Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

2001 was a breakthrough year for the motion picture industry; this was due to an easily overlooked and arguably misunderstood movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Arguably ahead of its time and unparalleled for its flawless beauty and depth of detail, Final Fantasy produced a sensational and deceptively realistic appearance, which to the credit of its engineering and painstaking artistry, once you are able to pick your jaw up from the floor, you can settle into the relatively entertaining storyline itself. As you would expect from the imagination and the makers behind the cult games of the same title (Square), there are quite a few twists to this story which allows the viewer to share empathy with both heroes and villains alike.

From the mysterious dream sequence opening and dream recording technology, which although is fantasy – is not entirely beyond belief, you swiftly start asking the question of who this heroine is and what is this we’re seeing through her eyes? However, it also brings to mind the equally important question; do we care?

The atmospheric scenes where the main character, Doctor Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) explores the haunting and post apocalyptic streets of Old New York City armed with little more than a flare gun, torch with eyepiece (worthy of the band Orbital) and a bizarre holographic compass are reminiscent of nearly any current computer game (e.g. Gears of War). Although even now the first glows of the alien looking ‘phantoms’ as they become visible in the flares illumination still send tingles of fear down the spine. Thankfully, these semi-transparent beasts which seem attracted to Dr Aki, are swiftly dispatched by the specialist team headed by Captain Gray Edwards (voiced by Alec Baldwin) in a typical, if not Holywood style of ‘shoot first, ask questions later’. It soon becomes apparent there’s a bit of a thing between the good Doctor and Captain… needless to say there’s a bit of a ‘will they won’t they’ tension created and no, I won’t spoil it for you!

At the time I first watched this film in the cinema, I couldn’t help but see the similarities between these ‘blue eye’ suits and the ones used in Warhammer gaming. Unfortunately, this distracted me at the time of just what are these ‘spirits’ they keep talking about and jeopardising their lives for? I understand that there has to be bit of heroism mixed in with a good dose of stupidity and a dash of humour combined with a touch of love and a mad, mad, mad bad guy (and none quite do this any better than James Woods who plays the nasty General Hein), but it all just seems a bit formulaic and fortunate how easy it is to find these ‘spirits’ all of a sudden!

To this film’s credit, it has a number of dynamics between each character that is explored a little, but it still seems a little sterile and lacks the real punch. Stereotypes are found aplenty in this movie, from the flawless and svelte Dr Aki, to the quite likeable but disposable ‘black guy’ Ryan (voiced by Ving Rhames) – who really could have gone in a bit more style. Ironically, where this movie triumphs also happens to be the paradox that lets the film down; how the makers had to use almost perfect flawless figures in this film makes you wonder, why they didn’t make any ‘regular looking folk’? If there was to be a really critical point made about the film, I would say that the eyes needed more expression as looks between the characters at times look a little glazed, and this could be the very reason the director chose to use subtle cut-away scenes or using the more melodramatic face towards the camera with a back to the one talking.

Another serious point I would make is this film probably makes a lot more sense in the eastern part of the world and translates a little less sensibly to the western audiences. This is none more evident than when the mysterious glowing orbs are described as ‘warm’ by the senior Doctor Sid (voiced by Donald Sutherland), which in Japanese culture I’m reliably informed means they’re happy, good and content spirits.

There seems to be quite a bit of repetition used in this movie, whether it’s for dramatic effect or if it was to help make the movie a proper length than what could have been achieved in an animated short episode remains unclear. What is clear however is the meticulous lengths and money spent on individual things. At the time, the company paid $1-million to ensure the hair looked realistic on the main heroine and the artists gave Dr Sid age spots with dry skin on his balding head and face. As you would expect by the movie which became the first ever film completely made in CGI there are some fantastic successes and a few short-comings. With everything considered, people should look kindly on this film as it is entirely fantasy (as the name even suggests) so the plot matters as much as it does in other PG movies (aka not a lot). To get the most from this film, suspend cynical reality and sense and slip yourself into 102 minutes of goodies versus baddies and the stuff in-between! I’m proud to admit this was the first ever DVD I purchased and still remains one I’d watch today.

+ Has aged well, despite the advances in technology

+ Some good action bits

+ Some tear-jerking moments

+ Good actors help bring the CGI to life

+ Fantastic looks and very realistic

-         Has a fairly baffling plot

-         Could have been done with more action

-         Should have been better given the budget/time spent

-         Still no clearer what Gaia is and just how Aki can save the world

-         It makes (not much) more sense when you have listened to the DVD commentary