Massawyrm and a half dozen others look at FINAL FANTASY!!!

Hey folks, Harry here.... I saw a very very very early print of FINAL FANTASY some months back, before several changes were made... I have yet to see the final film, but what I saw was very much the film. The first thing I'd like to address out of all of this is SCI FI / FANTASY. Fantasy... Fantasy can take place long ago with swords and trolls and dragons and the like.... But it can also take place in the future of man. And almost if by default the 'Final Fantasy' would have to take place upon the precipice of the end of mankind... to be the FINAL fantasy. That's how I look at this film. Robogeek saw it and liked it quite a bit, and will come in with his look sometime SOON!!!! But I must wait till Friday to see the final version it seems... sigh.... As for the PS2 version.... I've already played with some of this, and yes it does go full 360 in full resolution.... it's quite amazing. And you should see what the prototype box of like a dozen PS2s all wired together can do... jesus... it was insane, but this isn't a tech column, it's a movie column and here's some looks at FINAL FANTASY....

Hola all. Massawyrm choking down a Camel Filter here with news of this summers animated sci-fi actioner "Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within". I'll be giving a spoiler free review for most of this, with a bit of spoiler at the end (but nothing that ruins major plot points or spells out the ending, just examining the flaws of the villain so many people have complained about and his motivations) as well as dropping some news about the Final Fantasy DVD that you may or may not know.

Okay, here goes:

Tonight I watched two very different films, the only problem is, it was the same film. One was a flawed science fiction film that didn't totally deliver, the other was one of the best damned Anime's I've ever seen in my life. Depending on which movie you go to see, you can expect the following reactions. Anime fans, and I mean hardcore, Japan rules, I own the Tri-gun DVD box set and keep it next to my Akira dub, my Akira subtitled and my Akira newly dubbed anime fans will LOVE this. They will bow down on the alter of Squaresoft and get pissed that so many people didn't and won't like this film. Film buffs and traditional sci-fi fans are going to find this movie a little too vapid, poorly cut and weak in the dialog area and will walk out of the theatre having been entertained, but an hour later feel like they were cheated.

Let me first start off with a bitter tirade against Squaresoft. Why? Because they did not deliver what the title promised. Was this a Final Fantasy movie? No. It was not. Not even a little bit. And I don't just mean there were no hovering Airships (Not spaceships. You gamers know what I'm talking about), Chocobos or lead characters with a bad assed sword. Final Fantasy, at its roots, no matter how sci-fi it got in its concepts (like in Final fantasy 8), still maintained a sense of fantasy: summoned forces of great power, mystical weapons, mystical creatures and spells. None of that here folks. This is pure supernatural sci-fi along the lines of Lifeforce and Event Horizon (without being as good of a FILM as either of these were). The characters have nothing but weapons and science to protect them.

The other thing this film lacks that the games contained was Character depth. FFTSW's character depth was about as deep as Starship Troopers, without the backstory. These characters have no back story. We barely even get to know their names. Tacking on the Final Fantasy name was purely a marketing ploy, a way to draw in the gaming community to see the film as well as make a big budgeted advertisement for a game series that bears almost no resemblance to the film. It's exactly like Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (complete with the colon). It's a "How can we make the most money off of something that could sell itself but not as well if it had an established title" decision. This could be very damaging in the same way the Blair Witch site caused so much backlash as did the AI game: the promotion was just so much better at convincing us the movie would be cool than the movie was. And when those movies lacked what the promotions led us to believe was being promised, people began to LOATH films that weren't really worth hating; they were simply not worthy of the hype.

As a film or an anime, this film was not worthy of the Final Fantasy moniker. It's just not the same material. So drop that idea at the door. You will not see Bahamut soar down at the earth and slay enemies. you will not see sword play. You will not see our heroes stand together in an epic battle against an evil wicked supernatural beastie, healing each other as they each fall and casting fireballs or Ultimas. You will see Starship Troopers: the Animated series (done well).

Now, as a film, this movie lacks. The Dialog is mostly hack. Now in Anime, we accept this, because it's a translation and many things just don't translate properly. But this was written in English to be translated into Japanese (as I have been led to believe at least). They attached killer voice talent, but failed to use them. Ving Rhames, a man with a golden voice of pure menace, gets what? Three lines? Steve Buscemi plays the best damned Edward Norton I've ever seen (as his Character looks like Ed and damn near sounds the part. If Steve didn't have such distinctive inflection, you'd actually believe it was Norton). And well, the romantic dialog is ripped right out of the action film love interest playbook. say I love you, but don't show us a single reason why, even in your dialog.

The action scenes are, although gorgeously rendered, edited poorly. There comes moments where you feel your gut tightening up and your toes curling from the tension, but then the moment slips away and you're left with, "oh hey...they almost bought it back there...good thing that happened".

And then there are the huge leaps in metaphysical logic. They don't work. The film buff will go "Hey, how do they know they need X. there's no logical way they could know that. It's not written anywhere. It's not scientifically explained. It's just there...we need X". In a film, that just doesn't fly. It is the type of thing we laugh at, because it is ludicrous.

But with Anime, well, its a whole different ballgame. Dialog, just there to serve the visuals. Pacing? We just want great visuals. And Logic? Did you SEE Akira or Ghost in the Shell? You make your own logic dude. Anime is eye candy with story, and that's why we love it. Now don't get me wrong, some anime is deep and very character driven, but who's kidding who? Most of it isn't. Most of it is silly, with teenage first love complete with sudden blushes and floating hearts over the head, vehicles that transform into robots that would be physically impossible and genitalia that sprouts tentacles. In that arena this film kicks total ass.

This baby's got eye candy o' plenty, cool stock characters (a must in good anime) and some really original concepts built around stock good ole standby's. FFTSW is steeped in eastern philosophy, which of course might turn off some American audiences because of the very nature of Eastern Philosophy (which fails to give reasons for the way things are because they are inexplicable. Please don't talk back on this, as I am purely over simplifying.) but for those anime fans out there who will see this flick, they will enjoy the nature of what is being discussed.

Let me say the broken record statement you have heard and will continue to hear over and over and over again: this film looks stunning, magnificent and truly beautiful. No buts about it. It was three years of rendering worth it for the look alone. My problem with is this: this film had absolutely no need to be completely CG. Not with this script. I'm of the opinion that if all your characters are going to be human, and pure human at that, there's no need to digitize the process. Get Ben Afleck, don't generate him and give him Alec Baldwins voice. Use CG on the beasties, but not the entire film. There's just no need. CG films should run along the lines of Jason Wen's Brilliant short "f8", which I discussed in my Indie Indie column a few weeks back. A world of robots run by small, alien creatures who inhabit them, in a purely alien landscape unlike anything you've ever seen. That's what you do with CGI. You make that which is unattainable in the real world.

There's some beautiful sequences in FFTSW that take place in Tucson, AZ. Having grown up many years in Tucson, I know the mountainscape like the back of my hand, and man, did they manage to recreate it right down to the shadows the mountains make on one another (You Tucsonians will no doubt be completely creeped out by how real it is), but they could have just filmed Tucson and digitally restructured it ala Gladiator to give the effect of what has become of it. For this film to warrant complete CGI, it really should have had some elements other than the beasties that we really haven't seen before and couldn't be done on film.

Now many may argue that as we get better and better with photorealistic CGI, it will become unnecessary to shoot real people in locations that don't exist, but I don't think we're anywhere near that stage yet, and although we are somewhat close, this film's scope went unrealized because it wanted to be a full CGI film, and left the focus there.

In summation, Final Fantasy is at the very least an entertaining theatre experience. If you want a hard sci-fi film, wait for a matinee or the DVD. If you want good anime, dig in, you'll love this. It's cool. I'm torn, I wanted both, but that's probably a long way off for me. Maybe Jason Wen will get to do his dream project. Maybe this will at least open the door to more great theatre experience anime. Only time will tell. And to Squaresoft: Please, please, please make a Final Fantasy movie...a real one this time. I so badly want to see it.

Now, for some news you may or may not know: The FFTSW DVD will be PS2 compatible with extra features only available on the PS2. It's DVDROM the next generation. One confirmed feature: There are scenes that will be rendered so you can alter the camera angle. No confirmation if it will be full 360, but it sure seems that way the way they're talking. Producer Jun Aida said (as reported in Video Store Magazine, article by John Gaudiosi) "...you can sort of have your own version of the film, with your own camera positions." Does this mean we'll be able to save our modifications to the memory card and watch the film as we cut it in it's entirety? Lets hope that's just how cool this is (maybe the PS2 is that powerful. here's to hoping it is).

It's assumed there will not be a playable demo of FF X, but man a cool playable game based on the film would rock (haven't heard any word on this, just saying it would be cool).

I dug the film enough to want it on DVD so I really hope the PS2 features are as cool as they seem. Now, onto my quick spoiler discussion.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Okay, James Woods' villain everyone's bitching about. Is he really that bad and 2D? Yes. He is. But this is one point about the eastern philosophy of this film that didn't sit well with me. We, as the audience are supposed to cheer on the good guys while they go off on their "cockamamie" scheme to save the earth that doesn't sound scientifically feasible, while there is this EVIL (boo hiss) "villain" who wants to resort to a super weapon to wipe the opponents off the face of the earth. The only problem is that his is the only plan that really seems like something feasible. The heroes want more time, James Woods wants to end this before more blood is shed.

Hmmm....sounds oddly familiar, does it not. Allegorical even. Almost like James Woods is the evil American Harry S. Trumann and the heroes are the Japanese looking for a civil, peaceful way out. Damn Americans and their bomb. They only wish to destroy themselves.

I found it very hard to buy this whole plot device (and it really serves as just a way to add tension and a time crunch for our heroes) as James Woods really goes out of his way to accomplish his goals. Now this is somewhat factual and realistic. Just look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the military top brass tried to hamstring the Kennedy's and their wacky plan to blockade Cuba and try diplomacy (which the military thought was just downright stupid as it gave the Russians time to strike us first, ensuring we would lose). Turns out the Kennedy's won out and had chosen the correct course, so okay, this is feasible. But the manner in which they portray him is just so damned...evil. Like he should be stroking a cat and calling for his hunchbacked henchmen. His dialog is some of the worst in the film.

But this is a common theme in Anime, as well as Japanese science fiction, all the way back to Godzilla. The bomb is the ultimate monster and there's always someone ready to unleash it on the world. hell, almost every Final Fantasy game has this character. Whether he wields a meteor, a mega gun, a time rift that will tear the world apart, whatever, he is always there to destroy to meet his own ends. This time, it just doesn't come off right. Its way too heavy handed, way too allegorical. American nuke mentality bad, eastern preserve the earth over it's inhabitants good.

There's my two cents.

Till next time, amigos. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em. I know I will.

Massawyrm

and here comes Variable...