Final Fantasy VII Advent Children

Publisher
Sony
Director
Tetsuya Nomura
Production
Sony, Square Enix
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
100 mins
Year
2005

Final Fantasy: Advent Children

By Martyn Rogers
10th Aug 06

Two years after the events that changed the world, the team is back again to save the planet from total destruction at the hands of the baddest mutha (shut your mouth) that exists, Sephiroth. However this time, you’re not in the driver’s seat, instead you play the passenger in this sequel as the cinematic follow-up of the popular game takes you for a ride.

Now looking at it from a game point of view, it is exceptionally hard to follow FF7 because it was complete. Much as the other titles in the series, every story was finished and every avenue seemingly taken whilst you were in the game. Looking from a story point of view, well that ended too. We were shown that and are again in beautiful cgi when Red XIII 500 years later takes his grandkids up a rocky slope to show them the remains of the greatest city there was, Midgar. However as simple as it seems the characters were not finished. Even if you hadn’t played the game you knew that you would encounter enemies along the way, not all of them would be the big boss, so what happened to them when the world ended? Did they just up and die? Did the world empty of everything evil? Apparently not, and so with advent children while the biggest story in the planets history has already been told, the greatest heroes to have ever lived still have adventures to go on. This is where we find them, in the midst of coping with a disease that has affected surviving children and even Cloud himself, in the wake of the terrible events that almost ended life on the planet.

Now as a fan of the original, I could go on for days and days about how great it is that they’ve made something out of the best game of all time, but being objective, this to the general population and people who aren’t fans of the game is just another cgi spectacle. Well then, lets start there. Look at what has invaded the cinematic world since the creation of Toy Story in the late 90’s, a tidal wave of animated adventures in awe inspiring special effects that appeal to all ages. Why is Advent Children any different except for the fact that it isn’t a supposed comedy like the rest? Even the DVD cover could tell you why, the cgi in this film is light years ahead of what anybody can imagine. Were not talking about really cool effects or funny faces on kittens, actual life-like animations so detailed that if you only caught a glance of Clouds eyes or Tifa's hair, you would have to double check that it was an animation and not an actual film. I may sound like im exaggerating but for the most part its not an issue, in the small downtime you have were your wrapped up in the events you really do need to pinch yourself.

Like I said, for the most part, it doesn’t enter into it. The action in this film from start to finish, is nothing short of breathtaking. From the smaller set pieces in the first half of the film, to the epic 30 minute battle culminating in a final showdown between Cloud and his nemesis, everything in this film is executed with the most frenetic and exciting of style and the utmost care and devotion to every moment; there is barely a second that goes by when you’re not in awe of how well this is made.

Looking at that, now well talk FF7. From an entertaining cgi flick to show you’re friends, this is a cut above the rest. As a follow up to one of the best games in history, and to the fans of that game, this is almost the grail. All the characters are back in it, most of them perform their limit breaks in some way, all the sub-characters are back, and best of all, they’re all kicking ass. Its enough to make you want to throw out any attention you might have given to the plot or anything else and just sit back and enjoy the fact that square have actually listened to you and given you, the adoring fan, the perfect present wrapped in a bow. The world is better than you remember it as we get to visit most of the places we went to, and of course, everyone looks the same (youd think they’d have clothes shops by now).

However there are bad points to this and the main one from where I am is the lack of interpretation. It may seem odd but the film takes away the magic of the RPG that you had your own personal take on who these people were and how they spoke to you. The best example of this are the characters of Reno and Rude, who to me and other people I know, are legendary. They look cooler than cool, their job is to walk around all day looking and talking their own brand of ice cold style, and best of all they’re not evil but they’re still bad guys. In the film, they’re Laurel and Hardy, a complete joke and one of the many Hollywood-esque inclusions to the tapestry that just doesn’t need to be there. If they were funny fair enough I might enjoy it, but they just look like idiots, especially in the fight scenes when they look the coolest of all, they get no respect.

More of the Hollywood factor is seen throughout, including the god awful plot. Now I’m not saying the original plot was anything spectacular, in fact, it was extremely cliché: a crazed unstoppable villain wants to bring the apocalypse for no apparent reason and a gang of heroes each with their own special gifts band together to stop him, becoming friends and encountering struggles and challenges along the way. Saying that if it works why change it? Why indeed as they’ve opted for some nonsensical clap-trap about geostigma and Jenova’s neck. It doesn’t get in the way for most of it, but to typify my point the entire cast uses mobile phones that look like there out in 2005, street signs and houses that look awfully familiar, and yet when Vincent finds Clouds geostigma his explanation is “there is a thing in your body that stops bad things, and you’ve got too much of it and now you’re sick”. So wait in a world with mobile phones and motorcycles nobody has discovered science, even though they’ve ventured into space travel before? This isn’t a big factor but looking at it they spend quite a bit of time around this geostigma and it takes away from the essence of the game, that is a more mythological and mystical explanation of life. In the film were grounded to a disease and instead of exploring the science of it, we actually get a plaster of childish nonsense to cover it.

These things aside the biggest flaw in the film is not its continuity or its bad plot, rather the feel of it. Watching it I couldn’t help feel on all three occasions that I was watching the second half of a film, and I can attribute this to them following the game as a sequel, because the game was finished; the story had ended. Even if we know the characters, if there’s a new story you need to back it up. Instead the new characters led by kadaj, all Sephiroth wannabes are there…how? From where? The kids are all affected with geostigma….why? Better still, Shin-Ra used to rule the world with an iron fist, and for the most part it worked. Now who leads society? Is it a communist state? How does everyone get their power now that Shin-Ra has shut down? Where does everyone work? Most importantly, of all the jobs there are to be done in the world, why in god’s name did Cloud start a delivery service?? All questions that are never confronted in the film, and it isn’t that the film isn’t long enough or that its not complete without them, it just feels like the second half of a film because of it, and just as before, were left wanting to see and know more about this planet, that for all intents and purposes could be earth, that were never told.

This may have been the intention all along, did the creators realize that this would be the viewers feeling, is advent children just a stepping stone for the PS3 remake, a stop-gap of sorts between the original and the remake? Only time will tell, for now, we have an incredible feat of cgi mastery coupled with one for the most exciting and entertaining worlds that has ever been created, and just the thought of it is enough to keep me happy.

Overall, despite my cynicism on these points it takes a die hard fan of the game with the worlds biggest microscope to find the problems in this film. So if you’re a fan you’ll still enjoy it, if you’re an average person who has no interest in it you’ll still enjoy it and even if you hate FF7, this is still one of the most exciting and well made digital films of all time, a true landmark in the history of special effects.

4 stars – Whilst its almost perfect it does have some bad points, small as they are, they’ve stopped me putting 5 down for this one.

-- Martyn Rogers 10th Aug 06

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Images