April 18, 2007

REVIEW: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Available on DVD)

This review is not timely by any means, but I enjoyed Advent Children enough that I thought it merited a review. To quickly summarize, Advent Children is a direct to video computer-animated movie that acts as a sequel to the Playstation game Final Fantasy VII (FF7). I'm familiar with the basic story of FF7, but have never played through the game due to the fact that I lack sticktuitiveness, and therefore am a poor candidate for completeing RPGs. But even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I wasn't crazy about the character model for the main character, Cloud, at first, but it had grown on me by the end. The animation is very smooth for the most part (a definite improvement over Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), but the movements of background characters can be a bit marionette-like at times. Advent Children has a lot of atmosphere, and plenty of action (I guess some would say too much--but not me). The battles gleefully defy the laws of physics, and are truly epic in scope.

Verdict: Awesome. My only caveat is this--Advent Children is not for those who dislike anime or "wire-fu" martial arts movies. Granted, there are no wires, but the wildly exagerrated aerial fights certainly draw inspiration from the wire-assisted gravity-defying stunts of martial arts movies. In other words--if you hate the general awesomeness of anime and kung fu movies to begin with, don't come back crying that it was melodramatic and the fights were unrealistic!

For More Awesome Martial Arts Battles: Kung Fu Hustle. 'Nuff said!

4 comments:

Atomic Swan Serials and If - E - Zine said...

For those not in the know, in the wake of Bruce Lee's demise there were (seemingly) millions of impersonators and people trying to make a buck off his name. One of the guys that closest like Bruce was Bruce Li. He was also an incredible martial artist (tho still inferior I would say to Bruce Lee himself). One movie he did, sometimes titled Deadly Strike, is one of my favorite kung-fu flicks of all time. Why? Nonstop action!


Basic premise: Bruce Li is the new sheriif in town (literally) and must go after a band of criminals running illicit activity throughout the region. With a ragtag group, he takes on one boss after another for nearly two hours straight! O_O


This is one of my favorite scenes (I die laughing every time Bruce Li, seriously outnumbered five-to-one, tells his cohorts "Surround 'em... in case they try to run!"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3CIqUBzdKU



No wire-work to be seen here. Just pure, unadulterated choreographed kung-fu!


Connection to J. Ho's post? None! Well, very little...

Atomic Swan Serials and If - E - Zine said...

Here's a better link

annie said...

jason, you may lack "sticktuitiveness," but you've got a healthy dose of "stick-to-it-iveness," which is what we value in my family.

J.Ho said...

lord shen: your comments are more than welcome on my blog, old friend, but you need to also post this kind of stuff on your blog! there are probably like 2.5 people who actually read the comments on my blog--you're not getting the audience you deserve! and the world needs to know about bruce's many clones!

annie: young lady, once again you prove yourself to be a better english major than i, by knowing the correct spelling of even an imaginary word. i am disgraced!