It’s been almost four years since I first saw Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and wrote my review for Amazon.com. After seeing the unusual complete version on Blu-Ray, I concept I’d advance help and offer my thoughts only to peek that my novel review was transferred over from the DVD edition. That review was written at a different time, before the DVD was even released in the States. I belief about going help and revising it, but that’d be changing the past. What I will add are my thoughts on the fresh Blu-Ray edition.
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Firstly, if you’re looking at the Blu-Ray edition, wondering if it’s a proper capture, it definitely is. It’s a great reliable version to the recent, both in screech and clarity. Obviously, with the Blu-Ray the recount quality and sound quality have been considerably increased. There’s a few puny nitpicks, such as a radiant, aliasing predicament that pops up every now and then (The Resident Evil: Degeneration Blu-Ray had a similar dilemma) and it can be distracting. But the details are so noteworthy clearer now that it looks like a recent movie.
Additionally, unusual allege has been added to this release. A lot of times, “director’s cuts” can be detrimental to the film and the pacing, but in the case of Advent Children, I appreciated the unusual announce. I possess there’s an additional 26 minutes added and these parts delve into the Geostigma and the origins of some of the characters as well as an extended fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. Overall, I deem the additions are useful and succor create the movie more of a movie and less an extended slit scene. It’s honest too terrible that it didn’t near with a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII like it did in Japan…
Buy,Download, Or Stream Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children! Click Here
On to my new review as it was support in 2005:
Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Marlene, Barret, Vincent. The names could go on. This series reigns in many Final Fantasy fans’ minds as being the best. Though in current years a lot of people roll their eyes and say its over-rated (and it might be), for me, and for a lot of fans, Final Fantasy was a turning point in the genre not only in terms of graphics and presentation but also in sage. I have been playing video games and RPGs since the very first NES. Final Fantasy VII was the first game that made me end and go, wait when did a video game become something more than objective pushing buttons?
Now we have the official sequel, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Advent Children is basically a esteem label written for the fans of VII. Those who did not invest 40, 50, 60+ hours into the game will probably have no interest in it. But those who were shy when (should I even say spoiler? ) Sephiroth murders Aeris, who have a deep connection to the characters, and over the 40-60+ hours grew so attached to them that to this day they tranquil diagram fan art or observe for that elusive map to salvage Aeris attend in game(it doesn’t exist, by the diagram), this movie will mean something.
AC is a splendid CG movie taking state two years after the events of FFVII. While the ending of VII was climactic and exhilarating, providing a resolution of sorts to the people of Midgar, it did not provide a resolution, glad or not, for Cloud. In fact, it left him empty and pain as we procure in the beginning of Advent Children. What AC does is enact Cloud’s legend. Another reviewer here made a comment that he liked FFVII’s ending. I do too, don’t earn me contaminated. But the one thing it didn’t do was demolish Cloud’s fable. For the length of the game, you have a deeply personal chronicle surrounded by the world record and while the world got its ending, the people enthusiastic did no, unfortunate or not. As I said, AC ends Cloud’s legend with a bang. And it is damn well worth the wait.
I don’t mediate it would be upright of me to talk about what happens in AC. Fragment of the fun and surprise is to spy how well it fits together, brings memories of the video game and works to obtain an emotional core. I will support the review as spoiler free as possible because I know I’m tired of reading reviews where people stick in something that can end the whole movie.
For those who didn’t play or notice FFVII, this movie will not have grand resonance since it’s basically for the fans, both die-hard and casual. Those who loved FFVII will more than likely adore this movie. AC is basically an action movie and the action is spectacular although the plain motion was musty (while effectively) a microscopic mighty. The sword play, the battles and the action is all directed with style oozing everywhere. The characters are all bright exceedingly well and the animators did a titanic job in making PS1 characters into spectacular CG. The musical come by varies for me from being grand to unbiased okay. By far, the best moments are ones I can’t talk about aurally for panic of spoiling surprises. Needless to say, the music is at its greatest when it brings in hints of FFVII, the video game.
There are a lot of connections to both VII and the Final Fantasy series as a whole. From moogle dolls to The Turks, the game oozes both FFVII and FF; although I was disappointed in not seeing any chocobos, there are a few moments that made up for it. One in particular revolves around the games Extinguish Battle Theme. Hilarious, laugh out loud scene. There are some minor annoyances. A couple of the scenes felt episodic and not connected. Some scenes were directed very well and lead into each other or intercut between each other. But there are a couple scenes that stand out because they didn’t feel attached to what was going on. In fact, it felt as if they were slice scenes from a video game. Did this detract from the movie? Not in the least, but its there nonetheless.
What surprised me the most with this movie is that it wasn’t done to milk the saga. I mean, of course its there to gain money, and FFVII is a gigantic contrivance to do it because of fans’ esteem for it. Anything in the business world is made around making money. But what I mean exactly is best represented in FFX-2. I am one who did not fetch FFX-2 at all captivating. In fact it is the only FF game I gave up on. It felt like it was a contrivance of milking FFX for a exiguous more money while the wait for FFXII kept getting longer and longer. However, AC is so intrinsically related to VII that it has a heart and emotion that I haven’t seen in many movies released this year. I felt chills from the very opening moments as the narrator explained some of the events from VII and we seek a flashback of Sephiroth standing in front of flames. And that was honest the begin of the thrills; there are scenes both emotional and thrilling to be found throughout the 1 hour 40 minutes of the film. And what blissful me above all else was that Cloud’s fable finally received a perfect resolution.
I consider most fans have been hoping and wishing that Aeris would return and I consider the creators give a large reply to this in this movie. I won’t spoil the ending, I won’t utter you who does and doesn’t return. But I will deny you the resolution is damn well awesome and probably the most satisfying ending to what is by far many people’s common (if clichéd) choice for the Final Fantasy series. I do need to produce a plea and I apologize for it, but if you downloaded this movie (like a positive reviewer did *cough*) please serve it when it comes out here in the States and retract it. We need to present succor to Square-Enix that this is the kind of sequel we want to peruse. They spent a long time and a lot of money making a movie that is say to DVD here in the states. We need to return the favor and relieve it.
Square-Enix, my hats off to you for handling this with flair, tenderness and sympathy for the characters.
About the Film:
I followed Advent Children closely from the first time it was announced some time in 2004. I am a die-hard Final Fantasy fan, and although I would have preferred the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time (Final Fantasy VII) to be, well, a game, I was tickled to look the legend continued in a medium with slightly more widespread appeal. Although the writers made an peril to allow this movie to stand on its bear, people who have played the game (and remember the position and characters) will certainly pick up considerably more out of it.
About This Release:
In production since about 2006, this version of the film, subtitled “Complete” is the Japanese equivalent of a director’s crop. In addition to a modern high-definition transfer of the film several scenes have been extended or reworked and unusual scenes have been added to further round out the epic and provide more visual flash. It may not seem like mighty while watching it, but in total the film has been extended by fully a third taking it from 90 minutes to 2 hours running time.
Visuals:
Although noble, I have to say I was expecting more from the High-Definition release of this movie. My first misgiving is with the inconsistent visual quality. The newly added scenes are generally presented with the kind of intriguing visual detail that HD enthsiasts have arrive to seek information from. The older scenes, while clearly providing more detail than the DVD release, are missing the clarity that apt HD material is ample of, often appearing fuzzy or out of focus. It is not generally noticeable, but it does become an distinct annoyance in a couple of scenes. Arguably this could have been done on purpose, adding a “fuzzy” filter for ambiance, but I doubt they would have intentionally added upscaling artifacts which are prove in this film. The most important instance I can purchase is during Tifa’s scenes, particularly in the church; the aliasing on her hair is more reminiscent of a DVD being upscaled to 1080p than of a fresh render done in 1080p.
Little touches have been added to further “sell” the quasi-realism that this film is striving to execute. During battles characters’ faces procure dirty, during one scene flecks of dust in the air created runt shimmers.
Story:
While the same anecdote is being told, the added/extended scenes and to an extent the visual enhancements do add a different slant on the situation of Advent Children. While the main points of the yarn remain unchanged, the position is made clearer and distinct elements which seemed random or unimportant prefer on unusual meaning.
[Spoiler alert!]
For example, during a scene a girl carrying a stuffed moogle comes up to Denzel and holds out her hand for him to follow. In the fresh DVD release, this is really all we ogle of her, but in the “Complete” release we bag to glimpse an earlier scene that reveals she is really trying to form an apology to Denzel for being low before.
Denzel plays a great more prominent role in this version. It was never positive to me what it was that Cloud was so busy doing before I saw this release, but in this version it is revealed that he was out looking for a cure to the Geostigma so he could support Denzel.
In the DVD release, the Geostigma seemed like puny more than a charcoal colored rash that slowly killed people. In this version it is distinguished more depraved, causing sores that ooze sticky dark sludge and induces violent convulsions and vomiting of the same unlit sludge.
[End spoilers]
I’ll leave the spoilers at that, but I’ve only revealed a couple of the dozen or so situation augmentations that this version of the film brings to the table. Most of them gave me that “Ooooh that’s what they meant. I secure it now.” feeling. Maybe I’m honest tiresome, but a lot of these things weren’t distinct to me in the film’s new presentation.
Sound:
This film really benefits from the expanded HD audio – more so if you have the equipment to properly decode the newer HD audio formats, but even when down sampled to Dolby Digital, the sound is richer and has mighty fewer compression artifacts. Some of the music has been remixed slightly and it seems like I heard one or two additional compositions. Many of the songs were written to lock in with determined scenes, and when the scenes were extended, so was the music. I was very impressed with how seamless it all seemed.
Voice acting is one of those things, like pizza toppings, that nobody seems to be able to agree on. I have never been terribly picky about pronounce acting, but since everyone is different I’ll attempt to provide some frame of reference for my concept. My opinion of terrible screech acting is the Devil May Bawl anime, and my opinion of superior converse acting is Cowboy Bebop. I mediate the bellow acting is kindly in Advent Children. I was particularly blissful to hear the voices chosen for the ancillary characters like Barret, Cait Sith, Red XIII, Yufie, Vincent and Cid. But the actors chosen for main characters Cloud, and Tifa were very pleasant matches for what I imagined the characters from the game would sound.
Extras:
This review is of the Japanese release, and frankly I did not really care enough about the extras to check them out. I watched them once when the DVD release came out and can’t be bothered to do it again. This does near with an additional titillating “episode” about Denzel. For those of you who want to know absolutely everything there is to know about how a movie was made, you will not be disappointed with the depth.
For me the genuine attraction in the extras was the inclusion of the Final Fantasy XIII playable demo. Since the PS3 is set free, the Japanese release is very import marvelous. (If you don’t mind that it is all in Japanese) The U.S. release mentions a Final Fantasy XIII “preview”. I don’t know if that means that it will be a demo, or an extended trailer. It would be a shame if it was the latter.
Final Thoughts:
I wish all “director’s slice” releases could enhance the unusual presentation as well as Advent Children Complete does. The extra footage catapulted this already huge movie firmly into the category of awesome. If you didn’t relish the first release because you objective didn’t “find it” then this release may be unbiased what you need to set aside the pieces together as many of the more vague areas of the region are clarified. If you loved the first one, then you’ll like this one even more. About the only thing it is missing is the ability to spy the unusual release version of the film. Personally that isn’t an mumble for me but it would have been a nice addition.
Although this review is for the Japanese release, I doubt grand will change in the final U.S. version. My reasoning is that the the DVD release was nearly identical for the two territories, and there are only two months between Blu-ray releases.
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