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I watched Advent Children for the first time today

NateDog

NateDog

"This guy are sick"
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Jan 8, 2018
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That certainly was... something. I knew bits and pieces about it from reputation over the years but really that was just regarding the fight scenes and how good it was for its time visually. Even watching it now so many years later I can see that. But otherwise it was pretty much what I expected, a bit of a mess tonally and structurally, felt like it was effectively 45-60 minutes of plot and trying to ham-fist as many characters into the world and story in some sort of a way that made it feel necessary followed by about 60 minutes of fighting, including an appearance from Sephiroth because why not. I will say I do really like Tifa's design/outfit in this. Feels very odd listening to these voices now after Remake/Rebirth though but that's normal.

I pretty much only decided to finally watch it because I had only recently seen those comments from both Kitase and Nomura about the end of the remake project "linking up" with Advent Children so I suppose it still served a purpose of sorts. At least I can still pretend Genesis doesn't exist for now. How was AC generally received when it first appeared?
 
JEH

JEH

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Oct 25, 2017
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Kenny_Blankenship

Kenny_Blankenship

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Jun 1, 2023
1,434
I remember reception being mixed. Personally I enjoyed it, seeing the characters realized that way compared to their PS1 counterparts was wild. Those fight scenes were also great.
 
Dest

Dest

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Jun 4, 2018
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dilly dally shilly shally

movie fucking sucks i love it
 
Zutrax

Zutrax

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Oct 31, 2017
4,481
The script is batshit nonsense and effectively serves to only exist as fanservice. But it's incredible fanservice, movie is fun as hell even if it's "objectively bad" no one will ever convince me to not love it.

Also obligatory Dilly Dally Silly Shally (which I still quote to this day with a concerning lack of irony).
 
h0tp0ck3t

h0tp0ck3t

"This guy are sick"
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,254
the advent children version of One Winged Angel is fire. I think Black Mages performed it
 
Dice

Dice

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Oct 25, 2017
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I thought the basic idea was great, where Jenova's death and attempts to heal the planet has caused a tragic and unintended disease to break out. And Cloud's dealing with a depressive episode because things STILL aren't going well and 1/2 of his girlfriend's are gone. Brutal!

But I think it loses a lot of potential as just an excuse to get the character to fight in fancy CG and not looking like this:
sephiroth-cloud-ff7-materia.gif


The fact it ends with just another Cloud vs Seph fight is predictable, and why I see AC as nothing but fanservice.

It's fine/10.

N64Controller said:
Tifa vs Buff Sephiroth Clone was the best fight in the movie
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It really is

tifa-kick-loz-advent-children-fight.gif
 
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Jakenbakin

Jakenbakin

"This guy are sick" and Corrupted by Vengeance
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Jun 17, 2018
12,825
Hated this dumb movie so much, and it represented less a continuation of the franchise in spirit for me and more of a tonal reboot that sucked out any interest in the Compilation for me. Luckily the franchise is doing better these days! ❤️
 
Kiyamet

Kiyamet

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Apr 21, 2024
1,786
great action set pieces and visual design

bad dialogue and story

most innapropriate time to use the name denzel
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

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Sep 24, 2019
36,614
It's so, so, so, so, so bad. Well done on making it through to the end.
 
Noisepurge

Noisepurge

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Oct 25, 2017
9,113
the Advent Children Complete Edition is the best version even if it is even longer :D
 
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

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Oct 26, 2017
2,080
I think the infamous dilly dally line and some of the cool sword fighting is all I remember from AC. Hilariously enough, I found my copy of AC Complete in my basement while cleaning the other day. Set it aside for a rewatch haha
 
Lockheartilly9799

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Nov 23, 2017
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When I was a kid, I thought that movie was insanely good. Being big into Shonen anime with the crazy fights helped with this. Plus, seeing the glow ups made me soooo giddy.

As I got older and kept rewatching it while understanding the original game more and more as time went on, I started to dislike it more to the point where I flat out didn't like it. Barret being an Oil Tycoon and still barely even taking care of Marlene was a horrendous decision, Cloud's emoness becoming the status quo of his character for the next 15 years until Remake sucked too.

After Remake and Rebirth though, I'm starting to at least appreciate AC for what it is. I do like that in some ways, the Remake trilogy is adding pieces here and there to make AC seem a little more palatable.
 
Bane

Bane

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
5,938
As a stand alone movie it's pretty awful. But if viewed as the real (or perhaps final is a better term) ending to FF7, as I do, it's pretty awesome.

IIRC it was received rather well when it first came out.
 
HStallion

HStallion

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Oct 25, 2017
65,100
Its got some cool moments but that's about it. The actual connective tissue of the film is almost entirely absent. Its just some bare bones set ups and introductions in between the fights and action scenes. I don't even think they fights and action scenes are all that good outside of the one with Tifa. Most of it is just flashy trashy nonsense and now Cloud's giant sword is made of like 10 other smaller weirder swords. Even as a teen primed for this kind of stuff it felt really lacking.
 
frosted-flakes

frosted-flakes

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Apr 6, 2022
457
I watched a few months ago before rebirth (complete edition). Truly hated it lol, I wanted my 4 bucks back. Seems like people who grew up with it really like it so good for them. I think I made a mistake of trying the compilation stuff after Remake.
 
Vertpin

Vertpin

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Oct 27, 2017
6,253
saw this a long time ago. hardly remember anthing but the final fight being cool. no plans on rewatching it (esp. after replaying OG, remake, rebirth, and loving them)
 
thepenguin55

thepenguin55

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Oct 28, 2017
12,740
The visual feast or spectacle of Advent Children was really always loved.

The plot? Eh... I don't know that most ever especially liked (or in many cases, even understood) the story.
 
Linus815

Linus815

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Oct 29, 2017
21,391
I enjoyed it. I rewatched it recently and still thought it was good fun. It's entertaining, if a little shallow compared to the game.

Also, Tifa's outfit is amazing and I really wish they'd include it as an alternate outfit in part 3 at least.
 
jaymzi

jaymzi

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Jul 22, 2019
6,882
I remember FF fans really liking it back when it came out.

Saying how this is what a real FF movie should be unlike that Spirits Within.
 
Keym

Keym

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
9,479
The first time I watched it, I couldn't even tell the gang was fighting Bahamut. That thing... did not look like Bahamut to me.
 
LiK

LiK

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Oct 25, 2017
33,046
The main draw was the combat and music. The final fight with Sephiroth was amazing. Plus, this was the first time we saw the characters fully realized in CGI which has carried over into all later spin-offs and even the Remake games.

And yea, story and dialogue was a mess even for its time.
 
HStallion

HStallion

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Oct 25, 2017
65,100
jaymzi said:
I remember FF fans really liking it back when it came out.

Saying how this is what a real FF movie should be unlike that Spirits Within.
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Maybe it was the places I frequented it but I know quite a few fans did not care for the movie on release for a variety of reasons. Hardcore fans especially really did not care for what was done with many of the characters.
 
Ashes of Dreams

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
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May 22, 2020
16,898
If you were a young teen in 2005/2006, there was a lot about Advent Children to like. It was fully steeped in the style of the mid 2000s, especially mid 2000s Square Enix. Plus it was one of the most visually appealing CGI action films we had gotten at that point. Even back then, admittedly, I didn't like a lot of the dialogue, didn't like how much of a backseat a lot of the VII cast took (or what they did with some of them), and I scratched my head at the weird direction for Cloud's character in that he seemed to be moving backwards. But at the time I was able to put a lot of that aside just due to the sheer joy of seeing those characters again in a big return.

Of course in 2024 that is no longer a novelty. And as the 2000s-ness of it becomes more and more dated, alongside Remake/Rebirth having much better writing, there is little left in Advent Children worth sitting through all the bad for. It was something special at the time but it's best to put put it aside now, beyond the memes of course. Same to literally everything else in the Compilation, fwiw.
 
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OP
NateDog

NateDog

"This guy are sick"
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Jan 8, 2018
2,017
Lobster Roll said:
It's so, so, so, so, so bad. Well done on making it through to the end.
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If it helps I actually kept skipping forward on the battles, basically watched nothing of the Cloud v Sephiroth fight (I've seen more than enough of that in Kingdom Hearts let alone anything FFVII related).
frosted-flakes said:
I watched a few months ago before rebirth (complete edition). Truly hated it lol, I wanted my 4 bucks back. Seems like people who grew up with it really like it so good for them. I think I made a mistake of trying the compilation stuff after Remake.
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I wasn't even willing to spend €4 on renting it from a store, just watched on Youtube!
Linus815 said:
I enjoyed it. I rewatched it recently and still thought it was good fun. It's entertaining, if a little shallow compared to the game.

Also, Tifa's outfit is amazing and I really wish they'd include it as an alternate outfit in part 3 at least.
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I actually got the Play Arts AC Tifa because I like the design so much. Hopefully that is something we'll see in P3 for sure, could be one of the ways this will tie into AC (albeit a smaller way).
 

reksveks

Member
May 17, 2022
5,505
my main memory of AC was drinking a 2 ltr bottle of coke within 2 back to back views of it (once in english and once in japanese) and need to go empty my bladder alot and some AMV video.
 
Ravelle

Ravelle

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Oct 31, 2017
18,815
I watched right after finishing FF7 and watched it since release, now with context.

The villains are super lame but was fun to see everyone in top notch animation back then and even now it holds up. Tifa was a bad ass too.
 
blamite

blamite

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Oct 27, 2017
1,801
After seeing how much they've absolutely nailed the depiction of the characters in Remake/Rebirth, I so badly want to see the version of this movie that we'd get if it was made today. It would probably actually be genuinely good instead of enjoyable despite its badness.
 
Jakenbakin

Jakenbakin

"This guy are sick" and Corrupted by Vengeance
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Jun 17, 2018
12,825
Oh yeah and bringing back Rufus fucking sucked, that dude is dead.
 
AuthenticM

AuthenticM

Son Altesse Sérénissime
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
32,467
Ashes of Dreams said:
If you were a young teen in 2005/2006, there was a lot about Advent Children to like. It was fully steeped in the style of the mid 2000s, especially mid 2000s Square Enix. Plus it was one of the most visually appealing CGI action films we had gotten at that point. Even back then, admittedly, I didn't like a lot of the dialogue, didn't like how much of a backseat a lot of the VII cast took (or what they did with some of them), and I scratched my head at the weird direction for Cloud's character in that he seemed to be moving backwards. But at the time I was able to put a lot of that aside just due to the sheer joy of seeing those characters again in a big return.

Of course in 2024 that is no longer a novelty. And as the 2000s-ness of it becomes more and more dated, alongside Remake/Rebirth having much better writing, there is little left in Advent Children worth sitting through all the bad for. It was something special at the time but it's best to put put it aside now, beyond the memes of course. Same to literally everything else in the Compilation, fwiw.
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pretty much all that needs to be said.

I was so excited when that movie was announced. I bought it day one and watched it a bunch of times. I didn't love the story or what they did with the characters, but it was more story that I could experience with these characters, and that was enough for me. The action scenes were awesome, and after a point, I would stop watching the movie in its entirety, and would only watch the actions scenes. In the five years or so after its release, I would watch it a ton.

But now, that movie is a thing of the past. I don't need to revisit it anymore.

Here's hoping that the Remake theory whereby the third game incorporates some Advent Children stuff (if only themes or character arcs) is true, because, while I don't want to revisit the movie (neither do I think that its events need to happen in the new remake timeline), there are some distilled elements of it that can be incorporated into the Remake story, such as Cloud having accepted Aerith's death and not culpabilizing himself over it.
 

Ara63

Member
Nov 21, 2023
751
It's fun nonsense/10.

If you're deeply invested in FFVII's lore and story, you'll probably hate it. If you're just watching it as a cool movie adaptation of that game you liked, it's perfectly enjoyable if admittedly not exactly a standout.
 
Suede

Suede

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Oct 28, 2017
13,622
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I watched it again myself a few months ago. It's terrible. I'm sorry you wasted your time, Nate lol.
 
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