FF7: Advent Children, considerations

Cafe Society
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First, my overall impression: contrived bullshit storyline and emo sludge form a feeble excuse to bind together a series of kickass fight scenes and serve as a vehicle for character designs revitalized by 10 years of advancement in CGI. Seeing the characters depicted in anime form as seen in FF7: Last Order is much more satisfying, if you can find it.

That aside, there are a few specific things I’ve been pondering since I saw AC last week:

Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo

Considering how the healing rain from Aeris’ church dissolved them, it would appear that they’re Geostigma personified. Still, considering how Kadaj became Sephiroth after absorbing some of Jenovas giblets, are they some surviving clones like those depicted in the game? I don’t recall seeing numbers tatooed on their hands, but then, Cloud didn’t have one in the movie either.

Cait Sith

He’s ditched his Moogle in favor of riding Red XIII/Nanaki, and appears to be an independent being. From the game I got the impression that he was some sort of remote control device operated by Reeve, but the movie suggests otherwise–I doubt that Reeve could control him in real time with that much efficiency, much less have the time to micromanage a puppet like that. Plus, in this new era where Turks and former-AVALANCHE can work together, wouldn’t it be moot for Reeve to be operating out of the shadows? Even though Cait Sith was iced in the collapse of the temple of the ancients and brought back as a new copy, I’m now under the distinct impression that he was just wearing a wire and acting as Reeve’s proxy that whole time.

The Turks

[spoiler]What the hell was Tseng doing still alive? Didn’t Sephiroth kill him in the Temple of the Ancients? Someone say “Phoenix down?”

Also, am I mistaken, or was Reno piloting a blackhawk? ;)[/spoiler]

Summon Materia

IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE RED, DAMNIT. BLUE IS SUPPORT MATERIA! SUPPORT. Looks like Bahamut serves whoever wields the translucent billiard ball (though I was picturing them as being marble-sized). I have to say I respect Kadaj’s choice. Tera-flare, bitch.

The story sucks. Period. The fights rule, and I like how it handles references to the game. The characters still have their limit breaks, for example. They don’t refer to them specifically, but they’re there (omnislash 2k5, anyone?). And it sure was nice to look at, all things considered. It sure kicked ass to see them updated, but I still wish they could have been put in a more gripping situation.

Discuss.

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Where did you see this?

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Dude, it’s Final Fantasy Advent Children. If those were the only questions you had after watching that thing, you’re lucky.

Some perspective: not only is it a straight-to-video release, it’s from Japan too. Our Western film values (such as continuity) have no meaning there. Nor could you expect that they’d get every single detail right from the ten-year-old source material. Granted, with the level of fan service they were trying for, maybe they should’ve focused on this latter point a bit more.

The fight scenes were pretty good with the exception of the ones containing Cloud. The one near the start, with Tifa fighting whoever that was, was easily the best one in the film. The scenes involving Cloud though seemed to lack a certain brutality. Maybe “finesse”-based fighting works for other people, but I don’t find it especially entertaining.

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The reviews I’d read say that its’ 100% fan service and I have no problem with popping in a DVD and drooling at the pretty pictures for about 90 minutes.

Does Elena show up? I only saw Reno and Rude in the pictures. Does somebody destroy the solar system? Does Black Mage Hadoken Fighter? Whoops, wrong one.

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No doubt. After watching it again a couple of times, it’s not so bad. Just to be clear, though, the fights always ruled. That new version of One Winged Angel seriously rocks the hell out.

Elena shows up briefly. Reno and Rude are present for most of the action, but all the Turks swing into action to save Rufus after Kadaj pushes him off a roof.

When he shows up Sephiroth reveals that his plan all along was to use the planet as his personal vessel to cruise the universe like Jenova had done with meteor. Seems to mesh well with the game there, but no, no one destroys the solar system.

Or were you referring to the supernova summon? :wink:

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Just finished watching this. Beautiful movie but all flash and no substance. No coherent storylne that I could make out but then again I was to busy admiring the CG. Sometimes I couldn’t tell it was CG. The only thing they couldn’t seem to get right was when people got wet. They didn’t stay wet. The water seemed to just roll right off of them. Other than that, beautiful. Even better than FFVII: The Spirits Within.

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I’ve seen the previews, and the only thing I can say is this:

I hate hate hate HATE the creepy Realdoll look. I’m sorry. I just can’t take it. It’s just too damn uncanny.

And they’re all so andgrogynous it’s not even funny. Look, pretty boys are cute, but give me some MANLY MEN, damn you!

shakes fist

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That’s all I want to know, too! I’m not reading any spoilers, just wanna know, please!

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I saw it at home in my living room. It’s where I watch all my movies.

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You bought it for $40???

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Some people imported it (it came out September in Japan), but mostly, uh, by means we’re not allowed to talk about on the boards. There is no English release yet.