I personally really enjoyed the film! Admittedly, I am a fan of basically every Tokyo Ghoul adaptation (except rootA), but I even found myself preferring the movie over the anime! It's not exactly going to be an easy film for the uninitiated, though. Many reviewers have noted the lack of explanations for why the ghouls wear masks, which can be figured out by simple logic admittedly. They're killing people, they can't exactly let themselves be seen. Less readily apparent would be what a quinque actually is. They only use the word once throughout, and I can see some audience members being unsure of what's being referred to, so I would recommend reading up a little bit on some of the series' important terms.
And yes, the CGI is kinda bad. Not deal-breaking, but it did lose some of the tension, especially in the earliest fight scene. Which is a real shame, since all the actors do a great job of establishing a tragic, violent, and suspenseful tone that really captures the psychological elements so many fans love about the series. Sure, some actors ham it up a bit too much (Nishio and Kaneki's actors in particular go OTT in fight scenes), but there are also some lovely quiet performances from Hinami and Yoshimura's actors. There's also some nice attention to detail for the fans to obsess over, with rips in clothing appearing throughout scenes, and traumatic situations creating an observable impact on character's posture while fighting. I may have mentioned a lot about the fighting, but I hasten to add that the film really shines in its quieter moments, with gorgeous directing and genuinely engaging characters (although maybe that's just my fan side showing through). Some scenes seem to exist exclusively to be developed on in future films, but they're less than a minute or two total, so I didn't really mind that much. Mileage may vary on them though.
The film definitely does not take its audience to be dumb, with metaphors that many films would develop into minute-long exposition on the film's themes just set out for the audience to fill it. I had a lot of fun with this movie (as well as my fair share of emotional trauma), and it's a much better adaptation than most recent anime live-actions, or even the anime as far as I'm concerned. Let's hope this applies to the upcoming Ajin film as well.....
And yes, the CGI is kinda bad. Not deal-breaking, but it did lose some of the tension, especially in the earliest fight scene. Which is a real shame, since all the actors do a great job of establishing a tragic, violent, and suspenseful tone that really captures the psychological elements so many fans love about the series. Sure, some actors ham it up a bit too much (Nishio and Kaneki's actors in particular go OTT in fight scenes), but there are also some lovely quiet performances from Hinami and Yoshimura's actors. There's also some nice attention to detail for the fans to obsess over, with rips in clothing appearing throughout scenes, and traumatic situations creating an observable impact on character's posture while fighting. I may have mentioned a lot about the fighting, but I hasten to add that the film really shines in its quieter moments, with gorgeous directing and genuinely engaging characters (although maybe that's just my fan side showing through). Some scenes seem to exist exclusively to be developed on in future films, but they're less than a minute or two total, so I didn't really mind that much. Mileage may vary on them though.
The film definitely does not take its audience to be dumb, with metaphors that many films would develop into minute-long exposition on the film's themes just set out for the audience to fill it. I had a lot of fun with this movie (as well as my fair share of emotional trauma), and it's a much better adaptation than most recent anime live-actions, or even the anime as far as I'm concerned. Let's hope this applies to the upcoming Ajin film as well.....