Live action game films come in two flavors: entertainingly bad and painfully unwatchable. Why? Perhaps it’s because they can stray too far from the source, messing with the paper-thin plot of a game until it becomes even more ridiculous than the source. That’s why the first trailer for the Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright film makes us cautiously optimistic. As you can see from the Japanese trailer, it looks like it stays pretty true to the first game’s plot…
It’s nice to get a real look at the film instead of snippets with talk show hosts screaming over it. And we love that all the characters look so accurate to their in-game selves, no matter how silly the hair styles may look on a real person. With moments from multiple cases of the first game on display (with big spoilers for those that know what they are), the Phoenix Wright film looks on track to at least be stunningly accurate. Whether it’s good or not is another question, but Takashi Miike can usually be counted on to make admirably ambitious movies even if they don’t always pay off, so it at least won’t be boring.
We’re big fans of Capcom’s dramatic law and order series Ace Attorney and were excited when we first heard a films was being made based on it and that it would be helmed by gonzo director Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer). We thought we’d have to wait till next week to see footage of the game, but we got some early. Just be prepared to listen to the loud reactions of Japanese talk show hosts.
We don’t blame you if you muted it, but it looked amazing. So many classic moments from the first Phoenix Wright game are on display, with iconic characters like Miles Edgeworth, Mia and Maya, von Karma and even Larry Butz looking spot-on. Seeing the dramatic events unfold in live action raised our pulses, and we love that everyone has all the exaggerated hair and clothes that we’ve come to love. Hopefully we’ll see even more when the official trailer is released next week, and then we’ll probably get to hear what the movie sounds like too.
Source: Andriasang
EDIT: Updated with full trailer since the old video is down. Also, without commentary. Thank to FencingFoxFTW for noticing this!