Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)

As cynical as we all should be in this era of mass marketing and mega-franchises, I really don't think there are too many films out there that are made totally mechanically without at least a couple of drops of genuine creative effort. On at least one level, there is someone involved who believed in what they were making and channeled at least a little imagination and enthusiasm into the work. In short, Final Fantasy: Advent Children is not one of those films.

Advent Children is a sequel of sorts to the console RPG Final Fantasy VII (just as Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals followed up on the story of Final Fantasy V). Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, which concluded with the ex-mercenary Cloud and his friends stopping the seemingly invincible warrior Sephiroth and his 'mother,' the ancient alien being Jenovah, from destroying the planet, a strange plague called 'Geo-Stigma' has broken out, so named because it's believed to be revenge from the planet for years of environmental exploitation by the Shinra Corporation. Unfortunately, the origins of Geo-Stigma are shown to be slightly more sinister as the children inflicted with the illness are collected by three young men, all bearing a strong resemblence to the supposedly deceased Sephiroth and all determined to find and resurrect their 'mother'...

If my summary makes it seem like there's an actual story to the film, with plot twists and character development, then I've failed. The word 'plot' can't really be applied to this film's script; the phrase 'excuse for lengthy, self-indulgent, and tedious Matrix-esque fight scenes' is far more apt. And most of what little story there is requires a crash course on the story and characters of Final Fantasy VII. The one twist that does exist in the plot, the surprising return of one of the game's villains other than Sephiroth, amounts to nothing except to provide a little exposition and to set up one of the film's 'kewlest,' but most ludicrous and trite, action sequences.

I should admit to a bias: unlike 90 percent of the population, I did not really like Final Fantasy VII - in fact, I thought it was the weakest installment of the entire series. The emphasis was on graphics not on story, and in most respects it was all in all a big step down from the classic sixth installment, but, thanks to the fact that it was the first 32-bit Final Fantasy game, an excellent marketing campaign, and the game's clean, 'edgy' look, it was wildly popular, hence this 'sequel.' Unfortunately, the flaws in Final Fantasy VII - its superficiality, the somewhat incomprehensive story and its pseudo-scientific underpinnings, and the weak storytelling – are magnified, while the old selling points of the game – surprisingly strong characterization, decent gameplay, a fairly well realized world – are lost in the translation from a video game with about 50 hours of gameplay to a 2-hour film. Neither do the film makers bother expanding beyond the game's milieu. All the movie's backdrops are recycled straight from the game and the main cast of the game is rehashed with very little information provided on how their lives have changed or how their characters may have evolved in the two years between the game and the film's plots.

It's the film's lack of interest in actually providing a satisfactory epilogue to Final Fantasy VII and following up on the stories of its characters and its world that will probably disappoint viewers the most. All the central protagonists do appear and get at least a little screen time, but only to remind viewers of their existence, not to actually detail what has happened to them after the game's ending. It's possible to only tease out the slightest details of what's happened to the rich world of Final Fantasy VII as well. Although we're told that society, at least in the mega-city of Midgar, is in turmoil, we don't see it; in fact, despite events in the game that might suggest otherwise, people in this world are still on a level of technological capability on par, if not surpassing, our own. All in all, the meat of Advent Children is so thin that I honestly can't tell you how good the voice acting in the film was; there was little by way of substantial dialogue and character development for the voice actors to work with.

In at least one way, though, this offering was still stronger than the disappointing Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. While that film only offered a drab, grey, post-apocalyptic backdrop, the dystopian, sci-fi world of Final Fantasy VII shines in Advent Children, from half-ruined gigantic metropolises to spectral forests bathed in neon blues. Still, the film's environment is limited in scope and while it meticulously recreates a few of the memorable sights from the game, most of the Final Fantasy VII world is not revisited, nor are we given any new locales. Instead most of the film's vibrant, gorgeous images are wasted on pretty but ridiculously overstylized and overlong fight scenes. A great chunk of the film, from the start of the middle act to the climax, is nothing but an extended fight. If Advent Children is to be noted for anything in the history of the Final Fantasy franchise, it should be for the excesses it took to try to capture an already outdated and drained sense of cool.

Given the game franchise's emphasis on story and character, one would think that a Final Fantasy film would be completely natural, but unfortunately, like The Spirits Within, Advent Children is a complete misfire – but at least it's pretty.