Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a computer animated science fiction film directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the popular series of RPG video games Final Fantasy produced by Square Enix. Released in 2001, it was the first photorealistic computer-animated feature film and had the highest production cost of any video game-inspired film until Prince of Persia in 2010.
The film takes place on Earth in the year 2065, when an alien invasion has caused humans to live in protected barrier cities. It is up to the main character, Aki and a cast of other characters to rid the Earth of this infestation and bring back world peace. The film was directed by Motonori Sakakibara and Hironobu Sakaguchi. Produced by Chris Lee and Jun Aida, and Screenplay was handled by Al Reinhart and Jeff Vintar. The film starred a variety of actors that included famous names such as Ming-Na Wen, Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Donald Sutherland, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and Peri Gilpin. The music was scored by Elliot Goldenthal. The film was released to mixed reviews, with some commentators praising the computer animated graphics while others stated the plot was uncompelling and unoriginal.
Plot
The film takes place in 2065, when Earth is infested by aliens called “Phantoms”. If one comes into contact with a Phantom, they die instantly though minor contact causes only an infection. Humans live in quarantine barrier cities protected by energy shields that stop the entry of Phantoms. Aki Ross is infected by a phantom during experimentation and her advisor, Doctor Sid, comes up with a way to defeat the phantoms by collecting eight spirit signatures. While searching for a spirit signature in New York City, she is cornered by phantoms but is rescued by Gray Edwards and his group, the “Deep Eyes”.
After returning to her barrier city, Aki and Sid present themselves to the leadership council, who with Douglas Hein are plotting to use a powerful Zeus space cannon to eliminate the Phantoms. Aki is worried that the aftermath of such an attack would potentially ruin Earth’s Gaia, or, its ecosystem and delays them from carrying out their plan. She delays the use of the cannon and tells them there must be another way by revealing she is infected and the collected spirit signatures are keeping her alive. Based on this knowledge Hein falsely concludes that she is being controlled by the Phantoms. The Deep Eyes group and Aki find the seventh spirit signature and Aki soons falls into unconsciousness because of the progression of her disease. In a dream, she learned that the Phantoms are actually spirits of aliens that died after coming to Earth on a fragment of their planet. Sid revives Aki using the seventh spirit.
Hein convinces the council to allow him to fire the cannon by lowering part of the barrier shield around the city, but scores of phantoms infect the city. Meanwhile, Deep eyes, Aki, and Sid attempt to reach Aki’s ship to escape, and Hein reaches the Zeus space stations and is authorized to fire the cannon. Side finds the last spirit at the crater site where the aliens landed on Earth. However, before it is recovered, the Zeus cannon hits the crater and destroys the spirit along with recalling the “Phantom Gaia”. Aki sees the phantom home planet in a vision and is able to receive the last spirit using alien particles within her. Gray and Aki combine all of the spirit signatures. Meanwhile, Hein continues to cause havoc with the zeus cannon, accidently killing himself and the cannon in the process. Gray sacrifices himself in order to transmit the completed spirit into the alien Gaia, and the Earth’s Gaia returns to normal as the phantoms travel into space, Aki emerges from the crater holding Gray’s body and views the now liberated world.
Characters
- Aki Ross (Ming-Na)
- Doctor Sid (Donald Sutherland)
- Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin)
- Ryan Whittaker (Ving Rhames)
- Neil Fleming (Steve Buscemi)
- Jane Proudfoot (Peri Gilpin)
Reception
The Spirits Within was first released in the United States on July 11, 2001. In its first four weeks of public screening, the film made $32 million domestically. Eventually grossing more than $85 million in worldwide box office receipts. The film received a 45% approval rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics praised the computer animation technology but stated the plot was uncompelling. Metacritic assigned a score of 49/100 for the film based on mixed or average reviews. Robert Ebert praised the technology but states that it lacked "the intelligence and daring of, say, Steven Spielberg's A.I.". Peter Bradshaw stated that though the animation was brilliant, the "solemnly realistic human faces look shriekingly phoney precisely because they're almost there but not quite", concluding "The story is adequate, if familiar, but after half an hour relapses into cliche."