WARNING: SPOILERS!

(5/15/01)

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NOTE: The screenplays we review are often in development and may experience many rewrites, some could end up being completely different than what is reviewed here. It is our hope that our reviews generate more interest in the film. Thank you.

Final Fantasy...sure I played a lot of the games and I consider Final Fantasy III one of the greatest video games ever made but...a movie? When I first heard of a film "adaptation" (notice the quotation marks), I was a bit skeptical. The fact is that the film...well according to this draft (and I don't even know which draft this is...the cover page is missing) will have absolutely nothing to do with any of the games. Which makes sense since none of the games are related.

Serious hype has surrounded this project in the years of its development...most of it good. The makers of the film would have you believe that the release of the project will be an earth shattering event to end all earth shattering events...unless the script has dramatically changed, it will not. The script is quite good, excellent in fact, brilliant at times, but it is not an epic tale. It does not deserve the title, "Final Fantasy."

Dreams play a very important role in Final Fantasy. They are the basis for everything in the film. The events in the film would not have occurred if not for Aki's dreams. In fact, the film starts with a dream. The basic plot goes something like this...a woman named Aki has had the same dreams constantly and they lead her to the surface of Earth. She arrives in forgotten New York City searching for signs of life that she knows exist there. Soon a battle erupts on the surface between human troops and Phantoms, translucent creatures that seek out human life. Aki flees and the troops follow, eventually finding a small weed, the source of life and escaping on a transport...all right enough of the spoilers...that's not what this review is for.

On to the critique...

WHAT I LIKE

-The action is very descriptive and you really get a sense of a battle going on

-The script features some of the coolest action sequences ever on paper

-Very original story

-Suprises...and good ones

-Very gripping...once I started the script, I didn't put it down until the end

-Very good uses for CGI in these pages

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

-The romance element is not needed and it is played out a bit mundane and tedious

-The characters are unoriginal copycats...Jane is a complete rip-off of Vasquez from Aliens. Neil is every comic relief character you've ever seen.

-The film drags down in parts, which are really boring

-The film is not really epic in scale, which is what you'd expect from a Final Fantasy movie

Finally...

The script is damn good. The movie will be damn good. Just not as good as is expected, not as good as it should be...this is the same problem we ran into with Episode I. If you are looking for a great summer popcorn flick that at times makes you think, then Final Fantasy is what you're looking for when the time comes.

"THE FUNK" SCORE: 8.0 out of 10

-- Julius Funkenstein