Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

[Kwokinator]

I've finally gotten around to watching AC tonight, so I decided to give it a review even though a lot of people have watched it already ^_^

FFVII: Advent Children is a continuation of the FFVII game, as the name implies.  It's completely done in CG, so it's probably been in production for a while, given the quality of the animation, and a lot of people I've spoken to rave about how good the movie is.

Certainly, there's good things about the movie, or else there wouldn't be so many people who like it.  The CG is pure eye candy, awesome and very nicely done.  At some points character animation seem a bit mechanical, but mostly it's pretty lifelike, IMO.  And the backgrounds are awesome.  Tifa is pure, welcomed eye candy too.  Very hot and busty.   Too bad she doesn't do much besides that in the movie.

Which kind of leads me to my main gripe about the movie.  It feels like the movie assumes audience familiarity with the story of FFVII the game, and leaves the rest of the people confused about what the hell is going on.  They explain the story somewhat in the movie, but the explanation still draws rather heavily on knowledge of the game, so it doesn't make much sense to someone like me, who has never played the game.  

Then again, it's a continuation, so it makes sense that it draws plot from the reference material.  But even the scenes that explain what happened in the game make little sense since they're so heavily diluted and doesn't really tell much in the way of the game's plot, or in this case, what came before the movie.  Not enough reason is given for the existence of the Geostigma and why people seek to cure it since it doesn't show any negative side effects in the movie besides something that looks like odd tattoos on the skin.

Also, all these characters get introduced but nothing is given on them, it's like they exist solely as cameos for gratifying FFVII fans.  Hell, some people aren't even given introductions (I don't remember if the hot girl with the cross boomerang was even named in the movie).  They're practically fanservice that add to the fighting chaos during the big monster battle.  Even Tifa, who seems to be the female lead in the movie, doesn't do much but stand there and look hot and busty (must've been cold wherever they are, her assets look eternally perky and pointy) for most of the movie.  Sure, she kicked ass in ONE scene, but other than that she's like a wallflower.

I could go on about the previous knowledge thing, but meh.

Another gripe I have with the movie is the camera angles.  Sure, the action and animation are kick ass, but the camera angle changes and turns and cuts entirely too often.  The camera rarely stay at a single angle during fights, so you can't really clearly see the actual fight.  Granted, the fights happen all over the place and people get knocked across the room, but instead of panning to follow the action the camera tends to spin/turn, and changes really fast.  The fight scenes are cool enough on their own without the frantic camera angles.  In a live action movie, this kind of camera technique is usually used to cover shoddy choreography during a fight or to cover actors who can't really fight so they look at least semi-decent at it.  The movie doesn't actually use real actors, so the latter wouldn't be a problem, and from what I can get out of the frantic camera work, the former isn't really a problem either.

Anyway, just my thoughts of the movie.  I like the movie overall, even with my gripes about the plot requiring FFVII knowledge and my dislike for the camera work.  The boss battles with the giant flying monster thing and Sephy are nicely done and grand, although the latter feels a bit of a deus ex machina, especially so after the fight, near the ending of the movie.   And I appreciate what must've been an insane amount of time put into creating all the animation and character models and renders and whatnot.    That and as I said before, Tifa is very hot ^^

[thepanda]

Which kind of leads me to my main gripe about the movie.  It feels like the movie assumes audience familiarity with the story of FFVII the game, and leaves the rest of the people confused about what the hell is going on.  They explain the story somewhat in the movie, but the explanation still draws rather heavily on knowledge of the game, so it doesn't make much sense to someone like me, who has never played the game.

The game isn't entirely clear on a lot of points, actually. Its very much swiss-cheese plotwise.

Then again, it's a continuation, so it makes sense that it draws plot from the reference material.  But even the scenes that explain what happened in the game make little sense since they're so heavily diluted and doesn't really tell much in the way of the game's plot, or in this case, what came before the movie.  Not enough reason is given for the existence of the Geostigma and why people seek to cure it since it doesn't show any negative side effects in the movie besides something that looks like odd tattoos on the skin.

Geostigma wasn't in the game but the explaination for it is good enough if you are familiar with the game.

Also, all these characters get introduced but nothing is given on them, it's like they exist solely as cameos for gratifying FFVII fans.  Hell, some people aren't even given introductions (I don't remember if the hot girl with the cross boomerang was even named in the movie).  They're practically fanservice that add to the fighting chaos during the big monster battle.  Even Tifa, who seems to be the female lead in the movie, doesn't do much but stand there and look hot and busty (must've been cold wherever they are, her assets look eternally perky and pointy) for most of the movie.  Sure, she kicked ass in ONE scene, but other than that she's like a wallflower.

The whole movie is fanservice. They don't even try yo hide the fact. The movie was made for people who had experience with the game.

Another gripe I have with the movie is the camera angles.  Sure, the action and animation are kick ass, but the camera angle changes and turns and cuts entirely too often.  The camera rarely stay at a single angle during fights, so you can't really clearly see the actual fight.  Granted, the fights happen all over the place and people get knocked across the room, but instead of panning to follow the action the camera tends to spin/turn, and changes really fast.  The fight scenes are cool enough on their own without the frantic camera angles.  In a live action movie, this kind of camera technique is usually used to cover shoddy choreography during a fight or to cover actors who can't really fight so they look at least semi-decent at it.  The movie doesn't actually use real actors, so the latter wouldn't be a problem, and from what I can get out of the frantic camera work, the former isn't really a problem either.

The CG movements are stiff so they try to hide it with camera angles.

Tifa is very hot ^^

I'm so happy she got redesigned for the movie.

Anyway, from the perspective of someone who has experience with the game I enjoyed it a lot. The movie is Fan Service without a hint of shame. The plot is simple and acts to achieve two goals; make Cloud cool again and bridge the fights together. I thank God that the plot isn't nearly as bad as the game's plot was. Definately worth the watch if you've experienced the game.

[Dracos]

I think a lot of the movies problems stem from the fact that it really wasn't envisioned until extremely late in production as a coherent movie instead of as a couple of really neat cinema scenes that Nomura wanted to do.

As a movie, I found it failed on a bunch of fronts and, had I paid to watch it, I would've been annoyed.  I was annoyed anyway, but it wasn't really as righteous.

As a tech demo I think it was awesome.

Dracos