Utilising state of the art animation to change the face of science fiction overnight doesn’t particularly sound that hard to do – especially when you figure that Anime has done it multiple times with the likes of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira and Masamune Shirow’s Ghost In The Shell. However, video game spin off Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was supposed to be different. Ditching any semblance of giant swords and immaculately styled Anime hair, the movie opted to skip the plot of the games completely in favour of a brand-new, sci-fi offering that would take CGI animation to somewhere even Pixar couldn’t reach.
Anticipation was high, especially as director Hironobu Sakaguchi had been praised for years for the creation of the innovative worlds found within the beloved video games of the same name. But would this film really be both the next step toward photo realistic animation and a bona fide sci-fi phenomenon? Regrettably, these hopes ending up being something of a Fantasy itself, but nothing ever proves to be completely final.
The year is 2065 and Earth has become infested by wraith-like alien life forms dubbed Phantoms, that can pass through solid matter and fatally consume the spirit (aka Gaia) of a human being by mere physical contact, and after countless deaths, mankind now lives in cites protected by energy shields. However, after years of cowering from these intangible bastards, different kinds of people with varying agendas are searching for different ways of sending the destructive Phantoms on their way. For example, General Douglas Hein is itching to use the orbiting space laser named Zeus in order to try and do away with the unkillable lifeforms once and for all – but while he’s been constantly thwarted by the leadership council, Dr. Aki Ross and her mentor Dr. Sid, are exploring more metaphysical means to save humanity.
Hoping to understand the Phantoms and thus find a way to expell them, Ross has been infected by the essence of one and since has been having vivid dreams of what seems to be the Phantom’s homeworld getting destroyed in a cataclysmic event. This has allowed her and Sid to formulate a plan by gathering eight unique energy patterns from various lifeforms known as Spirits in the hope that when combined, it’ll vanguish the alien invaders once and for all. The catch is that Aki hasn’t actually managed to find all eight yet (gotta catch ’em all) and there’s a very real likelihood that she’s running out of time. Thankfully, she’s aided after a chance meeting with an old flame, Captain Gray Edwards, who tasks his loyal squadron with sticking to her like glue while she tracks down the Spirits that could save the Earth. However, Hein isn’t being voiced by James Woods for no reason, and as the fanatical dickhead is dead set on being the one to destroy the Phantoms once and for all, it seems that he doesn’t care what damage he causes in the process.
So, while Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within didn’t exactly set the animated world alight upon release, I have to say that some of it has dated remarkably well considering that the same type of animation was subsequently used for direct to DVD Resident Evil animated movies. Of course, it helped paved the way for Robert Zemeckis to repeatedly visit the uncanny valley with the likes of the unintentionally terrifying The Polar Express, and the stylish nudity of Beowulf, but unsurprisingly, the strongest aspect of the film is the world building that Sakaguchi immerses us in. However, there are some aspects that’s either aged like milk, or simply didn’t do the film any favours in the first place that no amount of glossy CGI can cover – and the main one is the inclusion of some famous voice talent that doesn’t, quite fit.
Sometimes, recruiting a famous larynx to your animated movie proves to be a sizable advantage, but in Final Fantasy, it serves to mostly be fairly distracting. For example, when whenever the Ben Affleck-alike character of Cray speaks, it’s repeatedly jarring to hear the unmistakable voice of Alec Baldwin emerge instead. Ming-Na Wen fares far better as Aki despite the fact that the character was instantly sexualised with official underwear renders before the film had even come out, and Ving Rhames and Peri Gilpin manage to convey the right amount of Aliens-style grit to match their digital forms. However, experiencing Steve Buscemi’s nasal tones drift out of the pie hole of a cocky, jock-like character is as counterintuitive as hearing Peter Lorre’s voice come out of Zac Effron. Still, while lots of the film borrows heavily from Paul Verhoven’s Starship Troopers, sometimes Sakaguchi’s lore becomes too impenetrable for its own good. It’s pretty easy to get lost among all the preaching about Gaias, infections and the eight spirits who seem to only randomly show up when the plot demands that they should.
Similarly the third act revelation that the creatures are actually the ghosts of an alien species is hardly that shocking either when they look like ghosts, act like ghosts and have even been named “Phantoms” by humans since the moment they first appeared. But while the director ensures that his eco message is revieved loud and clear, that doesn’t stop the final act dragging as all the endless exposition and glowy lights just start to lose all meaning. Add to this that the fact that the characters are all actually quite boring and it all starts to sound legitimately damning.
However, despite the fact that photoreal CGI animation never really reached the pinnacle of filmmaking as a result of Final Fantasy’s efforts, that doesn’t mean that it can’t throw its visual weight around when it wants to. Trippy dreams of chitinous alien warriors swarming over a battlefield is genuinely impressive and the design ethic of the movie is, unsurprisingly, fantastic, as every helmet, every item of clothing and every rivet has been painstakingly designed to create this future world. I have so say, I was fairly nonplussed about Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within when it first made its bow back in 2001, as I found it all a bit soulless when compared to more classic, 2D, sci-fi epics. However, these days, it’s something of a fascinating failure that seemed to genuinely want to do something original and heartfelt within the realms of its flashy new tech. While I hesitate to suggest that The Spirits Within proved to have a profound effect on Hollywood in general, you can’t deny that later films, such as Avatar, might have been noticeably different if Final Fantasy hadn’t attempted to flex its tech.
A video game adaptation that technically isn’t, Final Fantasy certainly looks the part as it attempted to change the face of animation. However, thanks to some distracting voice-over choices and a hefty amount of lore that mercilessly congeals to an exhausting degree by the time we get to the climax, this movie didn’t quite have the spirit to change the world.
🌟🌟🌟