Summer Cinema: ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’
As the movie begins, we see a close up shot of a woman’s face. Her eyes are green with streaks of brown. This close we can see the pores in her skin. She has over 60,000 hairs, all moving independently of each other. But here’s the surprise. This woman isn’t real. She’s an image generated by a computer just like the entire movie “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.”
“Final Fantasy” takes place in the year 2065 where the Earth has been taken over by mysterious alien beings called phantoms. Humans live in special shielded cities and struggle to survive the ghostly soul stealing aliens.
Two doctors Aki Ross (Ming-Na of “ER” fame) and Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) are striving to construct an energy wave made up of living creatures energy pattern (spirits) to counteract the aliens spiritual energy. They are aided by the Deep Eyes Squad led by Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin). Gray is also a former flame of Aki’s. The group is opposed by General Hein (James Wood) who wants to use a giant canon constructed in outer space to blow the aliens off the planet.
Never before has the eye been privy to such a visual feast. The characters are some of the most lifelike ever created through CG animation. Muscles bulge and move underneath the skin, moles and stubble add reality to faces, and their clothing moves in a natural way with their bodies.
And the characters aren’t the only lifelike images in the movie. Scenes of a hawk flying through the air and realistic landscapes add the illusion of reality.
The movie, which is loosely based on the video game franchise of the same name, contains many themes recurrent through the games. Themes like the Earth having a spirit, people’s spirits returning to the earth when they die and even the name Sid can be traced to the Final Fantasy series.
The film contains romance, action, sci-fi adventure and mysticism. Truly it is a film for all interests. And can be enjoyed by longtime fans of the video game series or those discovering it for the first time.
Grade: A