Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
(film)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
is a science fiction film by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy
series of RPGs. It was released on July 13, 2001 in the United States and it was
the first animated feature to seriously attempt photorealistic CGI humans.
The story follows scientists Aki Ross and Doctor Sid in their efforts to free Earth from a mysterious but deadly alien race known as the Phantoms, which has driven surviving humanity into "barrier cities." They must compete against General Hein, who wishes to attack the aliens with the Zeus space cannon to end the conflict.
The film received mixed reviews and was a box office bomb,
with losses estimated at over US$120 million.
Tagline : Unleash a new reality
Cast
Ming-Na - Dr. Aki Ross (voice)
Alec Baldwin - Capt. Gray Edwards (voice)
Ving Rhames - Sgt. Ryan Whitaker (voice)
Steve Buscemi - Officer Neil Fleming (voice)
Peri Gilpin - Officer Jane Proudfoot (voice)
Donald Sutherland - Dr. Cid (voice)
James Woods - General Hein (voice)
Keith David - Council Member #1 (voice)
Jean Simmons - Council Member #2 (voice)
Matt McKenzie - Major Elliot
(voice)
John DeMita - BCR Soldier / Space Station Technician (voice)
John Di Maggio - BFW Soldier (voice)
Alex Fernandez - Space
Station Technician (voice)
David Rasner - Space Station Technician (voice)
Dwight Schultz - Scan Technician (voice)
Annie Wu - The Little Girl
/ The Fifth Spirit (voice)
Track listing
The
Spirit Within (2:05)
Race to Old New York (1:20)
The Phantom Plains (1:42)
Code Red (2:05)
The Kiss (4:14)
Entrada (0:54)
Toccata and Dreamscapes
(8:29)
Music for Dialogues (2:18)
Winged Serpant (1:35)
Zeus Cannon
(3:24)
Flight to the Wasteland (5:56)
A Child Recalled (2:26)
The
Eighth Spirit (0:51)
Dead Rain (1:51)
Blue Light (3:29)
Adagio and
Transfiguration (5:23)
The Dream Within (4:44) by Lara Fabian
Spirit Dreams
Inside (3:44) by L'Arc-en-Ciel
Plot
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is set on an alien-infested Earth in the year 2065 . The remaining humans live in "barrier cities" all over the world and attempt to free their planet from the Phantoms, an alien race. The only hope for the planet comes from the scientist Aki Ross and her mentor, Dr. Sid, who have a plan to destroy the Phantoms without damaging the planet, but a general named Hein is determined to use the Zeus space cannon to destroy the Phantoms—even if it means destroying the Earth in the process.
While the film does carry the name Final Fantasy, it is only vaguely thematically related to Square Co.'s popular Final Fantasy series of games. However, Dr. Sid's Gaia Theory, relating to a lifeforce within the planet to which spirits belong, is highly reminiscent of the Lifestream/Mako in Final Fantasy VII. The plot, characters, and storyline were all created specifically for the movie although the character of Dr. Sid does continue the games' tradition of having a character named Cid appear in most Final Fantasy games, despite the Doctor's name being spelled with an untraditional "S".
The story starts with Aki Ross onboard her ship—the Black Boa—waking up from a dream about the Phantoms. After she records her dream, she lands in Old New York City, on a mission to find the 6th spirit. She continues looking until she runs into some Phantoms, and it appears that she is about to be killed until a squad known as Deep Eyes arrives to save her life. Despite the captain indicating to her that she is under arrest, Aki runs and eventually finds the 6th spirit, which is a plant. At this moment the squad and Aki are surrounded by Phantoms, and they escape by going to higher ground and getting on a transport. An altercation occurs between Doctor Ross and the captain of the mission, who accuses her of irresponsibility. Afterwards, he removes his helmet, and is revealed to be Captain Gray Edwards, an old acquaintance of Doctor Ross. When they land they are all scanned for Phantom contamination (except Aki, because she has special clearance). The captain is found to be infected, with a Phantom inside him. Aki performs bio laser surgery on him, saving his life with one second to spare. She then talks to Doctor Sid. She confirms that the plant she found is the 6th spirit. Sid shows Aki a diary he wrote when he was her age, and after she has read it, he burns it, stating that their ideas are unpopular among men. Later, after waking up from another Phantom dream, Aki is drawn into a debate on whether to use the Zeus cannon, a weapon that was designed to destroy the Phantoms. Sid argues against the use of the cannon, saying that the cannon would destroy "Gaia - the spirit of the planet". The general mocks this concept and asks for proof. Aki then shows him proof by revealing that she has been infected by the Phantoms, yet still remains alive.
After the debate, Aki proceeds to search for the 7th spirit along with Captain Gray. They are both stranded when members of Gray's squad short circuit the system, saying that they want the captain and Aki to have time to talk to each other in order to build their relationship. Gray asks Aki about the spirits, and Aki replies, "When I was young, I was infected by a Phantom. However, I didn't die because Doctor Sid placed a membrane around the infection. Therefore the first spirit was me, the second was a fish, the third was a deer I found in a wildlife preserve outside Moscow, the fourth was a bird - Ever tried tracking a sparrow from space? It's not fun - And the latest one was the plant I found." Gray then points out, " You missed one - you said that the plant was the 6th one. What happened to the 5th?" Aki hesitates, saying "The 5th was a little girl, dying in a hospital. I managed to get the sample, however, she - I told her that everything had a spirit, little girls, the earth, plants, trees - She said that I didn't need to lie to her to make everything feel better and she said she was ready to die. Only seven and ready to die." Aki then sobs quietly. Gray and Aki draw close to kiss, but before they do, the power is turned back on.
Paranoid that Aki might be a spy for the Phantoms, the General orders Gray and Deep Eyes to guard Doctor Ross and report any suspicious behavior. If she acts in any way abnormal, she is to be arrested.
Dr. Ross, accompanied by the rest of the squad, then leaves the barrier city for the Tucson Wastelands, where she hopes to find the 7th spirit. After dropping energy buoys to distract the Phantoms, they descend and attempt to locate and retrieve the spirit. After a while, they find it - it is contained in the living tissues inside the OVO pack of a dead soldier,. After retrieving it, they discover that they are surrounded by Phantoms, who, apparently, have been attracted to the one located inside Dr.Ross. The squad is picked up, but the General's soldiers try to apprehend Dr. Ross. One is killed by a Phantom, and the team narrowly escapes.
General Hein, meanwhile, is desperate to gain clearance to fire the Zeus Cannon. He tells the operators of New York's barrier to lower the shields in a section of the city. Hein's plan is to sacrifice a small part of the population in order to convince the government that the Phantoms can breach the shields, allowing him to take necessary steps. His plan backfires, as the Phantoms are able to use plasma conduits to travel through the rest of the city. Aki and only a handful of her crew survive the resulting attack. Subsequently, Hein is floating in space, about to commit suicide, when a transmission comes in, saying that following the disaster, he is now authorized to use the Zeus cannon.
Aki and Dr. Sid devise a plan to destroy the Phantoms at their heart, the Phantom crater. The plan involves Aki and Gray being lowered into the crater inside a bio-etheric shield vehicle, and finding and removing the 8th spirit, which is a Phantom. The pair have just located the Phantom when suddenly a beam from the Zeus station crashes into the crater, killing the Phantoms on the surface, including the 8th spirit. The beam leaves the vehicle shieldless and exposed to the Phantoms, which now cover the crater in response to the attack. Gray leaves the vehicle to protect Aki from the Phantoms.
Meanwhile, Aki has her final vision in which a Phantom tells her that the spirit within her is in fact the new 8th spirit. When Aki wakes up, she calls Gray in to use his OVO pack battery to project the completed wave pattern of the eight spirits. As the projection begins, another Zeus beam penetrates the atmosphere, completely obliterating the bio-etheric shield vehicle, and triggering a massive reaction from the Phantom world's spirit, which resides in the crater. This attack, however, overloads the Zeus cannon, destroying it and killing General Hein.
With the vehicle destroyed, Gray sacrifices his own life to distribute Aki's wave, using his body to transmit it directly to the Phantom world spirit. The Phantoms all turn into bright floating orbs which return to space, and the end scene is of Aki holding Gray's body and looking into the newly liberated world.
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