Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - The Fall of Men

Something I'm really big on eradicating in the educational settings in which I work is "assumed knowledge; basically anything that no one mentions because "everybody knows that". I've seen really good teachers and support staff leave students behind because they assumed that foundational knowledge would be universal across national, cultural and generational boundaries. I mention this because I see a lot of discussion around the Dragon Ball Z fan-film, The Fall of Men but almost none of it mentions something my education makes me painfully aware of; that being, this is a demo reel. You see, when you want to break into the film industry, one of the best ways to do it is to make your own short film and submit it to studios and production companies to show off what you can do. The Fall of Men is pretty much just a DBZ version of this phenomenon, and that's ok. 

Despite the credit it tends to get in the DB fandom, I'm still not sold on the idea of a live action adaptation of the franchise being visually interesting to watch. Though The Fall of Men looks nice, in a drab, washed-out, Christopher Nolan-esque kind of way, the Ki blasts are still awkward to see and only a handful of actors can pull off the "screaming up your power" sequences without looking ridiculous. The slick, Hollywood redesign of Cell has a sleek and predatory look, but making Cell less of a dark reflection of Goku makes the character less interesting to me, personally. Framing the story as being posthumously narrated by Vegeta as a farewell to his son is a little twist I quite like, even if it's obvious this was done due to the limited cast and budget. Perhaps critiquing the narrative of The Fall of Men is a little unfair, given it's nature as an effects demo reel, but I work with what I know. 

Look, as much care and attention go into these fan-films, and as much as they can be beloved by the fandom, I'm still not convinced on the idea of a live-action DBZ adaptation. Perhaps if the same Japanese studio that did Ace Attorney were to take a shot, but, for me, the visual style just does not translate well. All that said, if you're stuck in the house and have a half hour to kill, there are worse things to watch than The Fall of Men. At the very least, the passion and work that went into the project are something worth appreciating on their own merits.