• Member Reviews

    Four years after the flop of their first motion picture effort nearly bankrupted Square, the company has released their second effort. Whereas The Spirits Within was a ponderous, unusual tale that had nothing to do with any entry in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children succeeds where its successor fails: it appeals to the fan boy in us all.

    Final Fantasy VII won the hearts of a generation of gamers when it was released for the Sony Playstation way back in 1997, thanks in large part to its brooding and mysterious - yet lovable - spiky haired hero, Cloud. Advent Children accomplishes many tasks, but as the movie begins it becomes perfectly clear that it is Cloud's story and no one else's. And, for all the other things it accomplishes, Advent Children proves once and for all that Cloud Strife is one of, if not the, badasses of videogame history.

    Anyone hoping for a thought-provoking or particularly engaging storyline in Advent Children will likely leave the film slightly disappointed or confused. Maybe both. It has been two years since the defeat of Sephiroth and the end of Final Fantasy VII. The world is healing its wounds, and Cloud and friends, who had once fought together to save the planet, have now drifted apart. A mysterious and incurable disease called Geostigma has begun to ravage the population, and Cloud is confronted by a trio of JENOVA remnants, led by Kadaj, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Sephiroth. When Kadaj's gang begins brainwashing Midgar's children suffering Geostigma, Cloud takes it upon himself to save them. Cloud's task is as much coming to terms with his past as it is confronting the future. With the aid of allies old and new, including familiar faces such as Tifa and Shinra's goofy lackeys Reno and Rude, Cloud fights to rid the planet of Geostigma and the last traces of JENOVA's corrupting influence.

    Advent Children's plot is thin and not as well executed as it could have been. Still, it's hard to expect a team of game designers who have never before created a full-length film to deliver a masterfully told drama. Perhaps that was never the intention. Director Tetsuya Nomura does, however, deliver a fantastic action film. The storyline serves to place Cloud in one battle after another, each one more intense and jaw-dropping than the last. Other characters get in on the action, as well: Tifa's brawl with Kadaj's "brother" Loz is especially entertaining, and Reno and Rude do a bit of combat on their own. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast of Final Fantasy VII - Vincent Valentine, Barret Wallace, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisiragi, Red XIII and Cait Sith - only join the fray for one battle. As I mentioned before, Advent Children really is Cloud's movie. Even so, it would've been nice to see the rest of the crew play a larger role in the film.

    Each fight scene is suitably over-the-top and absolutely entertaining. They succeed so brilliantly thanks to the absolutely gorgeous CG animation, which is amazingly detailed and fluidly graceful. It's simply hard not to grin like a child when Cloud takes on Kadaj's gang, fighting them two or three at a time with an intricately detailed sword in each hand. Even the landscapes look magnificent, and are photorealistic in several instances. Each and every character stays true to their original look, but has been spiffed up a bit for Advent Children. If possible, watch Advent Children on a high definition TV to really take it in.

    Advent Children is hit-and-miss in the sound department. New versions of several of Nobuo's classic pieces make their way into the film, but in a few fight scenes they feel a bit out of place. The mood of the music often doesn't quite match up with the intensity of the scene; thankfully, as the film ramps up to its climax, the lightweight piano gives way to electric guitar based rock, and from that point on the music works perfectly. Even the English dub is handled well; Cloud is fittingly somber, though, unfortunately, Kadaj and his "brothers" Yazoo and Loz sound laughable. Purists will likely wish to watch the film in its original Japanese - thankfully, both language tracks are available on the DVD.

    In short, Advent Children will appeal to the majority of fans of Final Fantasy VII. The story is disappointing, and the secondary characters don't receive enough screen time. But for a kickass action film that appeals to the Final Fantasy fan in all of us, Advent Children is absolutely worth a watch - or three.

    Final Score: 8 out of 10.

    -Azar


    After the huge box office upset for the 2001 film, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, I had little hope that Square's new cinematic endeavor, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, would be astonishing or even slightly intriguing. They had after all, hired Tetsuya Nomura (an artist and leading character designer for many of Square's games) to direct Advent Children who had no prior video game or movie direction experience at all.

    Regardless, I retracted all previous pessimistic ideas I had before and decided to give it a try. I was delighted with the opening score produced by the original orchestral team of the 1997 team. In fact, fans of Final Fantasy VII will be delighted to know that much of the music in this film is from the preceeding game it's based on. Many fans will also be delighted to know that the renowned songs such as "Aeris' Theme" and "The Promised Land" are no longer in MIDI form they had become accustomed to. The songs have been re-mastered by a team led by Himuro Kyosuke, which gives the songs a much more polished sound. A few of the songs have actually been remixed. For instance, "J-E-N-O-V-A" is given the rock n' roll edge with an added electric guitar instrumental.

    In regards to the viuals, they have graduated from the once awkward polygon imagery to CG Alias Maya. The stunning visuals that one can expect from both Spirits Within and Advent Children often coincide with the soundtrack. The action parts have upbeat, fast-paced music and the morbid, more dramatic parts have powerfully moving ballads. For instance, during the battle between Tifa and Loz in the church, a fast-paced piano instrumental called "Those Who Fight" is played. Very fitting, no?

    On the other hand, the acting is sub-par to the visuals. Various Final Fantasy VII lovers were disappointed to hear that English voices of their beloved characters. In some cases, it tarnished what they had imagined the characters to sound like. However, many people will be content with the likes of Barret, voiced by Beau Billingslea. Barrett sounds exactly how I would presume many people thought he would - like Mr. T. The hugest disappointment for me was the voice of one of my favorite characters, Vincent Valentine, whom is voiced by the popular anime voice actor, Steve Blum. His voice was extremely deep and coarse despite what I had expected to be slightly deep and soft.

    All in all, the storyline acted as an effective squel to perhaps one of the greatest Final Fantasy games of all time - that is, Final Fantasy VII. It also proved to be a step-up from the ambitious film, Spirits Within. The film is equipped with many familiar elements that will make any Final Fantasy VII fanboy/girl feel at home. It also contains entirely new and exciting characters, like Loz and Kadaj, that add to the fictional and dystopian surroundings of Gaia, but if you're looking for a highly thought-provoking dystopian film like Children of Men, don't expect to find it here.

    For those with attention deficit disorder, here is a summarized critique of the film and also some additional information:

    -Shiny

  • Final Fantasy VII on the forums...

    Loony BoB

    Rebirth - Piano minigame

    Thread Starter: Loony BoB

    This is the hardest minigame I've ever played in a FF game and I think I will actually have to give up on it so fast. Who thought analog sticks on a rhythm

    Last Post By: Loony BoB 03-17-2024, 06:39 PM Go to last post
    Del Murder

    Rebirth thoughts - spoilers through Chapter 1

    Thread Starter: Del Murder

    Pulling a BoB here and making a separate thread by chapter. Will include any spoilers through chapter 1.

    The prologue was surprising.

    Last Post By: Shadowdust Yesterday, 08:43 PM Go to last post
    Sephiroth

    FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH REVIEW

    Thread Starter: Sephiroth

    So, I played through Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 3 days ago.


    Here are some of my thoughts.


    Graphics, Technical

    Last Post By: Karifean 03-10-2024, 11:05 PM Go to last post
    Psychotic

    The Moogles look like deformed Sesame Street puppets

    Thread Starter: Psychotic

    And I don't like it.

    Last Post By: Gold_Moogle 03-13-2024, 06:16 AM Go to last post
    Freya

    Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Demo is out!

    Thread Starter: Freya

    Square Enix released the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Demo! Run, don't walk to try it out! Rebirth is the second part of the final fantasy VII remake.

    Last Post By: Del Murder 02-11-2024, 05:58 AM Go to last post
    Wolf Kanno

    FFVII Advent Children Complete showing in U.S. theaters in February.

    Thread Starter: Wolf Kanno

    As a means to garner more hype for FFVII: Rebirth, the film is going to be shown thanks to Fathom Events. The showings will also have a preview for Rebirth

    Last Post By: Wolf Kanno 01-24-2024, 09:04 AM Go to last post
    Del Murder

    Can't wait until Feb 29!

    Thread Starter: Del Murder

    I have not anticipated a new game as much as this in quite some time. It looks amazing, it has so many of the things that made FFVII special, and lots

    Last Post By: Karifean 01-07-2024, 09:59 PM Go to last post
    Wolf Kanno

    So, what are you hoping to see?

    Thread Starter: Wolf Kanno

    This comes out in about three months I believe, so what are you hoping to see?

    Last Post By: Bocomog 11-25-2023, 09:51 PM Go to last post