Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Takeshi Nozue, Tetsuya Nomura
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Actor: Ayumi Ito, Keiji Fujiwara, Maaya Sakamoto, Shotaro Morikubo, Takahiro SakuraiDirector: Takeshi Nozue, Tetsuya Nomura
Brand: Sony
Editor: Keiichi Kojima
Producer: Shinji Hashimoto
Producer: Yoshinori Kitase
Writer: Kazushige Nojima
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-25
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Reviews of Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: Last Order OVA Review
Summary: 5 Stars
There are already lots of great reviews here for Advent Children, so let me add my review for the half-hour OVA "Last Order," which is bundled in as an extra in this release and makes it more than worth buying:
Let me start by saying this OVA... was perfect. Tetsuya Nomura has proved himself fifty times over as a fantastic director with this brief, poignant, and unbelievably powerful little 30-minute OVA. No overt sappiness, no slow-motion tears flying about, none of that. Cloud doesn't even comprehend what has happened. Nothing but grim reality with its edge of grittiness--and it is utterly devastating. I'm sitting here typing in tears and I think, even if I hadn't had the special fascination for this obscure, long-dead side character that I have had since playing FFVII, I still would have been moved to tears by this OVA's plaintive look at the last few hours of this man's life.
It would have been so much easier for Zack to escape on his own; slowed down and strength sapped from carrying the nearly comatose Cloud, Zack could have traveled so much faster and less-conspicuously if he'd just abandoned him. With his strength and wits, he would have made it. It's a mark of what a wonderful person he is that he went so far as to shield Cloud with his own body---Cloud, this random, low-ranking soldier who was probably only an acquaintance before the Nibelheim incident, if at all (SOLDIER first class, the highest of the high, and Cloud, a common, faceless foot soldier!). He didn't owe him a thing, but he still valued this poor kid's life enough to protect him all the way to the end. That's why I'm so happy we have this OVA touching on the truly tragic and unfair fate dealt to such a wonderful person. Zack is such a minor character in the grand scheme of the original game (he's even dead long before it begins!), but still---if you're watching closely---you see, little by little, how much his deeds have effected the story.
He starts out just as shock factor--you see the photo taken at Nibelheim the day Tifa led Sephiroth's party up to the Mako Reactor, and instead of our familiar, blonde-haired Cloud standing there as we expect, it is a taller, dark-haired stranger. From here, little by little, Zack's influence grows and discover slowly, rather painfully since you know of his sad fate, what sort of person it was who lost his life (and even identity) so that Cloud could take it. You discover that he was the wonderful boyfriend of Aerith's whom Cloud reminded her of, that he was the elite SOLDIER 1st class who was friendly even with the foot soldiers, that he went on his own to try to stop Sephiroth during the Nibelheim massacre, that he suffered side by side with Cloud in Hojo's laboratory for those five, long years of their imprisonment, and it was he, alone, who managed to break free and literally CARRIED Cloud back across two continents and was finally killed defending him when he fought alone against an entire squadron of Shinra soldiers. It hurts, doesn't it? And he did all that never knowing that his actions would give Cloud the strength, motivation, and will to save the world someday.
That's why I love this OVA so much. Just like the cool, unassuming guy that Zack was, it doesn't come at you with this, "look at me, this is such a tragedy!!!" sort of "tragic epic" attitude. It's just "there was this cool guy, and this is what he did. He fought simply for a chance to live in freely, and died trying." It's just the way Zack would've wanted it, I think.
Directiorally, it was very nice how the movie begins with Cloud (as we expect, Cloud being our cherished hero of FFVII). But all we see is his clouded, green, mako-tinged vision, and all we hear is his gasping breath. He doesn't actually speak a coherent line until much later in the story. In this way, we make the transition from Cloud, who IS FFVII, to Zack, who is (just as in the original game) our "hidden" hero. You realize long after the fact that Zack is the one we're actually focusing on (every time he enters a scene, it's in a rather unassuming way--the opening, and in the Nibelheim flashback, when he wanders in from the background in the midst of the disaster). All the things you wanted to see most happen--from some of the most AMAZING animated fight scenes I have ever seen (when Sephiroth elegantly slashed away Zack's sword strike, did your heart stop for a moment? Mine did...), to that beautiful moment when Tifa discovered that Cloud did keep his promise (though she later thinks she just hallucinated it... ^^; ), to the perfection that is animated Sephiroth whispering "Mother, come with me," to Cloud's truly incredible moment in the fight against Sephiroth. Wow, the power of this animation! (I love you, Mad House!!!!!) And let's not forget that quiet, last scene. Our esteem and affection for Zack is just growing and growing as he cheerfully (and somehow, fatalistically) expounds on the fortunes and adventures he'll have hereafter and then, his famous and haunting line, "We're friends, right?" to the man who will steal his entire life and identity later on... wow.
Ah, the Turks. Now that was a truly clever touch! I love how they become a sort of sympathetic third party. Tseng's quiet sadness and contemplation of the pitiful fate that Zack and Cloud were dealt, even as he hunts them down, gives the audience solace. We know (as the Turks know) that their escape is futile, but the fact that the people who are actually tracking them down feel sorry for them as well is somehow soothing for us. I love how Tseng's sympathy, and his order to try to take them alive, gave me this wild, completely irrational hope that maybe--just maybe--they would make it through this impossible situation alive. In particular, that last scene when the Turks' helicopter is right there, rushing toward the scene and offering some sort of salvation (at least for their lives) for Zack and Cloud just at their fateful hour. But of course, they don't make it in time. History has already laid down its cold order, hasn't it? And anyway, Zack says it all in that one line--"I don't want assurances that my life will be spared. All I want is FREEDOM!" I guess for him, it was better to have died fighting of his own will than to return to Hojo's lab of horrors to live as a test subject to the end of his days, ne? But still... ;__;
I love that we see the last moments of Zack's life back in Cloud's point of view. It is satisfying to know that, whatever he forgets or blocks out of his memory later on, he did bear witness to Zack's final sacrifice for him. But that grieving is for later. For now, I love that Cloud has no reaction, no sappy screaming, etc. Just silence and the haunting echo of the gunshot that ends it all. That shot is so devastating, so inevitable... just as we know from the moment we began watching this OVA that Zack would soon die despite all his efforts, that shot is so inevitable and heavy, and we (like Cloud) are so helpless to stop it. We don't even get to see it happen--just the sound signalling that it has been done somewhere beyond our reach and we are only hearing the declaration of its completion after the fact. It's wonderful and SO painful.
Really, truly, hats off to Nomura-sensei and his entire crew. This OVA was everything I had hoped for. Thank you so much for it and for this incredibly well-deserved tribute to that nameless soldier who gave Cloud his life, his sword, and even his memories--and gave us one of the most memorable video game stories of all time.
DVD Review: Another Good Movie.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is another good animated movie. Not quite as good an the first Final Fantasy movie, but close. It helps if you've ever played the Final Fantasy games, but even if you haven't, you should like this movie.DVD Review: Animation Heaven
Summary: 5 Stars
I own exactly three copies of Final Fantasy Advent Children: The Limited Collector's edition on DVD, the standard DVD, and this UMD, and the reason for that is because this movie is the best animated movie I have ever seen in my life!
It doesn't matter if you've never heard of Final Fantasy VII or even played the game before. The animation is so ground-breaking, unreal and utterly AWESOME that you won't care about stuff like that.
What you'll love is the amazing amount of detail put into the characters and backgrounds, the wicked-cool battle scenes and the fitting, if not unique musical score accompanying all of the "eye candy" overload.
Buy it now. You won't regret it.
DVD Review: Final Fantasy
Summary: 3 Stars
The DVD was in great shape it just took really long to receive it. I understand that I received it within the dates specified. I have purchased quite a few items from Amazon.com and this has got to be the one that took the longest to receive. You can say that I was a bit disappointed. But like I said the DVD was in great shape.DVD Review: Are sins ever forgiven?
Summary: 5 Stars
"Final Fantasy VII" is one of the most groundbreaking, most popular video games of all time -- the adventures of flawed hero Cloud Strife and his companions, struggling to save a very self-aware planet.
Turns out that the battle isn't QUITE over. "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" picks up a couple years later with new threats to the planet and new silver-haired foes (plus one old one). It's an absolutely stunning piece of work -- though the plot takes awhile to fully sink in, it's awash in beautifully precise, slightly luminous animation, slam-bang action scenes, and some beautifully complex characters,
People are falling ill with a mysterious disease called Geostigma. And while Cloud is tooling around in the desert, he's suddenly attacked by a trio of silver-haired youths (Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo) who demand to know where "Mother" is. Weirdly enough, they also call him "brother." Plagued by guilt and geostigma, Cloud isn't terribly interested in finding out about the trio or their connection to Jenova's missing head.
But then Loz savagely beats up Tifa in the cathedral, and kidnaps Marlene -- along with all the geostigma-riddled children in Midgar. Unfortunately, Cloud's attempt to get back the kids meets with more failure. And as the brother lay waste to Midgar with materia-generated beasts, Cloud's friends reunite to stop them. And when Kadaj gets his hands on the head, it resurrects an old enemy who may be able to destroy the entire planet...
"Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" is one of those movies that takes awhile to sink in, and which (at first glance) seems much more complex than it actually is. It's actually a pretty straightforward tale of a hero overcoming his doubts and trying to save the world. But that story is swathed in a heavy dose of symbolism, and many reflections about how you should live for your friends, not mope about the dead.
The writing generally tends toward meditative and slightly poetic ("What I want, Cloud, is to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel..."), wit a sprinkling of dry humor ("Where can I buy a phone?"). And it's crammed with top-notch action scenes -- treetop sword fights, acrobatic motorcycle chases, and a citywide attack from the monstrous Bahamut Sin. The climactic fight is the best: the city is enveloped in a vast cloud of dust and crumbling ruins, as Cloud battles physically and emotionally with his old nemesis Sephiroth.
And the animation is a thing of pure beauty. Square Enix outdid themselves with the clarity and vibrancy of the CGI -- luminous flowers and trees, a grey sky, a ruined city, and eerie smoky monsters that rise up and attack. Even the tiny details -- like the texture of Kadaj's leather coat -- are rendered in beautiful detail.
Cloud is a likable tortured hero, who works up from despair to quiet strength -- partly from his friends needing him, and partly from Aerith's occasional admonitions from beyond the grave ("I think... I want to be forgiven... More than anything..."). Most of his friends are cameos in the fight against Bahamut Sin, but the strong-willed Tifa and the mysterious Vincent take strong stands in dragging Cloud back to real life.
But the best characterization is in Kadaj and his brothers -- they have the minds of small children, but the knowledge and bodies of grown men. And to their minds, everything they do is perfectly reasonable. They want their mommy, dangit!
"Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" takes a little while to warm up, but the exquisite animation, good writing and likable heroes keep it moving.
Description of Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children (Two-Disc Special Edition)
FINAL FANTASY VII: Advent Children continues the game's storyline in this CG-animated film, featuring non-stop action and exciting visual effects. Two years have passed since the ruins of Midgar stand as a testament to the sacrifices made in order to bring peace. However, the world will soon face a new menace. A mysterious illness is spreading fast. Old enemies are astir. And Cloud (Burton), who walked away from the life of a hero to live in solitude, must step forward yet again...Backed by a full team of video game extraordinaires, the film was directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue, written by Kazushige Nojima and produced by Shinji Hashimoto and Yoshinori Kitase.
The question facing any viewer of the Japanese CG feature Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is: do you have to know the games on which it's based in order to understand the film? And the answer is: it certainly helps. But even complete novices (i.e., most parents) in the Final Fantasy world will find some entertainment in its wealth of fantasy-based action, and the animation never fails to astonish. Picking up two years after an epic battle between the forces of good (represented by brooding soldier Cloud) and evil (Cloud's former general, Sephiroth), FFVII opens in the devastated city of Midgard, whose youthful occupants suffer from a ghastly disease known as Geostigma. A trio of brothers arrives with what appears to be a cure for the plague, but their gesture conceals a more sinister purpose: to revive Sephiroth and bring about the end of the world. Cloud and his companions must once again rise to the occasion to stop the siblings and the revived Sephiroth from unleashing total destruction. Complex and self-referential to the point of occasional incomprehension, Final Fantasy VII will definitely be most appreciated by fans of the game series, but if others can look past the numbing dialogue and frenetic action (which is a bit too intense for very young children), the film offers a carefree and action-packed viewing experience. The two-disc set contains the original Japanese language version of the film as well as an English-dubbed edition (Rachel Leigh Cook and Christy Carlson Romano, among others, provide the vocal talent) and a version edited for the Venice Film Festival. A 30-minute featurette that recaps the Final Fantasy story up to VII, as well as a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and promotions for future Final Fantasy VII games and products round out the extras. --Paul Gaita
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