I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It’s a science fiction dream come true so to
speak. The story is so intricate I’ve
actually read a number of articles where people found themselves lost in it. That’s somewhat funny for me as the movie isn’t
that difficult to follow. The movie is
based off of the Final Fantasy video games and from what I know it doesn’t
quite relate enough of the fantasy side from them to the movie. The main continuity of the Final Fantasy
series is it’s mostly fantasy and has a hint of science fiction to them not the
other way around. An enormous amount of people
that admire the game franchise were appalled at this movie. I can understand being let down that the
movie isn’t a video game in cinema form but should that automatically mean the
movie is terrible? I have only played
Final Fantasy XI online and I can see the difference between the two but it
doesn’t trouble me. Perhaps if the movie
was just titled, “The Spirits Within” overall reaction would have been better?
My inner science fiction demon absorbs this
plot like a sponge. I did say plot that’s
not a mistake. I’ve heard all too well
this movie has either no plot or a bad one.
I’m realizing after doing more and more reviews that some people like to
throw around that concept if they don’t enjoy a particular film. If I don’t enjoy a film I always state the
reasons why, not just some vague almost meaningless statement such as, “Uh, it
has no plot so it’s bad, blah”. I’ll
move away from defending the movie to go over it now.
The
dream recorder is an amazing concept; I’m still highly fascinated by it. How awesome would it be to watch your dreams? It fits right into what I’d imagine a Final
Fantasy world would have in it too. The
Phantoms are such an enigma throughout the first half of the movie. I desired to know what the deal with them was
as I drooled at their back story. Their
war torn planet or world was destroyed which sent a chunk of their world
crashing to earth. The humans thought it’s
an alien attack when in actuality it’s the violent nature of the phantoms in a
ghostly spirit form. Now from what I
know spirits aren’t strictly a science fiction idea but can also be categorized
in a fantasy one as well but let’s not spoil it for people who thought this
movie sucked right? Their spirit energy
being a polar opposite to earth’s Gaia so to speak.
The main
characters had enough development to get attached too until a timely death by
some. Sid (Donald Sutherland), a famous Final
Fantasy name, plays the head scientist looking for a less brutal solution to
solving the phantom dilemma. Aki Ross (Ming-Na
Wen) is his student figure in a way which is infected by the phantoms and
struggling to find spirits on earth to create a wave to defeat the phantoms. A wave is the means the entire plot is
focused around. The scientists want to
ultimately use earth’s spirit to bond with the phantoms and see what
happens. They aren’t sure what would
become of it but it can’t be worse them bombarding the planet with the all
powerful Zeus cannon.
Captain
Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin) and his team get very suitable back story and
screen time. Gray and Aki have feelings
for one another but it’s more subtle and satisfactory. Aki realizing time is critical in completing
the wave due to her ailment forgoes any drama to attempt to save the earth. Gray’s team consists of Ryan Whittaker (Ving
Rhames), Jane Proudfoot (Peri Gilpin) and Neil Fleming (Steve Buscemi). I grew attached to them and when the time
came for them to die you felt sorrow for them especially as Gray had to watch
it happen. You can see the pain he felt
as his team fell while he yet stood.
General Hein (James Woods) is fully aggressive
in eradication of the phantoms. His wife
and child died by the phantoms and you can see it drives him eventually over
the edge without a rope. He cunningly
manipulates a council that makes the decisions for the best of what remains of
the humans to gain permission to fire the Zeus cannon from orbit. The idea behind the cannon is to attack a
living being, the phantoms presumably, and destroy every one of them. The General refuses to believe their ghosts
from some other world. His narrow mindedness
creates the downfall for so many lives as he recognizes his mistake and fires the
cannon until he overcharges the space station and dies. He is depicted as the villain but you can
understand his motives. I myself have sympathy
for the character as he is struggling to survive on a planet that is quickly
dying. He wanted to save lives but ended
up taking them away in a sense. It’s
almost tragic in a movie with a weak plot right?
The
action sequences are flawless as they don’t overkill it with needless never-ending
scenes. During some of the action
moments you get to see the phantoms literally rip out the spirit of the
humans. It’s terrifying to see a human
spirit struggle to remain in its body while it’s about to die. It’s not gross or hideous but it makes you
feel sorrow for the fallen humans. I’d
imagine seeing a lifeless body crash down to the ground for no apparent reason
would be shocking.
From
start to finish it’s such a complete movie whether you want to admit it or not. Sacrifices are made by key characters that
will make you sad at moments. The movie
lacks nothing as far as I can tell and I’ve watched it numerous times. If science fiction is your genre, don’t miss
this. The ending theme credits are a
marvelous score as well.
A
thought that comes to mind is the splendid animation of this movie. I believe many would agree this animation was
cutting edge at the time of release. The
visuals alone widened my eyes so much I needed surgery to correct them! The movie is well made and you can attempt to
prove otherwise if you like, that’s the fun of reviewing.
Rating:
10 of 10
The labels just below can link you to similar posts about this one so check them out!
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