Last Updated on October 2, 2017 by Zachary Brictson
The negatives I came in expecting I definitely got: Awkward stints of character interaction — a combination of the computer animation and sub-par deliveries from secondary characters — a reliance on safe but overused one liners during combat, and a habit of marketing an upcoming game instead of creating a steady film, where at times a character seems to appear for the sake of players recognizing their reference in Final Fantasy XV come November 29th. Kingsglaive is a corny and haphazardly cut film, no denying it.
That said, I’m a sucker for warp action choreography and the action scenes do not disappoint in Kingsglaive. Members of the elite guard throw their blades out to thin air and warp to their weapon’s location. They teleport from air to ground, from mid leap to enemy, to the sides of airships — all over. From precision knife throws to bouts of desperate tossing in attempts to dodge or escape, the maneuver never fails to look sexy. Nyx, the main character especially, spoils the audience with beautifully rendered combos, throwing his blade in all manners and blinking across dramatic distances over and over again. I never got tired of it. Some have claimed the concept is hard to follow, but I think most videogame players or even anime veterans will understand and love it immediately.
Although this movie’s primary purpose gives backdrop to a game releasing later this year, you could watch it independently of those plans and still appreciate some of the concepts at work. Evil empire, old gods and botched treaty signings. A king whose personal guard draws power from his life force in order to wield magic. Freaky robots that bomb themselves dead limbed through windows, only to contort and animate upon landing. I think that’s enough to win over a certain crowd, and that’s without mentioning the megazord fights toward the end that easily blow Pacific Rim’s out of the water.
Final Fantasy XV: Kingsglaive alleviates some of my disappointment over its delayed game counterpart, and earns a 3/5 score from me. And maybe 3.5/5 because I’m fanboying hard over Crowe.
Good to see new reviews so close to one another. I’m probably one of the few people happy to see FF15 delayed. Only due to the fact it would have come out with a ton of other RPGs I planned on buying. This would have put a major dent into my wallet that my wife wouldn’t have been so happy with. I like the idea of releasing CG movies, or anime with upcoming games to give us a little more backstory on certain characters, or situations. Much like watching Last Order, Advent Children, and playing Crisis Core, and Before Crisis to get a little more lore and history of that is Final Fantasy 7. Of course, all of that came after 7 was released. One thing I’ve realized after watching countless Japanese anime, variety shows, and movies is that their idea of what’s cool, and what’s catchy is quite different than what we, in the West, would agree with. So I don’t know if its a cultural, or maybe a translation gap, but it does make for some campy, and ridiculous dialog at times. Even more so whenever it is said in an English actor’s voice. It’s one of the main reasons I watch with the Japanese language and subtitles. Though, I’ve been told by Japanese/English speakers that the Japanese voice acting is no better. I don’t doubt Final Fantasy XV: Kingsglave will end up on my shelf in the future. My excitement for XV grows to the point it has motivated me to finally finish FF13.