Written by: Endrael
No one has done a review of this one yet? eek For shame! It looks like I'll take care of that, then wink
Approx. run-time: 100 minutes
Genre: CG! mrgreen Also action
The story outline, as stolen from amazon.com:
"Two years after the events in "Final Fantasy VII", a disease called 'Seikon-Shoukougun', or 'Geostigma', is spreading through the planet. This disease is believed to have been caused by the body fighting off foreign material that invaded the body two years earlier, at the end of "Final Fantasy VII". Guilt-ridden and haunted by his past, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife has decided to live a secluded, solitary life away from his friends while maintaining "Strife's Delivery Service", whose headquarters is located in Tifa Lockheart's bar, the Seventh Heaven. Tifa's bar serves as an orphanage for children stricken with Geostigma. Here, Tifa keeps an eye on Barret's six-year-old daughter, Marlene, while Barret searches the planet for an alternative energy source to the Planet's energy, Mako. One day, Cloud receives a phone call from the former Shinra, Inc. president, Rufus, asking him for protection from a mysterious man named Kadaj. Kadaj, in the meantime, along with his brothers Loz and Yazoo, are searching for their "mother", and seem to believe that Cloud knows where to find her. Meanwhile, Vincent Valentine has been wandering the planet gathering information on Kadaj's scheme, and Cloud and his friends must come together again to fight these new enemies."
For those of you who've wandered around reading reviews of this movie elsewhere, you'll have picked up on the fact that this movie was made at request of the fans, and even the opening credits say as much. "A love note for all the fans..."
While having played Final Fantasy 7 (several times, preferably mrgreen ) will greatly help in understanding a lot of what's going on and why, it's not strictly necessary. The movie stands well enough on its own and explains enough of the current story to make it understandable. However, if you haven't played the game and you're wanting to know just who the hell Sephiroth is and why he's so dangerous, or what exactly happened to Shinra, or who that mysterious woman with the ponytail and wearing the pink dress is that Cloud keeps seeing... well, you're going to be very confused indeed.
But Square was smart and included a plot summary on the same disc as the movie, so you don't need to go spend 50, 60, 70 hours or more playing the game to know the important details of the back story for the movie. There's also deleted scenes on the second disc (I haven't watched these yet, so I won't offer any overview), along with trailers for Advent Children itself, as well as for other FF7 films/anime ( eek ) and the game Dirge of Cerberus, in which you play Vincent Valentine (arguably the coolest character in the whole of FF7). And, of course, there's the requisite director commentary and all of that to be had, which just sweetens the whole package mad d
A word of warning about the English language dub, though: As with most dubs, the words don't quite match up with the characters mouths. Those of you who are anime fans and watch dubs (Why are you watching dubbed anime!? gonk ) will be used to this and will probably find it annoying. If you don't like reading subtitles and/or listening to a language that sounds like gibberish to your ear, you're probably not going to care. And you'll likely be too awe-struck by the �ber awesomeness of the movie to notice it, anyway wink
Moving on to what I'm sure all of you are wanting to know about: the prettiness! Oh my god, is it pretty! Mind-blowingly, unbelievably gorgeous! Except for the not-quite-fluid movements of the characters at times and the almost-but-not-quite-real water, the whole movie could easily pass as real eek It really is that good. If you think Pixar's movies are amazing, then you will be struck dumb by what Square has done with Advent Children. Like they did with Spirits Within, they bumped up the bar for CG by at least ten notches, and I expect Advent Children will remain the measuring stick for several years to come.
And the action scenes! Holy ******** hell! If you thought the Matrix movies had awesome fight scenes, they are nothing compared to those in Advent Children. Add in video game physics and you have the makings for sequences that are truly awe inspiring.
Overall, I give just the movie itself heart heart heart heart heart of goodness. Add in all the extras and you have an absolute must have movie mrgreen Of course, if you're a fan of FF7, chances are you've been looking forward to this movie since Square first announced it and already have it by now blaugh
No one has done a review of this one yet? eek For shame! It looks like I'll take care of that, then wink
Approx. run-time: 100 minutes
Genre: CG! mrgreen Also action
The story outline, as stolen from amazon.com:
"Two years after the events in "Final Fantasy VII", a disease called 'Seikon-Shoukougun', or 'Geostigma', is spreading through the planet. This disease is believed to have been caused by the body fighting off foreign material that invaded the body two years earlier, at the end of "Final Fantasy VII". Guilt-ridden and haunted by his past, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife has decided to live a secluded, solitary life away from his friends while maintaining "Strife's Delivery Service", whose headquarters is located in Tifa Lockheart's bar, the Seventh Heaven. Tifa's bar serves as an orphanage for children stricken with Geostigma. Here, Tifa keeps an eye on Barret's six-year-old daughter, Marlene, while Barret searches the planet for an alternative energy source to the Planet's energy, Mako. One day, Cloud receives a phone call from the former Shinra, Inc. president, Rufus, asking him for protection from a mysterious man named Kadaj. Kadaj, in the meantime, along with his brothers Loz and Yazoo, are searching for their "mother", and seem to believe that Cloud knows where to find her. Meanwhile, Vincent Valentine has been wandering the planet gathering information on Kadaj's scheme, and Cloud and his friends must come together again to fight these new enemies."
For those of you who've wandered around reading reviews of this movie elsewhere, you'll have picked up on the fact that this movie was made at request of the fans, and even the opening credits say as much. "A love note for all the fans..."
While having played Final Fantasy 7 (several times, preferably mrgreen ) will greatly help in understanding a lot of what's going on and why, it's not strictly necessary. The movie stands well enough on its own and explains enough of the current story to make it understandable. However, if you haven't played the game and you're wanting to know just who the hell Sephiroth is and why he's so dangerous, or what exactly happened to Shinra, or who that mysterious woman with the ponytail and wearing the pink dress is that Cloud keeps seeing... well, you're going to be very confused indeed.
But Square was smart and included a plot summary on the same disc as the movie, so you don't need to go spend 50, 60, 70 hours or more playing the game to know the important details of the back story for the movie. There's also deleted scenes on the second disc (I haven't watched these yet, so I won't offer any overview), along with trailers for Advent Children itself, as well as for other FF7 films/anime ( eek ) and the game Dirge of Cerberus, in which you play Vincent Valentine (arguably the coolest character in the whole of FF7). And, of course, there's the requisite director commentary and all of that to be had, which just sweetens the whole package mad d
A word of warning about the English language dub, though: As with most dubs, the words don't quite match up with the characters mouths. Those of you who are anime fans and watch dubs (Why are you watching dubbed anime!? gonk ) will be used to this and will probably find it annoying. If you don't like reading subtitles and/or listening to a language that sounds like gibberish to your ear, you're probably not going to care. And you'll likely be too awe-struck by the �ber awesomeness of the movie to notice it, anyway wink
Moving on to what I'm sure all of you are wanting to know about: the prettiness! Oh my god, is it pretty! Mind-blowingly, unbelievably gorgeous! Except for the not-quite-fluid movements of the characters at times and the almost-but-not-quite-real water, the whole movie could easily pass as real eek It really is that good. If you think Pixar's movies are amazing, then you will be struck dumb by what Square has done with Advent Children. Like they did with Spirits Within, they bumped up the bar for CG by at least ten notches, and I expect Advent Children will remain the measuring stick for several years to come.
And the action scenes! Holy ******** hell! If you thought the Matrix movies had awesome fight scenes, they are nothing compared to those in Advent Children. Add in video game physics and you have the makings for sequences that are truly awe inspiring.
Overall, I give just the movie itself heart heart heart heart heart of goodness. Add in all the extras and you have an absolute must have movie mrgreen Of course, if you're a fan of FF7, chances are you've been looking forward to this movie since Square first announced it and already have it by now blaugh
