Film Review: Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

Despite the grandiose presentation, plot points feel heavily borrowed, and features a complex narrative that no one is going to care about anyway because of the kick-ass fight scenes.

While the games have traditionally featured deep, enriching stories to accompany characters that are always cosplay staples whenever you go to Comic Cons, Final Fantasy has struggled to grasp animated film for about 15 years now. Typically, the Final Fantasy Movies feature rather impressive casts with convoluted plots and lame dialogue all placed in breath-taking visuals that showcase what CG drama SHOULD look like. Unfortunately, Kingsglaive doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from prior releases like Advent Children or Spirits Within, both of which were also huge disappointments despite big marquee stars.

The star prowess continues with Kingsglaive, Aaron Paul (Nyx), Sean Bean (Regis), and Lena Heady ( Lunafreya) are your serious talent, and then it kind of trickles down from there. That said, those expecting the BoJack Horseman variety of Aaron Paul are going to be disappointed because this is closer to Breaking Bad Aaron Paul more than anything. Yes, Aaron OWNS his role, and tries his best to manage a script that was probably a challenge to get through given all the plot holes. Sean Bean was excellent, but I think he was just one of the many ways in which the premise of Kingsglaive unabashedly lifts ideas from Lord of the Rings, most notably in the final act where a ring with powers that allows you to control a dead army becomes a critical plot point that effectively ends the movie but also hands off to the eventual Final Fantasy XV game coming out just in time for the holiday season. Lena Heady is probably the one ear sore in terms of voice casting, as I would’ve preferred a younger actress to fill the role of a young princess, rather than a 40+ year old actress that helped ruin the Terminator franchise

Unfortunately for us, there’s no real build up from the antagonists for the film, most of whom come in the third act and leave behind a big ol’ mess. Most of the time it’s the Kingsglaive making sure the princess is safe, and being victims to stolen crystals and rings, but at least the world of Insomnia is gorgeous to look at. Quite frankly, the CG is the meat and potatoes of the movie featuring character designs for the Daemons that would make Peter Jackson jealous (as he’s watching his script unfold anyway) and settings that feature a beautiful clash between first class Paris and lower class Hong Kong all of which are burned to the ground in favor of epic monster battles.
Ironically enough, the distributors of Kingslaive made SURE to get their return on investment with a wise release strategy that includes limited screenings for the die-hard Final Fantasy fans, and a streaming strategy that doesn’t include subscription or rental services. As a result, I recommend this film to the die-hards that definitely plan to purchase Final Fantasy XV. Fans of anime like Attack on Titan or Gundam will demand a bit more meat on the bone in terms of storyline, but will rejoice for the fight scenes while the rest of us may be fine to wait until this thing is on HBO or Netflix.