Forum - View topicREVIEW: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
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keideki_senpai
 Posts: 2 Location: AZ |
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Personally, I am one of those raving fan-boys types who played FF7 about 10.8 millions times.... So I do have to say it was a great movie.
However I will give some of you the point of lack of good story line, and for anyone who never played FF7 (Shame on them!) it made no sense what so ever. The question you really have to ask yourself is..... Who was the movie made for? Not for people who never played the game, that I can tell you. It was made for the RAVING LUNITIC FANBOYS like myself... LOL. So the only ratings that I think are valid are the ones of people who play and loved the game, its like rating a sequal before seeing the first one, who does that? It defeats the idea of a sequal... which is SEE THE FIRST ONE BEFORE YOU SEE THE SECOND ONE. So all you people out their complaning that you dont understand, or your friends dont understand... STFU... Advent Children inspired of my best friends to pick up FF7 and play if for the first time... THAT SAYS SOMETHING FOR IT! ~Crazed Fanboy |
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wanderson75
Posts: 7 |
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The first three lines of this movie say it all:
"To those who loved this world, and knew friendly company therein, this reunion is for you." This movie was intended for the fans of Final Fantasy VII. And before you dismiss the number of fans of the game, remember, that Final Fantasy VII sold SIX Million copies. For a video game, that is a seriously huge number, and for an anime audience, that is a huge number as well. For someone to have reviewed this game without being a fan is somewhat disappointing because yes, they will complain that "the story lacks...blah blah." Honestly, in my group of friends, I'm the only one to have played the game, and every single one of them enjoyed it very much. The only complaint that I got from them was when Sephiroth had Cloud pinned down by his sword, he did the cliche mistake of telling him "I'm gonna kill you, and then everything you love", thus giving Cloud the motivation to win. If you didn't understand the story, play the game. If you aren't interested in playing the game...well, then I can safely say by the first three lines of the movie, that you shouldn't have reviewed the movie in the first place. Just my opinion. |
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Fui
 Posts: 339 |
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Is that a definite fact or just your assumption? I can't say either way and although I probably will lean toward what you're saying, I think there is also a part of them being proud of their work and doing something for their fans. Concerning the ridiculously crazy fight scenes and seemingly useless side characters, I thought this mimicked the game pretty well. We all (those who have played the game) know there is no comparison in power between Cloud and the other characters in the game, and the skills in the game are pretty far-fetched and ridiculous. They even incorporated the limit breaks like braver (on omega), blade beam (on loz's earth atk), climhazzard (on omega), and some others nicely. I thought they brought the elements from the game fantastically to a "real-life" form where guns (like when you get shot in the game for 5 dmg and think wtf I just got shot, how did I only take 1/100 of my HP) aren't even as effective as swords. It was made for the fans and yes, making it for the fans does excuse it for being "total crap" in your opinion. Why? Because fans don't think it's total crap and everyone who has played the game likes it by a pretty large margin, which is all it was intended for. There shouldn't even be a reason why people who haven't played the game should watch it, and it's obvious ("atarimai" matches better if you understand JP) that people who have had no exposure to FF7 will have no idea what the hell is going on. Besides, those that have played the game know the story and everything about it 100 times over (blah blah Jenova, Sephiroth, the Turks, summoning the meteor, Nibelheim, lifestream & materia, ex-soldiers, Zack, etc...); we don't want to hear it retold in a different way again. We really just want to see the characters in action, and that's what SE did. |
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Successful_Troll
Posts: 132 |
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...and? I'm sorry, I must have missed that class where they taught us that the quality of something depends on how popular it is. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Oh, wow, this is ridiculous.
Plain and simple, whether it was "made for the fans" or not is NO excuse. Look, the entire "plot" of this movie consists of a bunch of pointless nonsense being loosely and illogically strewn together for the purpose of getting a bunch of characters reunited and making them do cool, fancy crap in pretty, shiny, updated computer graphics. Just because it was made to pander to fans does not excuse that from being a truly deplorable story. It's not "great if you're a fan," it's hideous story construction. The end. "Cool shit for nothing but the sake of cool shit" is not, in any form, the way you write a good movie, no matter who you aim it at or why. Look, ultimately all of the various Gundam and Ghost in the Shell and Banner of the Stars and .hack sequels and sidestories and remakes were made with the exact same goal as Advent Children: to cash in on and pay tribute to a rabid and enthusiastic niche fanbase. 08th MS Team, Banner III, Stand-Alone Complex, .hack//LIMINALITY, all were made to pander to fans just like Advent Children. But you know what? Those series actually carried coherent, progressive stories that do more than haphazardly string together "money shot" action sequences. Therefore, they often get critical praise for having well-constructed stories. Not because the reviewer is a fan, not because "they appeal to fans," but because from an objective standpoint, they each have a logical story that holds its own both as a pandering fan-vehicle and as a basic, stand-alone story with a proper exposition, progression, climax, denouement, character arcs & development, and all of that good crap. If you like this movie, fine. Hell, I like it, too. But just because you found it enjoyable, just because your a fan, does not mean it's "well-written" in any sort of objective review standpoint, which is precisely what this objective review is presenting. At the end of the day, it's still a shoddily-constructed story made solely to string together pretty fight scenes and cheesy character reunions. Period. |
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joel_s95387
Posts: 1804 Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn |
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Nagisa, I personally know the movie was not that great, and it might have been crap, but don't you agree that it was better (made more sense) if you were familiar with the game?
And what was up with that "Dilly-Dally-Dilly-Shally" shit? Me and my friend began laughing so hard because this is one of the stupidest lines you can ever hear in a movie that is supposed to be centered around it's fighting/action scenes. Honestly, do the Japanese still think this is cool? Something this stupid made me feel like a sissy for watching. Friend-"Hey, what are you watching" Me-"Final Fantasy VII Advent Children" Friend-"Wow, the graphics look awesome" FFVII-"Dilly Dally Shilly Shally" Friend-"You're a fag" |
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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More enjoyable? Certainly. Mechanically better? A better structured movie? Not at all. Whether you've played the game or not doesn't magically change the fact that it's a massive showcase of loosely-connected action sequences with little logical progression between them. |
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PaladinBlue
Posts: 63 Location: Billings, MT |
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It's the translator's chosen equivalent of the term in Japanese: "Suru-suru zuru-zuru" (did I put that right?) Essentially, it probably means exactly the same thing but was just put into a different form so it would make sense to the English-speaking audience (I cannot confirm the meaning because I don't speak fluent Japanese). Anyway, as someone who disagrees with ANN's reviews on a near-constant basis, I must say that this one comes pretty close to my opinion. I love the movie, but the story really is truly awful. The only actual fulfillment I found from that aspect was seeing more of the Reunion continued from the game. That's it. The movie is nothing but pure fanservice. Fanservice that's beautifully animated and that includes battle scenes that make the best sequences from Crouching Tiger and Hero look like some evening movie on the sci-fi channel, yes, but fanservice nonetheless. |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6203 Location: Houston, TX |
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wait til later |
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ChangSauce
 Posts: 11 Location: Roman Polanski's basement. |
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Pardon me, but it just seems increadibly lazy for a studio to go "Oh, they've already played the game, they'll know". I'm not saying they should retell the story in long flashbacks, that would be boring, but who's to say they can't take the characters and make a brand new plotline that both expands on them and is friendly to your average newcomer? The fact of the matter is that Final Fantasy VII has not aged well, it's a really hard game to play today filled with bad writing and cliches, something the movie embraces twofold as if we have come to expect it. It feels cheap for Square to cash in on lame sentimentality instead of really trying to make something meaningful for the fans besides the fleeting pleasure this movie gave. I'm an FF fan to, and it sucks that all we get is this and a Devil May Cry ripoff. The movie works off pure nostalgia, and cell phone advertisements as well. You can practically feel Square nudging your arm in the Bahumut scene.
I guess the question is this: would you rather an intriguing movie with a good plot and some mildly entertaining action scenes, or an awful plot with really, really good ones? I can assure you the former costs less, and is more enriching and memorable. Hell, look at the Matrix films and ask yourself why the first is the best? |
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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I agree with Zac on that point. If you know about and played the game, the movie is going to be a very good experience. The visuals were stunning. The story was okay, but it was a gift for the fans of the franchise first. So, everybody else needed to catch up anyway they can. There are loads of ways to do that online, but playing the game is the best way. I wonder how much sales of FFVII can now be attributed to the film release.
Viewing the story digest first actually helps if you've not played the game. I got to see Aeris. I also got to see Sephiroth fighting so I'm happy. 
So, which game do you think has Last Order OVA on it? Footage from this was in the trailers for Before Crisis and Crisis Core, more of it was in Crisis Core. |
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mpchi
Posts: 54 |
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Wow. Seems like audience are very hard to please these days.
While I feel like FFVII:AC has issues with the story, and a little bit on the animation in some scenes, giving it a D or F seems quite harsh. If you look at the story from beginning to end, it started itself with the geostigma, affecting a lot of people & Cloud. Then with some discovery and some fights, Cloud and company was able to cure it, while Cloud found a way out from his depressed nature caused by Aerith's death. Its a pretty decent story. Not great, but decent, and resolved itself nicely at the end. The part thats harder to grasp is Kadaj & co. They didn't make it clear how they come to being, whether as a real living person, or just as 'spirits with physical form', which Square could have explained better to help the audience to get a better picture of whats going on. I wouldn't be surprised if the story gets a B- rating. But for sure its not "All time favorite material here". But really, its story is still pretty interesting compare to a lot of B movies or anime shows we've seen. 
Don't need to beat it down to dirt only when others tend to do so. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Back when FF7AC was delay twice, many fan were bitching that FFAC would never sell well because everyone would have download off the internet. They really dismiss the release selling well because they were so furious over delay.There were outragous commen like "Sony don't want to make money", "sony's marketing is stupid" or "Sony is evil and want to screw fans over by holding out on them". Finally it's release and FF7 is selling like hotcakes, currently #1 on Amazon dvd list.
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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I'm with Nagisa. I did enjoy the movie for its technical and visual achievements, it is really a site to behold but there is no getting around the fact it is a flawed showcase and believe me, I played the game.
It is, as Nagisa said, just a bunch of thrown together action scenes with a loose and flawed plot used an excuse to put together such an exhibition. The sad thing is that this is an obvious cash in, the studios attempt to make a bundle off a blindly loyal fanbase that's desperate for something new from one of the RPG genre's greatest titles, and rightfully so. Problem is, they didn't try, it was a lazy attempt to milk the title a little more, let's not pretend that FF7 didn't have a great story and that Square couldn't have developed a great story to go along with it because that would be deluding ourselves. FF7 was a game with a lot of depth, that was one of its greatest strengths, there was no reason the movie couldn't have lived up to that. As a fan of the game I have to say I was disappointed. There was little to no story and frankly I'd liked to have seen a little bit more from the team as a whole, simply too much emphasis on Cloud. As a fan I enjoyed seeing it all in beatifully rendered 3D, but as a fan I honestly felt it didn't live up to its source material. I have nothing against people still enjoying the movie, I'd recommend it to fans for the visuals alone, at least for a rental. My issue is the ratings, this movie is no masterpiece and is very very far from it. It's also a bit upsetting that a company can make a blatant cash in attempt like this and cater it to fanboy sheep and get away with it. At least hold them somewhat accountable for their failings in the production, only the fans and viewers stand to lose from blind loyalty. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15349 |
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Toasty frog has an amusing take on the film.
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