It Should Be A Movie By Now: Final Fantasy VII
Just hear me out. Granted, there are many GREAT stories in the Final Fantasy spectrum, but none seemed to really resonate with me the way FFVII did. The love interest, the inner turmoil, and the arch-nemesis seemed to all be perfectly balanced for what I consider to be one of the best games I’ve ever played to date. (yeah, I went with a video game this time to try and spice things up)
I know that there are probably plenty of you out there that would rather see a Final Fantasy 3 or 4 or even 5 film made, and those are all valid games too. Though, nothing stands out more in the realm of Final Fantasy than that of the seventh installment. I’ll even go further out on a limb and say that it deserves to be a trilogy in order for the complete story to be told and told well. (*waits for the stones to be thrown)
In typical “movie by now” fashion – here’s the intro to FFVII for you:
Impressive graphics, I know.
So let’s think about this for a moment. Why would this work as a movie? Well for one, you have a slew of characters at your disposal to be able to develop and really establish in the first movie. A love triangle that will add emotional depth and drama is a huge hook. There’s more than one antagonist in the story and plenty of baddies to fill in for the heroes to beat upon. There are different plot lines that can all start in the first movie, get really involved in the second one, and pan out completely by the third. Not to mention that you’ve got plenty of comedic relief from Cait Sith. The whimsical/fantasy aspect of the film would be awesome to see on screen with the use of Magic/Materia combined with the always awesome Summons. (Knights of the Round anyone? – took me forever to get that one…countless hours spent trying to obtain a gold … oh yeah I just remembered…) Duh, we can’t forget the Chocobos!
I’d definitely ride one of these!
Sure there could be drawbacks to having a Final Fantasy live action film. For one, the fans out there might throw their arms up in a fit of rage that one of their beloved original stories from some of the earlier games wasn’t used. There might be skeptics out there that think that you can’t make a video game adaptation actually work, much less that from the realm of Final Fantasy. Though a lot of these arguments are moot nowadays. Why is it moot you might ask? Lord of the Rings – that’s why. That trilogy showed the world that you can take any story, with any range of characters, settings, plots, and environments and turn it into a cinematic spectacle. Because of this, I can hold out hope that if any production company can find someone willing to direct, produce, cast, and star in a Final Fantasy VII film, that the movie would actually surprise not only critics but my own expectations. (no matter what those expectations might be…)
CASTING
I miss these guys…
Again, this is one of those movies that would have a HUGE casting list, so I’m going to just focus on what I consider to be the main players …
Cloud – Alex Pettyfer
Tifa – Camilla Belle
Aerith – Ashley Greene
Barret – Rampage Jackson
Sephiroth – Alexander Skarsgård
I do this about every time I mention a movie that needs to be made – but really, if Doom, Dead or Alive, Prince of Persia (which I thought was good), BloodRayne, Need for Speed and Mortal Kombat can get the green light – then I’m sure someone out there can push Final Fantasy VII through. The animated movie that continued the story of VII, Advent Children, was awesome but I felt that it was a half-assed attempt at something that could’ve been far better. The animation and style were there, but it didn’t have the depth of what the original story was. (at least to me) I’m sorry if this is just coming off as a fanboy plea, I don’t mean for it to. Really though, wouldn’t you love to see some live action Chocobo races? Yeah, I thought so – me too.
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Hey guys & gals, my name is Lucas Tetrault and if you like this post or any of the others I’ve done – please feel free to venture over to my Blog and take a gander at some other stuff I write about. I promise I don’t intend to waste your time.
I work as a Creative Director and spend time away from my job with my wife and son, writing for Unreality, and trying to be creative with my own personal projects.
You’ve heard of Advent Children? Those casting pictures are outstanding work, man. Rampage as Barrett is freakin’ perfect. Would watch.
@Nick – heard of Advent Children – I own it! (had it preordered forever before it actually was delivered to my door) I’m glad you approve of the casting call. 🙂
Nice pics! Did you just use a photoshop alpha filter to blend the two source images together, or something fancier?
Alpha filter? Ha, nope, it’s just a simple 2 layer setup and a mask on one of the images and you just erase away some of the mask. (in PS) Glad you enjoyed the casting.