
What damaged the project, however, was the sheer cost of making it. This mix of science fiction and spirituality is something that had been done in a few of the Final Fantasy games, and it worked pretty well on the big screen too. The story itself is pretty standard sci-fi fare, though the film does try to do its own thing by having the Phantoms being literal ghosts of an alien race, and the life spirit of both people and the planet being an integral part of the story. © 2001 – Columbia Pictures – All Rights Reserved However, military leader General Hein (James Woods) is determined to put his own plan into the works, one that could result in even more human deaths. Presenting her findings to the ruling council, she’s given the chance to try and collect the final spirits, with the help of Gray and his team. When she comes under attack from Phantoms she’s rescued by an elite squad of soldiers led by Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin), a former lover of hers. The story begins with them having already collected five, and Aki on the hunt for the sixth. Sid (Donald Sutherland) have discovered that there might be a way of stopping the Phantoms once and for all, but need to gather eight specific spirits from creatures around the world to do so. Scientist Aki Ross (Ming-Na Wen) and her mentor, Dr. With a single touch from a Phantom able to rip the life force from a person, and the briefest exposure potentially leading to deadly infection, people have been unable to defeat the creatures. A race of ghost-like creatures called Phantoms have forced humanity behind specially shielded walls into a handful of cities. The film’s story is set in a future Earth, where an alien invasion has all but destroyed the planet and wiped out humanity.
#Reddit final fantasy spirits within movie#
Despite this, there’s not really been an attempt to make an entire movie this way since, and it could be down to the fact that it literally led to the end of the studio, and one of the biggest financial flops in movie history. Nowadays CGI has come along in such a way that half of what we see on screen is made purely in the computer, and even some of the best performances in movies can be rendered in CGI just look at Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. The other thing that the film did that was pretty revolutionary, though would ultimately lead to the downfall of both the project and Square Pictures as a whole, was that it was the first photorealistic computer generated movie. READ MORE: Blade Runner 2029 – Comic Review This kind of made it perfect to adapt into film, as you could come up with any brand new story, slap the Final Fantasy name onto it, and you’ve got instant fan base interest.
#Reddit final fantasy spirits within series#
The Final Fantasy series is one where continuity between games is pretty much nonexistent, with each new numbered entry in the series being a completely fresh story in a brand new world. First off is the fact that the film isn’t actually based on any video games.

It was not a great time to try to bring video game properties to the big screen.įinal Fantasy: The Spirits Within tried to do something different though, in more than one way. Back in the far off days of 2001, however, the best there was was the ‘so silly it’s fun’ Street Fighter and a ‘so bad it might be fun to watch’ Super Mario Bros. I always wondered if I was the only kid who was expecting to see FF9 on the big screen.Video game movies are still a pretty mixed bag, despite their having been some successes in the genre in recent years. I remember thinking it was more like a worse Titan AE (released a year earlier, and a far better Sci Fi Animated Film) then it was anything related to FF. He and I both left equally confused and completely forgot what we had seen the next day. My Dad and I still went to go see the movie. "Who the hell are these people!? Why is it in space!? Where the hell is Gaia!?" Did I mention how pissed I was? I think I just figured all the FF games just took place in FF9's Gaia and didn't bother looking into it until several years later.Īnyways, in early 2001 I remember a friend telling me "They're making a Final Fantasy movie." I was so damn excited at the time: "Kick ass! I get to see Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, Beatrix and all my favorite FF9 characters on the big screen!" Then I saw the trailer. įor reference, I didn't know about any of the other FF games. I can't remember who recommended me to play it, I just remember seeing it at Blockbuster and then renting the game who knows how many times. Why do I bring this up? I was 13 years old when I played FF9 in 2000 and early 2001.
