Final Fantasy:Advent Children: Does Cloud's Resolve Deserve Another Shot?

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Final Fantasy: Advent Children was the sequel to the cult-classic PlayStation role-playing game, Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife and the rest of the party starred on Square’s very first full-length CGI film that ended the conflict between Jenova and the Planet. But, did Advent Children concluded the saga in which, Vincent Valentine in Dirge of Cerberus had to finish by himself?

Going over the events in Advent Children, a disease called “Geostigma” plagued the denizens of Planet and, an orphan named Denzel became the focal point of the narration and plot design involving the outbreak. No scientific modules or term paper could rid the Planet the disease and, Cloud, who was unfortunate to had caught the same malady, slowed him down during combat.

The over-all presentation of Advent Children is quite a feast - graphical resolutions captured every body blow each character received from tackles and hack-and-slash motion. Plus, the appearance of Bahamut Sin ignited the whole conflict by razing the whole town of Edge with its impressive and devastating blue flames.

Villains? Now, there are three of them who constantly made remarks about their “Mother” who in turn, between the development of the whole conflict, was revealed as Jenova and her remaining cells. Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo, the three principal opponent of the movie, entered the scene without any brief introduction.

The trio just appeared on their motorcycles and chased Cloud Strife in the middle of the desert road alongside some Shadow Hounds - Cloud did not stood a chance in repelling the new-found threat’s attack pattern forcing him to put the pedal to the metal. Great action but blurry character depth.

Mysterious is also the word to describe Advent Children’s premise. How did Rufus got into the mix? How did he caught the Geostigma bug? The only interaction worthy enough of calling Advent Children a fast-paced sequel to Final Fantasy 7 was the rematch between Cloud and Sephiroth. The sudden revival of Sephiroth courtesy of Kadaj’s desperation, gave meaning to the Cloud-Sephiroth battles which appeared in numerous games and fan fiction sites.

To sum it all up, there should be a continuation to this - the everlasting branches of Final Fantasy and its games have spawned interpretations that have been displayed into the silver screen. Advent Children does hold its ground for delivering a unique blend of cinematic action but, story and concept is lacking in many obvious aspects.

For its score, let’s give this 2005 adaptation a 4.5 out of 5.