avarmenian Like many other fans of the Dragonball franchise, I am staunchly sceptical of any attempts to adapt content from the anime or manga into live-action sequences. I've long felt that the nature of the show (with its fast-paced fight scenes, wild hairstyles, transformations and ki-blasts) is not suitable for live-action. However, and to my surprise, Fall of Men has prompted me to reconsider my outlook. Fall of Men is loosely based on the Dragonball Z storyline "The History of Trunks". However, Fall of Men gives the Dragonball universe a darker, grittier feel, unlike any live-action adaptation that has gone before it. In line with the themes of the History of Trunks movie, the sense of loss and hopelessness is conveyed very effectively throughout the film. This is perhaps amplified by the lack of dialogue; the film largely relies on visual cues to move the story forward, with the voice of Trunks dubbed over only to provide the audience with an insight into his thoughts and feelings.However, this film's strongest suit is in its ability to filter out the details from the anime/manga that do not match its gritty tone. However, any details that are plausible in live-action have been retained, which will please any hardcore Dragonball fans. For instance, whilst Bulma is not portrayed with blue hair, Dr. Briefs is still portrayed with a cigarette and small black cat. In short, the film manages to stay loyal to the franchise, but has moved far enough from it to not appear parodical.Further, when tackling sequences much more difficult to portray in live-action (such as transformations, ki blasts and movements at speed), Fall of Men manages to execute them in a tasteful way, triumphing where many live-action adaptations have failed (although a little more tweaking could be carried out in places).For any Dragonball fan, this short film is worth a watch. Above all else, it has single-handedly demonstrated that a decent live-action adaptation of Dragonball is possible. The fact that this film did not have the backing of a major production company makes it all the more remarkable.

MikialUK I watched this FAN MADE live action short a couple of days ago & I was amazed. The depiction of most characters were spot on if you'll ever consider them to be real. The creators of this short are obviously big fans of Dragon Ball Z and that is shown throughout the film. It is this passion for a project that we need because only then you'll get an authentic raw adaptation of the original. I reaIly hope someone will take these guys' ideas & fund them so they can expand. I'm disappointed at the two reviews below coz people often criticize often forgetting that small companies as such have limitations but despite that made a million times better job than Hollywood's evolution. Check it out if you're big fans of the anime like me or not. Regardless, it's great!

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) The short film "The Fall of Men" was only released a couple weeks ago, but already managed to get millions of clicks on Youtube despite being so new. It is a French production (don't worry though, language is English) written and directed by Yohan Faure and his very first film. It's a fan project that runs for slightly under 30 minutes and takes place in the Dragonball Z universe. However, this is not an animated movie, but a live action version with many "real" actors, not just voice performers. I am not the biggest DBZ fan, which is probably also why I did not enjoy this one too much. So the problem here for me is the base material and not necessarily Faure's work here. This means that if you like DBZ, there's a chance you will enjoy it. I remembered some of the sequences from the animated film from the special effects they show us here. All in all, a solid rookie effort by the director and I'm fairly certain we will see more from him in the future.

Diego A. Mamani Probably one of the greatest fan films i have ever seen. This small film is an obvious choice over the Hollywood fox based DBZ: Evolution. Very exited to see what Black Smoke Films comes out with next. With so many teaser trailers out there and many Fans anxious to see a true adaptation of the Dragon Ball universe, this film meets all expectations and more. This film does what Christopher Nolan did to batman, bringing the character to life. Much credit to Yohan Faure with all the creativity and directing this film. If you having doubts, Don't.This small film will bring you back so many childhood memories and if you've ever seen the Dragonball Z TV show, this will be worth watching.