a review of 进击的巨人真人版：前篇

The first part of Shinji Higuchi's live-action Attack on Titan adaptation benefits from Japan's long history of Kaiju films. The movie doesn't shy away from the source material's gore and incredibly creepy depiction of the titans themselves. So in a way it's more faithful to the heart and tone of the manga than the heavily-censored anime is. While it does a good job of following the first few chapters of Hajime Isayama's work, right up until that first big Eren reveal. Although, plenty of original flourishes can be found throughout. While consisting largely of familiar faces, quite a few original characters round out the cast. Some of these are clearly just stand-ins for fan-favorites and the majority of them are just there to end up as titan food. The biggest change fans will find issue with is a shocking big character death that happens early on in the film. It's such a significant deviation that I imagine a lot of purists will instantly stop watching, writing the film off then and there. Something that would be incredibly foolish and this admittedly questionable decision does play out nicely in the end. Leaving those who got outraged feeling pretty silly. Overall, it's an absolute blast to watch these humans combat these massive monsters with full-blown blood, guts, and bleakness. The ruined world looks incredible and excellently captures the visual style of the manga/anime. The titans and action themselves also look great, even when it's obvious they're just people in rubber suits and the effects don't have that Hollywood level of polish. For most this is just going to be a big, dumb, and very fun B-movie monster flick. Those who have experienced Attack on Titan in it's other forms however, are likely to appreciate how it emphasizes the action and violence of the written work that was been toned down in it's animated counterpart. They'll just have to get over the fact that it's not 100% the same. I feel it's makes a good case for itself though as it does a remarkably solid job of condensing such meaty material into a roughly hour-and-a-half running time.