Ace Attorney (2012)

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Awesome Movie

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

'Ace attorney' is a courtroom drama about crime solving theme based on a popular video game called 'Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney'. The trademark of this story either movie or video game is that main character Phoenix Wright shows his index finger like a style Ambedkar statue saying 'objection'.Its hard someone to understand who are not familiar with Japanese movies or culture. If you are then this movie will be so fun which is directed by one of popular Jap director Takashi Miike, the '13 assassins' fame. Not so long ago I watched an another courtroom comedy called 'A ghost of a chance' which these both are kinda totally enjoyable. If you like any one of these you will like another too.This is a story of a not-so-popular attorney Phoenix Wright who starts to claim best period of his professional when he bags back to back cases to his hand with successful results. The structure of movie plot was brilliant especially solving crime puzzle which opens new sub-plots instantly towards the last quarter of the movie. The story happens in the courtroom is like a wrestling match between two without physical contacts, if someone wins they qualify for the next round. Like I said it is a comedy genre so there's no seriousness in movie characters. I did not get a couple of jokes which I believe are pure Japanese which we won't get in translation. The movie was good to have once especially if you like Takashi Miike movies.

I'm incidentally a huge fan of both Miike and the Ace Attorney game series, but I believe people who want to see this film, are mostly Phoenix Wright fans, so I'll try to review the movie from this point of view, to show fans what they need to expect.Adapting a game like Phoenix Wright might seem easy at first, but in fact, it's something you have to be careful with: the game is basically like a comic book, a series a images well put together, with often intriguing, other times funny but never uninteresting dialogues and characters. Like a comic (or even a novel for that matter) most of the world is created by the reader (or in this case the player) who links these dialogues and images in a way, to create a motion picture in their mind. I loved exploring the crime scenes, and such (=the non scripted parts of the game), but it's the story and the characters that had a bigger impact on me. Each player has a different way of imagining this world while playing the game, and for that the film has to work in a way that it ruins the least amount a fans' expectations. Every single imagination can't be pleased, but this film tries its hardest.First, what I liked about the film, is the attempt itself to create a Phoenix Wright movie. Second, the fact that this "distopic absurd world" of the source material is portrayed in the movie without the creators shying away from ideas that an average human being would find acceptable in a video game, but not necessarily in a film. In fact, that is a very strong aspect of the movie: it has a world without rules, limits, it's crazy, dark and fun, just like the game. It doesn't want to be just a movie, it wants to be THE Phoenix Wright movie. In other words, one of the films biggest values, is that it wants to translate the least amount of video game logic to film logic. It embraces video game logic, plays with it, and uses it to show the craziest ideas on screen. I mean for example by the trials with holograms, which is of course not like that in the games, but the idea is brilliant, because it translates the game's epic moments perfectly, when somebody pulls out the definitive evidence and shows it to the court. Third, the film is not only made by somebody who knows the source material throughly, but from the film's attitude, is a big fan of it as well. The most possible elements are compressed in these 90 minutes to please all the fans' needs: for example some unexpected characters from the series make short appearances (which, I'm not going to tell you of course) and many similar surprises..All that being said, the movie has a few downsides for me: First, the Gumshoe character: I love him in the games (my second favourite character after Godot) and I'm sure many of us do, but he had a lot less screen presence that I wanted him to have. Because of that, his style, his whole presence could not be felt as much in the film as in the game. Also, I think it was bad casting: although the actor does a decent job, they should have gotten somebody with a bit more weight on him to do it, after all he's the big guy in the games. Second, even if I didn't care as much for the Maya character in the games, as much as for several others, I always loved his relationship with Phoenix. Here, the chemistry between the two can hardly be felt, Maya seems more like an assistant than a true friend/partner of Phoenix. Also, I think bad casting here as well, since I think the actress was a bit too old for the role, but that wouldn't have been a big problem if the chemistry between the two worked. Third, the judge character. In the game we discover two sides of him: a strict (but old and tired of it) and a humorous naive judge (the way I see it). Here, I felt that he is left only with the first, and frankly least interesting side of him. And here again, I know this is tiring, but I think the judge having hair was a bad decision (I'm sure many of you think of this as astonishingly stupid nitpicking, but hey, the bald bearded guy: it's one thing that made him memorable for me, and if you make him have a beard, then cut his hair as well) Last, but not least, is a key scene which has been slightly modified by the writers. I'm not going to say which scene it is, all I can say without spoiling is that this key scene, was moved to another location in the film (the location in the game was one of the aspects which made it great). I think it was an easy choice, but they might have had a reason for it.Although I devoted the bigger paragraph to negative aspects, I wouldn't call them flaws, more like things, ideas I would have done/solved differently. To end this all, and to clear all misunderstandings (if any happened): i loved the film. I think it's an absolute treat for fans, and a very well made piece of work, in terms of cinematography, screenplay, direction and everything else. Although I thought that the problems I had were worth mentioning, they didn't affect my viewing, since I was blown away by seeing Ace Attorney as a movie, and I thoroughly felt that only passion has been put in the making of this film and little to no laziness, which is sadly rarely the case of films nowadays. Does the film work? Absolutely. And that is what matters.

I wouldn't call myself a fan of Miike. Actually with "Audition" I might have started with one of his most wicked movies, very disturbing and very different and I might not have been open to that. This on the other hand (must be the tenth movie of his I have watched to date, not a lot if you consider his output!) is very easily accessible.And that rings true, even if you're not familiar with the source material this is based on. I myself didn't know the game and haven't played it yet. But the essence of the movie is a courtroom thriller with a few twists. And it has a very wicked sense of humor, which might not be to everyones taste. If you don't like the first 5 minutes, don't bother watching more. Otherwise it'll be a hoot (and those hair styles ... awesome!)

Gyakuten saiban or Ace Attorney is a Miike take on a story based on the popular games and manga. It brings Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Larry Butz and the Spiritual Fey family to life in a fantastic story of futuristic trials that are seemingly interwoven. Leave it to Miike to deliver a movie with incredible pacing control. The beginning races you through the characters to start with the crime that sets off the main plot to be followed. At times the movie is really intense in showing what the characters experienced, catering to the more understanding older viewer. However, he said so himself in the worldwide premiere today at the International Film Festival Rotterdam: you should watch this lightheartedly, like a kid. The way he adapts the famous series onto the screen is definitely one that combines his skills at bringing the best of a story with making it a very fun one. I can strongly recommend watching this if you're either a fan of his (later/(not lighter) work (like Zebraman) or of the games. I had my eyes glued to the screen except for a few moments where I looked at the audience and saw they were equally drawn into the movie.. It has great CGI for the court scenes and the spiritual moments with the Feys and as always with Miike; it caters to the idea of a greater plan. If you're taking the time to read this review; you should probably go see it already!