Films based on video games have a tenuous history at best. Often studios find themselves on a bumpy road trying to compress some 40+ hours of story into a two-hour feature while still retaining some semblance of a story. Though not as dire as past game-to-film adaptations, the Final Fantasy franchise has been through its own struggles in making the transition into multiplexes. The often criticized The Spirits Within was upon release a spectacle of near photo-realistic computer animated artistry, but the story felt uninspired, ultimately having little to do with the series that spawned it. The franchise's next entry, Advent Children, found more success, though not without its share of criticism. Designed as a sequel to one of the property's most popular entries in the series, Advent Children took a different tact from that of its predecessor. Taking direct inspiration from its source material, the film reveled in its use of CGI to render sprawling battles, lavishly constructed cities, and mythical creatures recognizable to fans of the franchise. Despite an uneven plot, the film was well received and seen as a step in the right direction. Kingsglaive is the latest entry in the franchise's attempt at the big screen and the results are muddled at best. Once again relying on cutting-edge animation and striking imagery, the film fails deliver anything beyond lavish eye candy.

The plot of the movie is superficial, serving no other purpose beyond whetting the appetites for fans who have been looking forward to the game since being announced back in 2006. If you watched Kingsglaive expecting a fully realized story with fleshed out characters and carefully choregraphed action scenes, then unfortunately you are just one of the many who were tricked. That's right. You have been tricked into devoting two hours of your life to watching a glorified commercial for a game. Sure, audiences are treated to a semblance of a story trying to be smarter than it actually is, with political intrigue, betrayal, and murder all culminating in spectacular, if confusing, action scenes but why should any of that matter when the culmination of all the previous events only serves to feed into the story of the game? And unless you play the game, you are out of luck in hoping for a satisfying resolution.

The opening minutes of Kingsglaive uses heavy narration to break down the buildup to the films' plot that is in itself a buildup to the main plot found in the game. In a nut shell the kingdom of Lucis under the governance of King Regis (the always welcome Sean Bean) is at war with rival nation Niflheim. Both sides combat one another using magic and technology, with neither able to score a decisive victory. No explanation is offered as to why the two kingdoms are at war so audiences are just expected to roll with it.

After the most recent battle, King Regis is approached by an envoy of Niflheim offering one-sided peace terms. The news doesn't sit easy with his men, causing them to question their reason for fighting. Nyx (Aaron Paul) is a member of the Kingsglaive, King Regis' elite military squad that harnesses the King's magic to strengthen their own in battle. Ever the loyal soldier, Nyx stands steadfast by Regis' decision to accept the terms as his fellow Kingsglaive start to develop their own ideas. With the King's power waning as a result of his age, Lucis is slowly beginning to lose ground in the war. After some deliberation, King Regis agrees to the terms, accepting the marriage proposal of his son Noctis to Niflheim's Princess Lunafreya (Lena Headey). Of course, as it turns out, Niflheim's offer is really just a silver-tongued lie to hide their true intentions. From there the movie transitions into 45 minutes of pure spectacle, with Nyx teleporting and summoning giant stone avatars to wage battle against demons and war machines in an effort to protect Lunafreya amidst crumbling architecture shattering explosions.

From the start, Kingslglaive struggles to find its footing. Noctis is an obviously important figure worth several mentions, but he never really appears. The reason being that he is the main character of Final Fantasy XV, you know, the game that the movie sets up. With that dawning realization, audiences are given little reason to care about what happens to the characters within the film because ultimately, it's all just fodder until the real story begins. Despite a stellar cast whose performances lend enough gravitas to make them feel like they are more important than they actually are, they are essentially lambs made for the slaughter until the heroes from the game presumably save the day.

Ultimately Kingsglaive is one long commercial for the game. Based on its own merits as a standalone film it's too disjointed to be anything more than a two-hour cut scene.

The Bluray

Video:

Kingsglaive offers a stunning palette of colors and detail that rival even Pixar's best efforts. Regardless of its shortcomings, this is a gorgeous film. The Final Fantasy franchise has always been known for its exceptional artistry bordering on photorealism and Kingsglaive is no different. The characters are incredibly detailed and textured that it's easy to envision them as real human beings. If nothing else, the bluray presentation is stellar.

Sound:

Given the amount of action in the film, with the appropriate DTS Speakers you can imagine this film packs quite the punch. Presented in English, Portuguese, French, Japanese, Spanish, and Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital, the dialogue comes through crisp, the music subtle, and the explosions strong and at times oppressing on the subwoofer, thrusting viewers right into the action.

Extras:

The Bluray version includes noteworthy special features that take us behind the lens into the making of the film. "A Way With Words" is primarily a talking heads segment with the English voice cast discussing what drew them to the project and their interpretations of the characters. Lena Headey and Aaron Paul seem genuinely enthusiastic about the film while Sean Bean appears more reserved and conservative in his thoughts. "To Capture the Kingsglaive" dives into the process of the motion capture technology used to bring the characters to life. Given the film was meant to appeal to a broader audience, western actors were used to capture the character's faces and emotions. Interestingly, the actors performing the motion capture were the primary influence for mapping the character's expressions, resulting in instances where dialogue doesn't quite sync up with lip flaps, odd given the film was scripted in English. "Fit For the Kingsglaive" scratches the surface of what went into bringing the world and its characters to life. Its lackluster runtime prevents the feature from going into too much detail, but we get glimpses of the influences and challenges behind the design choices that shaped dazzling look of the film. "Emotive Music" covers the films score and includes discussions with the composer and director as they discuss the choices that went into the score. Those hoping for an in-depth documentary style exploration into the creation of the film won't find it here. None of the features are particularly revelatory and most likely won't lead to further appreciation of the film.

Final Thoughts:

If you are not already a fan of Final Fantasy, Kingsglaive is going to offer little to persuade you to pick up the game. When taken on its own merits, the film is a jumbled mess of poorly developed characters, an unbalanced story, and overdone themes. As a film, Kingsglaive offers nothing significant to the franchise aside from what is essentially a two-hour prologue for Final Fantasy XV.