FMA: Conquerer of Shambala (Review)

Ochibi · Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:14 pm

This is the monthly review on television and all that good stuff. This month, I’m focusing on the Full Metal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala.

For those of you who don’t know Full Metal Alchemist (FMA), it’s about two young brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who unsuccessfully attempt to revive their mother using the power of alchemy. In the process, the elder brother, Ed, loses a leg, and the younger brother, Al, loses his entire body. Ed manages to attach his brother's soul to a nearby suit of armor, at the cost of his right arm.
This is the story of the Elric brothers as they set off to find a means to regain their original and complete bodies.

It begins when Edward and Alphonse are stopping a scientist from creating a destructive uranium bomb. Then it fast forwards us to present day where two years have past since Ed sacrificed himself to restore his brother, Al, to life. Now living in the real world in 1923 Munich, Ed has been studying rocket science alongside Alphonse Heiderich, the alternate version of his brother, to find a way back home. When he saves a young gypsy girl named Noah from some mysterious men who want to use her psychic gifts, Ed is drawn into a plot by the Thule Society and the burgeoning Nazi Party to overthrow Germany. Their plan is to open the gate to the legendary Shambala, which is in reality Ed's home world, and use its powers for their own means. Meanwhile, Al has also been trying to find a means to reunite with his brother, but his attempts could cause the destruction Ed is trying to stop.

Making a movie following the end of a popular anime series like Full Metal Alchemist is nothing new. Conqueror of Shambala gives FMA a proper ending, wrapping things up for the characters and at the same time, showing what they've been up to since the end of the series. This film doesn't disappoint, continuing the insane action, conspiracy theories, philosophical discussions, plot twists and occasional comedic moment that made the original TV series so popular.

One of the major themes of this movie is physics versus alchemy, each represented by two different worlds where one is dominant over the other. This is evident by the beginning of the movie, set during Ed's days as a State Alchemist, where he and Al stopped a madman named Huskisson, who sees physics as true power and uses steam engine technology to build a bomb. Don't worry, folks, this is here for a reason, and it'll make sense when you watch the movie. Then you've got the real world, where physics dominated over alchemy, so people there see it as magic and have no real understanding of how it works. It goes to show you how funny things can be where something could very well have happened differently.

Speaking of parallel worlds, that's something of a running gag throughout the movie. As Ed has been living in Munich, he's been running into people who are the counterparts to the ones he knows in his world. Aside from Alphonse, who resembles Al, we got Noah, who looks like Rose, as well as Fritz Lang, who looks like King Bradley. There are even counterparts to Hughes, Dante (or, more accurately, Lyra), and many other. So characters that died in the TV series get to make a return appearance for the movie... sort of. Anyone who's seen Star Trek, however, can know that in parallel worlds, things can be quite different, especially the people. Lang is a good example, a kind-hearted director and visionary in the real world as opposed to the war-mongering Fuhrer in the alchemy world. Then we've got Hughes, a like-able guy in the alchemy world but a jerk in the real world. It's just one more thing that makes this movie fun to watch, seeing these familiar characters and comparing them to each other. The only down side is that we don't get any for Armstrong or Mustang, but it does make it fun imagining what they'd be like.

Overall, I would rate this movie a 4.0 out of a possible 5. It's a movie that all FMA fans were dieing to see, and it sends a special message to our viewers that home is literally where the heart is.

Join us next month, where we'll be reviewing our all-time favorite movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children!

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