FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN
Starring: Ming-Na Wen, Alec Baldwin
Directed by: Hironobu Sakaguchi
Distributed by: Columbia Tristar

Date: 7/15/01
By: Rice

    Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a visual treat for the senses. More specifically, the optical senses. A four-year long, 150 million dollar project from the SquareSoft team, the movie basically revolutionizes how computer graphics can be used. It made the Monsters, Inc. preview look like animated stick figures. One can only imagine how long each frame took to render.

    Unfortunately, beyond the gorgeous facade, you'll uncover a rather hard to swallow plot which utilizes many unoriginal and cliche'd movie twists. The basis is a scorched earth future where a meteorite containing lifeforce draining "phantoms" crash landed and has cornered the human race into isolated city-colonies protected by energy shields. There are two factions within the government regarding methods of regaining our Earth back. On one side is the "let's blow them all to hell" supporters led by a diabolical General Hein, and on the other is the "let's do it in a more peaceful way" group led by our heroin scientist Aki Ross. From then on, it's a picnic for any movie-going enthusiast to pick apart and predict how the rest of the story goes. Need I say more?

The famous scorched-earth screenshot from the trailer.

    There's a lot of beef I have with Final Fantasy. First of all, I've never been a big fan of the game series. That probably stems from my lack of interest in RPG's in general. And then there's the huge amount of hype my peers put into it. While I do respect SquareSoft in making smash hit games, making a successful film is much harder. You see, in video games, it's okay to have a relatively uncreative storyline, as long as it's interesting enough for you to progress through all the way.

    FF the movie felt a lot like a big long cutscene that belongs on a CD-ROM. It's like a game, except you can't control anything. For example, there was a scene in the beginning where Aki was racing against the clock to zap a phantom that's infected a soldier. It would've been loads of fun to play, no doubt, but watching it instead takes out all the suspense. Another example would be when the crew was trying to jump-start a space shuttle, except they lacked several integral pieces of hardware and have to go find them before they can complete that particular objective. Again, that felt like it was lifted straight out of a game. As a matter of fact, I can recall several that have similar scenarios such as the ones I just described right off the top of my head. You see what I'm getting at here?

Dang... looks sooo real.

    FF also tried to be creative and deep with the plot, but it's painfully transparent how linear it really is. For example, the bad guy, General Hein, is completely one dimensional. He's so evil that one has to wonder how he was able to attain the prestegious ranking of General in the U.S. Military Force. And the good guys... amongst them are well established scientists that have been valuable in researching the phantom aliens. So why didn't the council trust them rather than consider the brute force method which they strongly discouraged? I have an answer to that: because then there would be no movie. It's a familiar formula. The good guys have to continually prove their worth while the bad guys get away with murder and rape. All until the end when it's a sudden reversal of roles and everyone lives happily ever after, minus a martyr or two, as it is customary to try to jerk tears from the audience. Unfortunately, it all sums up to be unconvincing.

    One more thing. Watching FF was like experiencing a massive Deja Vu attack. Everything about that movie reminded me of something or someone I saw in another movie. Aki looked like Sandra Bullock. Captain Gray looked like Ben Affleck. So much so that the entire audience I watched it with quietly exclaimed, "hey, Ben Affleck!" when the character was first revealed. The war with the aliens reminded me of Independence Day. The phantoms themselves reminded me of those from Pitch Black. The intense gunfights with gigantic-sized phantoms reminded me of StarShip Troopers. I could go on, and on. The point is, the movie had very little going for it in terms of original ideas. All it had were its incredible graphics...

"Hey look, it's Ben Affleck!"

    ...And really, that's why despite the overwhelming negativity I regurgetated, I still highly recommend this film. The stuff I saw in Final Fantasy was leap years ahead of anything I have ever seen. Nothing was spared, and no corners were cut. The landscape was apocalyptic, like a large endless graveyard. From the billowing dust bowls in Tucson to the dark abandoned alleys of New York City, I realized this is what it's like to have imagination ferment into reality on the silver screen.

    Rendering realistic human faces is the hardest thing to do in the art of CGI. Seeing the cartoonish Rock-scorpion in The Mummy Returns convinced me of that. However, everybody and everything in FF was modeled down to the very last detail. Even the small pock marks, stubble, and veins were depicted with excruciating realism. Ironically, it's because of the incredible realism that I can't help but think it may have been a better movie had it hired human actors to play the roles and then implement the background settings in computer. Afterall, if it's trying so hard to be perfect, might as well just use the real thing, no? Might have saved a pretty penny or two on production as well. I guess it's just a macho thing between the movie CGI teams. "Yeah, I can be more real than you can."

Whachoo lookin' at, punk?

She didn't look like THIS in the movie! Or else the Babe-o-meter would be way up.

Grade: B
-- Watch Final Fantasy for its graphics. Just like you watched Tomb Raider for Angelina Jolie's... erm... acting. Yeah, that's it.

Babe-o-meter: C-
-- Aki had a pretty face in certain angles when the lighting was just right.