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This film had me by "To those who loved this world, and knew friendly company therein: This Reunion is for you." Awww.

(That was only on the Closed Caption track). (See The Script for details.)

I've watched this film umpteen times in the last 2 months with Closed Captioning on and off, and I never get tired of it. The story makes me smile and I adore the song "Calling" at the end. Superb graphics, storyline, music, it's got it all!

In 1997 my ex played the game Final Fantasy VII for months. I went to sleep and woke up to that music/game in the happiest time in my life. I have loved the game and music ever since I watched Mike play the game, first on the pc, then on the PlayStation. So I was very excited to read online that a film had been made about Final Fantasy VII. I found out the name, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I didn't see it until my son rented it in June and I watched it for the first time at home. (How I would have loved to see it on the big screen!) I was blown away. I watched it 3 times in a row that day. My son bought it 2 months ago, and I watch it almost everyday unless he's watching it and I'm busy. It is by far the best cg I have ever seen. IMHO - Square-Enix is better than Pixar or even the god who made The Lord of The Rings, Weta Workshop / Weta Digital.


The opening scenes are good, they orient you to where the game ended and how this new story begins. I love how Reno looks so bored flying the helicopter in the prologue. I think the graphics of the Lifestream are very peaceful and beautiful.


Cloud's style has been changed from Final Fantasy VII. Instead of his signature SOLDIER uniform, Cloud now wears an all-black outfit, carrying around a new sword (using about 6 smaller swords in one), rather than the Buster Sword. The Buster now marks the spot of Zack's grave.

The last film that grabbed my attention like this was The Lord of The Rings trilogy. I am so flat out impressed by the cg work of Square-Enix that my mouth just hangs open during the action scenes. The stunts and fights are fantastic! The Japanese are masters at capturing that few seconds of facial expression in the heat of the moment that makes the scene that much more intense.

The motorcycle chases knocked my socks right off and left me giddy. The first motorcycle chase is the opening motorcycle battle between Cloud, Loz, and Yazoo. Woah. There are Shadowcreepers (apparently made of earth, I couldn't find any information about them) attacking Cloud from all sides. Cloud's fighting for his life, yet has no idea why or who these guys are, much less why they are attacking him. Loz makes him lose a sword, then Yazoo shoots his sunglasses off his face! How rude. Kadaj, our new protaginist, raises his hand and the battle ends. Woah.

Tifa is an incredible fighter! A piano version of the battle music from the game plays as she battles Loz in the church and I think it's so clever that they made the victory-after-battle game theme Loz's ringtone. :P


Another of my fav scenes is when Kadaj gets the kids to all drink the water. The music there is so cool, it's perfect for the scene. I must stress the score by Nobuo Uematsu is superb, it's my 2nd favorite film soundtrack after Howard Shore's The Lord of The Rings.

Oh my, the fantastic battle in the White Forest with Cloud, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. The battle movements are so fast, can you imagine having to fight like that just to survive? Intense, beautiful and deadly. Then Vincent shows up and snatches Cloud away and explains what geostigma and Jenova's memetic legacy are. Vincent tells Cloud Kadaj and his gang could re-create Sephiroth. Cloud protests at first, but then takes Marlene home.


I wasn't exactly surprised to see Rufus Shinra resurrected. Films do that. He's rather bland, but conniving. He has his own agenda.

Kadaj summons Bahamut Sin. Omg, that creature is one gorgeous, deadly, huge, fighting menace! He is bad-ass, as all Guardian Forces are. Here he's on the side of evil, and he is strong and destructive. He is Bahamut Sin, hear him roar! He destroys the town monument with a blast of blue energy.


Of course interpersed with Bahamut Sin, we see street fighting here and there with Reno and Rude against Loz and Yazoo. The Turks do add some comic relief. They aren't great fighters, but they think they are, so ha ha.


Barret, Cait Sith riding Red XIII, Yuffie, Cid, and Vincent show up to join Tifa in the town square where Bahamut Sin is running amok. They all battle him in their unique styles, helping each other out too. It seems they mostly suceed in making him angry.


Cloud arrives and enters the fray and using his Limit Break Climhazzard soundly defeats Bahamut Sin. (Rawr!)


"Bahamut Sin, the enemy of the free peoples of Midgar, was defeated." -Oops, wrong film. heh

Meanwhile, Kadaj and Rufus play head games with each other and Kadaj tells Rufus he senses Sephiroth is close. Then there is a fantastic falling sequence where Kadaj manages to get the black container Rufus threw away that's full of Jenova cells.


Kadaj definetly has unresolved mother issues. It's sad, really. After the fall, he and Loz and Yazoo escape on their motorcycles.


The next motorcycle chase is the best IMHO. Kadaj tries to take off Cloud's head with a street sign on an unused highway, then takes a different stretch of road. Cloud fights Loz and Yazoo while riding his cycle...it's stunning. And then the tunnel...I love how Cloud kicks their ass in the tunnel! The music drives the whole chase wonderfully. Loz throws his cycle at Cloud who does a flip and cleaves it in two...stunning. They fight some more, Cloud equips himself with two swords and defeats them. (What is the name of the limit break Cloud uses to defeat them? I must know.)


Kadaj cheats and gets away of course. Cloud rips off his sleeve showing his geostigma and the red ribbon some of the original characters wear on their arms. (What does it mean? Nobody knows.) Kadaj goes to the church and cries at the black box because Jenova's head is not in it. He sobs. Then Cloud shows up. :P

Stunning cycle stunts again, then Kadaj gets ignorant and the water from Aerith bursts out of the ground of the church, until there is a good sized puddle. It cures Cloud's geostigma. Aerith cheers him on, and he's off after Kadaj who has fled.

I heard the One-Winged Angel theme (boss music!) and I knew...Kadaj and Cloud would do battle. It's intense! Cid's airship, The Sierra shows up, but Cloud's friends decide not to help him. He keeps battling Kadaj...I love these fight scenes. Wow! The Sierra flies away. Kadaj jumps, Cloud equips his weapon and they hit, the force knocking Kadaj away to where he's left hanging off a ledge by one hand. He throws the black box up in the air and Cloud slices it open with his sword. And then it happens. Kadaj lets go to grab the black box that Cloud has sheared open and takes out the Jenova cells. He says "My Reunion. That you're dying to watch." He shoves the cells into himself as he falls. Cloud jumps down after him and the man himself, Sephiroth appears.


Sephiroth is just as self-centered and murderous as he was in the game. I've hated him ever since I saw him kill Aeris in the game FFVII. He ran his wickedly long sword Masamune through her back, killing her. I actually cried when he killed her. He's a selfish psychopath and yet he was voted Favorite Game Villian. Okay. His One-Winged Angel theme music plays throughout the next scenes. He and Cloud fight and fight and Sephiroth seems mildly pleased at Cloud's strength. But then he turns mocking and cruel. The battle is spectacular. When Sephiroth says "On your knees. I want you to beg for forgiveness", the music changes and so does the battle. The building they're on starts to crumble into huge chunks so Cloud does a fantastic back flip in slow motion with 2 swords that just takes my breath away every time I see it, I kid you not. It's probably my favorite scene in the film. (I'd love to have that screen capture as a wallpaper for my desktop.)


They battle it out hard core, then Cloud gets tired and Sephiroth knocks him down and stabs his sword into Cloud's right shoulder. (Ratbastard.) But then Cloud rebounds, separates his sword, the First Tsurugi, into its six pieces, and performs his new Omnislash Version 5 Limit Break and defeats Sephiroth who becomes the One Winged Angel, growing a black wing from his body. He then fades away, leaving a mortally wounded Kadaj in his place. As he disappears, Sephiroth says "I will...never be a memory." (So he's not dead or killable.) Kadaj falls to the ground. Aerith speaks soothingly to him and I get a sense that he is forgiven. He dies and goes back to the Lifestream. Again it rains water from Aerith, healing everyone's geostigma in Edge and Cloud leans back at ease.

Cloud is shot in the back by Yazoo, who says they must all go together. Loz wants to play as he dies. They are loaded with materia but Cloud is angry and he powers up and hits Loz and Yazoo head on. There is a massive explosion, they die and Cloud is now floating through the Lifestream in a white kind of nothingness. Aerith and Zack send him back, and he awakens in the hands of the kids in the pond in the middle of the of Aerith's church. He is welcomed back and he's glad to be back. He helps Denzel cure his geostigma, and soon there are kids laughing and splashing all around him. He looks about in wonder, then catches something pink out of the corner of his eye.


He sees Aerith walking away to a doorway filled with white light and Zack leaning on it to the right. Aerith turns smiling, and says "You see? Everything's all right." Then Cloud smiles. He smiles as he realizes his world is safe again that he's not alone anymore. Cloud smiles.


Credits and then the film theme song Calling performed by Kyosuke Himuro over wonderful footage of Cloud traveling on his bike. Watch it until it it goes back to the main menu. It's worth it.

THE END

Not everyone is a fan of this genre I realize, but if you are a gamer, or someone who loved the game Final Fantasy VII on pc or PlayStation; if you care about the storyline and what happened after the game ended; if you want to see all the main characters from the game again; if you like the best cg ever made and knock your socks off stunts and new cool limit breaks, then see Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on dvd. It's superb.

©2006 Paulina Bishop|Contact
screen caps from AdventChildren.net and Gloriosa

"To those who loved this world, and knew friendly company therein:
This Reunion is for you."