The Squee-Fest is Over!
Advent Children has been watched! The squeeing has been done, the rating of the characters argued over and finalised.
On the whole, I am a very happy bunny.
It's two years since our heroes defeated the insane Sephiroth and the power of the Planet rose to destroy Meteor. Since then a strange sickness has struck the survivors - Geostigma, which seems to attack only the young and physically weak. Cloud himself, still brooding over the death of Zack and earlier events, lurks on the edges of Midgar and keeps away from his old friends. The bad guys; the silver-haired, cat-eyed Sephiroth clones have their own motives, searching for their elusive 'Mother'. And my old favourites, the Turks, ever being the 'scum with honour' that they were in the original. We're set up for some good fun.
The film starts as it means to go on - the three villians go after Cloud and harass him before leaving as abruptly as they came. The watcher is left thinking 'what the heck?' and believe me, that sentiment is echoed all the way through. Flashbacks constantly mingle with the current plot, confusing it further. It takes a second viewing to filter out what belongs where and what is happening when. But well, you'll want to watch it a second time anyway.
The plot is absent; as in, there's enough plot to give you a vague idea of what's going on but not enough to actually understand it. The actual cause of Geostigma, what the purpose of the clones is, these are all touched upon and discussed but never actually explained. You, the viewer, has to go on what information you have and come up with your own theory. Personally, I like this. FF VII wouldn't be FF VII if, 8 years on we fans weren't STILL debating whether Sephiroth (he needs a hug) was actually evil or just driven nuts by the very nasty Jenova; what IS Jenove, how much Cloud was intertwined with Zack and whether Zack and Sephiroth were ever an item (¬_¬). Actually, for me the film answered several of those questions, but left me with a hell-load more. Something to debate over breakfast, methinks.
This film is definitely pure fan-service though. To quote
On the whole, I am a very happy bunny.
It's two years since our heroes defeated the insane Sephiroth and the power of the Planet rose to destroy Meteor. Since then a strange sickness has struck the survivors - Geostigma, which seems to attack only the young and physically weak. Cloud himself, still brooding over the death of Zack and earlier events, lurks on the edges of Midgar and keeps away from his old friends. The bad guys; the silver-haired, cat-eyed Sephiroth clones have their own motives, searching for their elusive 'Mother'. And my old favourites, the Turks, ever being the 'scum with honour' that they were in the original. We're set up for some good fun.
The film starts as it means to go on - the three villians go after Cloud and harass him before leaving as abruptly as they came. The watcher is left thinking 'what the heck?' and believe me, that sentiment is echoed all the way through. Flashbacks constantly mingle with the current plot, confusing it further. It takes a second viewing to filter out what belongs where and what is happening when. But well, you'll want to watch it a second time anyway.
The plot is absent; as in, there's enough plot to give you a vague idea of what's going on but not enough to actually understand it. The actual cause of Geostigma, what the purpose of the clones is, these are all touched upon and discussed but never actually explained. You, the viewer, has to go on what information you have and come up with your own theory. Personally, I like this. FF VII wouldn't be FF VII if, 8 years on we fans weren't STILL debating whether Sephiroth (he needs a hug) was actually evil or just driven nuts by the very nasty Jenova; what IS Jenove, how much Cloud was intertwined with Zack and whether Zack and Sephiroth were ever an item (¬_¬). Actually, for me the film answered several of those questions, but left me with a hell-load more. Something to debate over breakfast, methinks.
This film is definitely pure fan-service though. To quote