um. . . ok I guess it's good they aren't just re-filming the first dozen episodes. . . but I've also just lost any enthusiasm I had about this movie. Guess I'll just go sit in a corner and wait for season 2.
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