I got to know about this movie from the twitters of 2 cinema chains in Indonesia promoting it and showing a glimpse of the trailer. I am actually a fan of Final Fantasy games due to their usually high detailed graphic action fighting scenes. So I was interested to see the full story of this film which apparently was just released in Japan in July. This movie was supposed to be having the story line in parallel with the video game Final Fantasy XV which would be only officially released in video game platforms in November 2016. The movie would serve as a good introduction to the game.
Brief Story Line
Movie started with some few minutes of background story narrated by Lunafreya (voiced by Lena Headey - 300, Pride Prejudice & Zombies, Game of Thrones TV series, etc) telling us about the clash between two kingdoms Niflheim and Lucis where King Regis (voiced by Sean Bean - The Lord of The Rings trilogy, Game of Thrones TV series etc) and his young son Noctis were taking refuge in Tenebrae after Lucis was attacked. However, Niflheim soldiers led by General Glauca found out and attacked Tenebrae. During this attack, the queen was killed and Regis were able to escape with Noctis but Lunafreya, the queen's daughter decided to stay and accompany her brother Ravus.
Twelve years later, King Regis who had the power from a magical ring had assembled an army of soldiers who were able to do teleportation and were very skillful in war. The army was called Kingsglaive and led by Drautos. One of the kingsglaive, Nyx (voiced by Aaron Paul - Need For Speed etc) was very good in attacking the enemy soldiers. He had a close friend Libertus and Crowe who was like a sister to Libertus. The armies were recruited by Regis from the immigrants outside the city Insomnia. This city was protected by impenetrable barrier called "the walls" which were linked to crystal formed by the magical ring in Regis' hand.
The last attack from Niflheim with their army of monsters called Daemon were apparently too much to handle even by Kingsglaives. Niflheim through their chancellor named Izunia sent a message to King Regis to sign a peace treaty between Lucis kingdom and Niflheim. The treaty would allow Insomnia city to remain within King Regis' power but the rest of the cities outside Insomnia would be under the foothold of Niflheim. Izunia also said that emperor Iedolas of Niflheim would require Lunafreya to marry Noctis. After discussing with his councils, Regis decided to go ahead with the treaty signing as it would bring the war to an end. However, this decision made some Kingsglaives felt betrayed as they had been fighting for the king but at the end of the day, he seemed to be only caring for Insomnia city.
Nyx who defied the captain's order in the previous war with Niflheim soldiers was re-assigned to guard duty. Meanwhile Crowe was given a mission to give a gift to Lunafreya. However, Lunafreya went to Insomnia with an ambassador three days before the signing ceremony so she did not get the chance to accept the gift. Nyx was now given a new assignment to become Lunafreya's guard. After receiving a very disappointing news, Libertus got frustrated and left Kingsglaive.
During the night before the ceremony, General Glauca came and see Lunafreya, telling her that she had a role in the Niflheim's big plan. He kidnapped Lunafreya, but this act was soon found out by Nyx who persuaded King Regis to let Kingsglaive go on a mission to save Lunafreya.
So can Nyx and the Kingsglaive complete the mission? Can Lunafreya be saved? What was actually the plan of Niflheim's king and what was Lunafreya's role in this plan? Find them all in this interesting film of hero, sacrifice and cool special effects movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Watching this movie in the first 10-15 minutes, I had a tough time understanding the story line. I thought it was a little bit fast especially during the first war scenes. Problem was the characters were only introduced to us after the war scene ended, so I was not sure who was who. But after a while, when the character introduction was done, I finally could start to enjoy it.
The movie's story was actually quite good according to me. It has the element of twist & surprise, a story of sacrifices and love from a father to a child, and brother/sister relationship. It also had wild car chases & great monsters fighting scenes. Be reminded though that this movie was not the animation type of 2D cartoon or 3D ones like the movies from Pixar, Disney or Illumination. The persons in the film were life like but the lips moving were not exactly matching with the words that came out of their mouth. Perhaps because the original language was in Japanese?
Anyway, I think this movie is a rather special type movie that can probably be enjoyed only by the fans of Final Fantasy games. But if people would open their mind and watch it as a neutral, I believe it can also be enjoyed. Not too sure why people would hate this one (according to the critics website it had very low rating), but I personally enjoyed it. I especially loved the fighting finale which I felt was very awesome and satisfying. Before I forgot, if you keep sitting in the movie and wait for the post credit scene, you would be able to see a scene which would serve as the prologue to the Final Fantasy XV game.
The movie has played in the theater since last week and I do not think it will pass through next week as I even had to watch yesterday in a cinema where it only played once a day. So if you are still looking to watch it, then better do it before next Wednesday when new movie usually comes to the theaters.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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