Chews The Scenery But Doesn’t Have Much Bite
Don’t let the recent disasters that were Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell and Netflix’s Death Note fool you. Even in Japan, live-action adaptations of beloved anime and manga don’t always hit their mark. They may have a better batting average than the west, but that’s not to say they don’t have their fair share of failures.
The jury is still out on the new live-action version of Fullmetal Alchemist, but many had hope that Tokyo Ghoul would stand a far better chance of being decent. After all, if adaptations of Kaiji, Gintama and even JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure came out okay then Kaneki should have no problem.
Unfortunately, according to a review on IGN, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The live-action film adaptation of Tokyo Ghoul checks a lot of boxes; it follows the source material, there is tons of blood, people are eaten, coffee is brewed, and the kagune pack a punch. Taking on the Dove arc only, this movie condenses the introductory story of Tokyo Ghoul competently, but only just so. It struggles to explore Kaneki’s waning humanity beyond screeching, and some of the film’s biggest moments fall flat due to odd directorial choices and irregular shot composition.
Though he’s acted well enough by Masataka Kubota, Kaneki feels like the weakest part of the film because of how his character is written. This adaptation omits Kaneki’s internal dialogue, which effectively eliminates a lot of his deeper struggle with his transformation, exploration of what it means to be human, and ultimately a substantial part of his growth as a character. Instead, his inner turmoil is annoyingly conveyed through a lot of shrieking and cowering.
This adaptation does a good job of getting the surface level story of Tokyo Ghoul right, and it’s certainly one of the better live-action anime movies out there. Its gore is disappointingly tamer than the source material’s, but action sequences are generally done well. However, erratic direction and cinematography make some of Tokyo Ghoul’s biggest moments irritating to watch. It also mishandles Kaneki’s interesting internal struggle with his humanity, leaving this adaptation as a decent yet shallow interpretation of the source material.
Bummer. Guess there really is a lot riding on the new re:Tokyo Ghoul anime if there is any hope of any adaptation living up to its stellar manga counterpart.
You can watch the trailer for the live-action version of Tokyo Ghoul below.
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