4 out of 5

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Okay, I’m giving in to four stars.  I was just so astounded at the highs that were achieved in what should otherwise be a ridiculous movie – the dramatic beats, the editing experimentation, the emotional connection, and the comedic beats – that I found myself wanting to rewatch Ace Attorney right away, and play all of the games, and, like, read the manga, assuming it exists, even though the movie – at 2+ hours – is clearly longer than it needs to be, and undeniably drags its core mystery out through some plodding sections.

Based on a video game.  Which shouldn’t be a slight in this modern age, but its based on a DS puzzle game; it’s somehow not the first thing that comes to mind for stories rich with adaptation promise.  But Ace Attorney has been celebrated for its story, and a glance at its wiki pages shows it has a pretty deep character set, so we’ll give credit to the games’ creators for the world in which Miike is toying.  But as with the best of his films, which have often been sourced from other media like manga, it’s all about the presentation that makes it uniquely a Takashi experience.  And I love seeing the “modern” version of Miike, shifted into the realm of blockbuster films, still able to find ways to experiment and express himself.

Ace Attorney comes with a huge viewing curve, though, in that it clearly lifts certain shots and scenes directly from the game, and they seem waaaay random to a lay viewer.  Some of it just fits with the rather absurd vibe of it – this world where the trial system has essentially been turned into a turn-based game, evidence projected to the court via pyrotechnic displays – but some of it is completely left field fan-service that upsets the immersion in the otherwise surprisingly engrossing murder mystery which novice attorney Phoenix Wright (Hiroki Narimiya) must solve.  The acting, also assumedly to line up with the game, has this pantomime nature to it (especially Wright’s friend Larry Butz, played by Akiyoshi Nakao), but this becomes one of the more rewarding aspects once things get going, the film’s extremes all sort of synergistically working to properly elevate the tone into the superreal dramatics employed by a lot of games.  And once you’re there, the magic takes over: Koji Endo’s swooning score; Masakazu Oka’s rich cinematography, maintaining Miike’s usual grain but with a poppy color palette; and Takashi’s blending of all sorts of styles into this one weirdly cohesive whole.

I laughed; maybe I didn’t cry, but the story with the parrot totally caught me off guard.  And every time Wright would collapse into a bundle of nerves, I anxiously awaited his next line – would it be dunderheaded or a sudden point?

I can’t say I expected to dislike Ace Attorney, but I do know I wasn’t expecting to be such a legit movie while still, through and through, a video game adaptation.  It’s almost hilariously dry at point, as it becomes a quiet and reserved court procedural, which is all the more amusing when it suddenly lurches into a comedy montage or whips out the dramatic music for a revelatory plot point.  Obviously all that’s left for me to do now is buy a DS and become an obsessive Ace Attorney fan, then come back and rag on this movie for totally missing the point.  I’ll update you when I get there.