Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

To those who loved this world...

And knew friendly company therein...

This reunion is for you.

Sequel to the game, and one of the more infamous video-game based films (FF7 is easily one of the most influential games of the 5th generation of video games). Comes in two editions: normal and complete (I've seen both), the latter inserting/editing some content.

If you live in the US, the normal version can be viewed legally for free on YouTube.

Thoughts

Rule of cool personified.

I mean, the plot is mildly interesting, and/or coherent, but if that's all you're watching it for, you are going to be one sad, sad person. Especially if you've actually played FF7 (I haven't) - characters look a lot more one-dimensional than in the game: Cloud is super duper emo/mopey, Aerith is some pure incorruptible semi-deity (keep in mind this is the young woman that threatened to rip off a mafia don's balls), and the others generally don't get a ton of screentime. And, needless to say, the final battle is a simple Cloud/Sephiroth thing (homoerotic undertones fully intended), but, as mentioned, damned if it isn't one of the coolest fight scenes to ever grace animated film.

One interesting thing I will mention, though, is that this movie will probably make the Cloud/Aerith/Tifa ship debating worse. Cloud is shown to be moping over Aerith's death for a non-trivial portion of the movie (even though Aerith seems to be saying to him in a dream "I never blamed you; you came for me, that's all that matters"), and at one point, Tifa even puts it directly to him: "What's it gonna be? A memory, or us?" Which is instant additional fuel for the constant flame that is this debate.

And since I'm talking about it...

If you want my opinion, I'm not terribly fond of either pairing. I love Aerith as a character - more "damsel in distress" characters should be at least as interesting as her, not to mention that her appearance design is attractive without needing to dress provocatively at all - but I don't love either Cloud or Zack in the same manner, so I find the idea of her not being with anyone best. As for Tifa, well, everything I like about Aerith, she doesn't really have (she's not a damsel in distress type, but somehow a weaker female character overall), sooo...yeah.

Anyways. Movie. Tl;dr version: it's cool. Plot? Don't talk to me about plot.