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| Cloud Strife looking at the ruins of Midgar. Image copyright of Square Enix. |
One of my favourite video game franchises, Final Fantasy has always managed to have a consistent range of excellent J-RPG video games. However, several years ago, Square Enix (the company who created the Final Fantasy franchise), have gone one step further, and expanded on the story of their most popular game - Final Fantasy VII - and turned into a movie. That's right, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, is a movie!
In a nutshell, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is a continuation of the story from the game. Two years have passed since Cloud defeated Sephiroth in the Planet's core, and the people of Midgar have built a smaller village on the outskirts of the once proud city and called it Edge. However, most of the citizens have become affected by a mysterious disease called geostigma, that came about as the result of the Lifestream's fight against Meteor. Seeking a way to save Marlene, Barrett's daughter, and her friend Denzel, Cloud begins a long journey to find a cure for the mysterious disease while fighting off a band of miscreants led by the mysterious leader named Kadaj. Along the way, Cloud is faced with several challenges, as he ultimately struggles to rescue and save the children while at the same time seeking forgiveness from people he couldn't save when he was younger.
Don't get me wrong - i do have some quibbles about the movie itself - but all in all, i really love this movie. However, not everyone will derive the same level of satisfaction as i did from the movie, mainly because the film's intended audience are people who have played and completed the actual game first.
If you were an individual who had never played the game before and walked into the cinema, it is highly likely that you would have no clue as to what was going on, or grasp the subtle plot hints that connect to the game itself. That, unfortunately, is one of the main detracting parts of the film.
Another negative of the film is the subtitles. I have never seen a film that has so many faulty subtitles as this film. Granted, Square Enix may have altered the script at a later point during voice recording with the actors, and certain parts of the script may have been lost during translation, but most of the subtitles are simply inaccurate to what the actual characters are saying. This was a major downside of the film for me. Aside from that, i don't have anything else negative to say about the film.
On a positive note, the film has a lot of great features about it. First of all, the visuals. The entire movie is animated with real time movement and combat and is, quite simply put, brilliant. I don't think i've seen an animated movie with as much realism and attention to detail as this movie has done. A definite positive for the overall movie.
Secondly, the actors and recordings. Although the acting is a bit off-time in some parts, i am willing to put it down to translation issues and timing problems. But on the actual performances themselves, they were very good. And the voices, well....Square did a fantastic job with the English voice actors, as each character sounded exactly as i pictured they would in the game. Another major plus here.
Finally, the script and story. Although it was a bit unusual at some points with the back and forth jumping, the story was exceptionally well written and flowed well as both a continuation of the game's story, and also as an individual and original storyline.
Overall, my final marks for the movie are:
- Potency of the movie's dominant theme consistently present throughout the story: *******
- Editing/ Scenes of Relevance: *********
- Main character's effectiveness in role/connection with audience: ********
- Secondary character's effectiveness in role/connection with audience: *******
- Music/Visual Effects: **********
Overall Marks: 41 / 50
Grade Percentage: 82%
I can honestly say that i thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and i look forward to any future movies from Square Enix.
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