Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: Difference between revisions

* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Sephiroth, Cloud, Kadaj... Basically anyone who uses any kind of blade has one of these. Cloud's is so sharp that it can apparently cut through ''entire skyscrapers''.

* [[Adult Fear]]: The silver-haired men kidnap innocent children, effectively brainwash them and then put them in harm's way (said harm being a ''gigantic dragon''). For any good parent, the first part alone is utterly terrifying. Somehow this does not prevent them from getting a {{spoiler|[[Redemption in the Rain]] scene}} at the end of the movie.

** Before ''Complete'' more adequately explained the plot, the best way of comprehending the movie (as well as learning of other interesting information) was to buy the ''Reunion Files'' book, the filmic equivalent of an FF ''Ultimania'' book. Whilst it's technically only available in Japan, it's also thankfully fully bilingual, featuring both English and Japanese text.

** Besides the ''Reunion Files'', a series of [http://xcomprandomness.co.uk/ff7novels/ novellas] collectively called "On the Way to a Smile" documents the events between the film in the game, including how Edge was built, how Cloud and Tifa ended up living together, what the party members were doing during their two years off, who Denzel is, and what Geostigma is in greater detail. To say the novellas explain a lot of stuff not present in the film would be an understatement.

* [[A Million Is a Statistic]]: Everyone seems a lot more concerned about Sephiroth's return than the silver-haired men kidnapping every single child in Edge. Somewhat justified in that Sephiroth posed a danger to the entire world, but still.

* [[Anime Hair]]: Not as bad as it could have been, but it was still present. The movie's about Cloud, after all.

* [[Armor Is Useless]]: None of the characters wear metal armor, except perhaps for Cloud's pauldron, which is never used. Averted when Cloud gets shot in the face, but only his goggles get shot off...although it is quite possible that [[The Goggles Do Nothing]], and Cloud's face is just THAT tough. Alternately, [[Crazy Prepared|he has Adamantine Goggles]].

* [[Arm Cannon]]: Barret, now [[BFG|bigger]] and [[More Dakka|better]] than ever.

* [[Badass]]: Quite a fair few of them, ranging from characters to tropes, in varying levels.

* [[Badass Biker]]: Cloud, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz.

* [[Badass Cape]]: Vincent's cape definitely counts, especially during his intro scene. This makes him a better ninja than Yuffie.

* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Sephiroth

* [[Badass Normal]]: Rude. In a world where just about every fighting adult can practically fly, and even Reno has crazy climbing skills, Rude manages to hold his own against Loz with nothing but fists (and some awesome shades). Also, {{spoiler|he manages to stop Loz and Yazoo with his homemade bombs}}.

** Rufus Shinra too. Played Kadaj like the bush-leaguer he is without so much as getting out of his wheelchair and then {{spoiler|engages Kadaj in a sky-diving chase sequence in pursuit of Jenova's head}}.

** Aerith and Zack are finally shown reunited in the afterlife.

** Cloud. He tried right after the game, and made a good run of it, But his survivor's guilt eventually caught up with him. Contracting Geostigma put the final nail in the angst coffin. However, events in the movie (spelled out in the Ultimania) make it clear Cloud has dealt with his major issues and finds his promised land surrounded by his friends and his family by the final end.

* [[Bishonen Line]]: Kadaj gets even ''more'' bishonen and far more powerful when he {{spoiler|briefly turns into Sephiroth}}.

* [[BFS]]: Cloud and Sephiroth

* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: Sephiroth, who has at least two good chances to kill Cloud and decides to fight and taunt him a bit more. It arguably makes sense with Sephiroth. Dude's been waiting two years for his revenge; he's going to take his time and enjoy it.

* [[The Brute]]: Loz

* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Rufus}} to Kadaj.

* [[The Coconut Effect]]: The entire reason Cloud is constantly depicted as emo in the movie (despite the fact that he got over his problems by the end of the game) is because at this point the fandom had made this out to be his only mental characteristic and wouldn't recognize him otherwise.

** ''Complete'' comes with an additional feature that recaps the events of the other spin-offs, although ''[[Dirge of Cerberus]]'' is glanced over, as it's set a year after ''Advent Children''.

* [[Cool Shades]]: Rude's, the guy even has <s>a spare pair</s> [[Running Gag|many spare pairs]] in his jacket. Some parts of the fandom insist that Rude has a special Materia just for producing [[Cool Shades]]. Cloud's goggles are pretty cool too.

** {{spoiler|He also suspects it all along, going so far as to voice his distress at the prospect to Rufus when they're alone in the high-rise.}}

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Basically everything involving the children. They all qualify as being [[Littlest Cancer Patient|little cancer patients]], but then [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]] when {{spoiler|they're kidnapped by the silver-haired men}} who have some very...questionable attitudes towards them. Finally, there's their {{spoiler|baptism}} by Cloud.

** Not so much "forgiven" as "forgotten", but everyone's attitude towards working with the Shinras is basically *shoulder shrug*. Even ''[[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Barrett]]'' is without complaint, and he witnessed them personally kill his original [[Five-Man Band]] ''and'' drop the Sector Seven plate on the slums. That being said, [[Demoted to Extra|he wasn't the focus of the movie]].

** More like, "Yazoo, Loz, Kadaj and, oh, yeah, fucking '''''{{spoiler|Sephiroth}}''''' are [[Conflict Killer|way more important than revenge!]]"

* [[Fastball Special]]: ''All the party members'' perform it on Cloud. Yes, even ''[[Killed Off for Real|her]]''. Note that this is not on separate occasions... this is the aerial equivalent of a bucket brigade, with Cloud as the (highly ballistic) bucket.

* [[The Gunslinger]]: Yazoo and Vincent

* [[Generic Doomsday Villain]]: An unusual in-universe example. Cloud accuses Kadaj and co. of being this; stating that they don't really know ''why'' they're being antagonistic. Kadaj, however, [[Shut Up, Kirk|doesn't]] [[Talk to the Fist|care]]

* [[Goggles Do Nothing]]: Reno's don't seem to do anything other than to look cool and give him red rings around his eyes. Completely averted with Cloud, though--in addition to their regular purpose (keeping dirt out of his eyes) the goggles also prevent him from taking a bullet right between the eyes.

* [[Heel Face Return]]: Rufus shows up and explains he's seen the error in his ways and is working to undo the damage he did. His repentance kind of makes sense in that the consequences of Shinra Company's activities were extremely dramatic by the end of the game, and nearly were even worse.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Rude and Reno

* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: "A ''good'' son would have known."

* [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die|I Let Aerith Die]]: As it was in FFVII, one of the reasons for Cloud's depression until he finally allows himself to be forgiven.

* [[Implausible Fencing Powers]]: Rampant.

** Yazoo, who shoots Cloud's sunglasses off his face at point blank range and gives him only a tiny cut on the forehead, though it's more due to Cloud's ability to [[Made of Iron|shrug off a bullet to the forehead]].

** Ironically for a movie so bent on [[Rule of Cool]], this is [[Reality Is Unrealistic|entirely possible]]. ''Squama frontalis'', a part of the frontal cranial bone that forms the forehead itself, is one of the (if not ''the'') toughest bones in the human body<ref>Also the reason headbutts are effective</ref>. In some people it may reach a full inch or more in thickness, and thus is entirely able to stop at least a handgun bullet. Of course, the force of the impact would still create a shockwave that would pulverize the brain behind it. Surviving without skull penetration? Depending on the angle, possible. Surviving without at least some brain injury? Extremely unlikely. Cloud's brain is [[Made of Iron]] too.

* [[It Is Not Your Time]]: Cloud, after {{spoiler|being shot by Yazoo}}, has a brief encounter with {{spoiler|Aerith and Zack}} who tell him he doesn't belong with them yet.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Barret and Cid.

* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Right after Tifa [[I Am Not Left-Handed|(seemingly)]] defeats Loz, the classic ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' victory chime [[Theme Tune Cameo|starts playing in the background]]. It turns out to be [[Sorry I Left the BGM On|the ringtone to Loz's cellphone]].

* [[Let Them Die Happy]]: {{spoiler|Kadaj's death.}}

** The dub. Oh so much.

** ''"Dilly dally shilly shally"'', a nonsense phrase used in the English version to replace the Japanese "zuruzuru", an onomatopœia that mimics the sound of dragging a heavy load. Since the entire film is about Cloud letting his guilt and feelings of powerlessness weigh him down ("I feel...lighter"), it [[Makes Sense in Context]]. "Dilly dally shilly shally" on the other hand....

* [[Littlest Cancer Patient]]: Denzel and the other kids battling Geostigma.

* [[Lost in Translation]]: Cloud's sword in the movie was originally called the First Tsurugi by fans, both all six assembled blades and the base blade. In actuality, this name refers ''only'' to the base blade - the others were never given names by the production staff, who just used "Fusion Swords" to describe them. The mixup came from a misunderstanding of a transcription of Tetsuya Nomura's DVD commentary. Even the word "Tsurugi" (Chinese for broadsword) isn't the original one used (they just went with 'ken', evidently).

* [[Messiah Creep]]: Try watching {{spoiler|the baptism scene at the end of the movie}} and tell us that's not what's happening with Cloud.

* [[Missing Trailer Scene]]: The first 2 trailers are infamous for being made almost entirely of test footage, none of which was used in the final movie (save the scene relating to Aerith's death). Interestingly, some screenshots of these scenes are actually on the back of the original DVD box.

** [[Toshiyuki Morikawa]] as Sephiroth.

** [[Maaya Sakamoto]] as Aerith.

** [[Hideo Ishikawa]] as Cait Sith.

* [[No Flow in CGI]]: Averted to such cost, they avoided having to where possible. [[Demoted to Extra|Hope you weren't a big fan of Red XIII]].

* [[Obfuscating Disability]]: Rufus Shinra always sits in a wheelchair and is covered in a long cloak, making him appear to be crippled and highly disfigured. That way Kadaj constantly keeps turning his back to him, which comes in handy in the end, as he can stand, walk, and use guns without much problems, at least for a short time.

* [[Oh Crap]]: {{spoiler|Cloud when [[It Was His Sled|Sephiroth is resurrected]] ''right in front of him''. Later returned the favor with the Omnislash Version 5. In Complete, Sephiroth BLOCKING the original Omnislash.}}

* [[One-Winged Angel]]: Wouldn't be ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' without it. {{spoiler|Kadaj becomes Sephiroth, then Sephiroth sprouts his wing at the fight's climax}}. The last one is subverted, however, in that {{spoiler|he dies immediately after it appears.}}

* [[The Pawn]]: The silver-haired men to Sephiroth and Jenova.

* [[The Plague]]: Geostigma

* [[Point That Somewhere Else]]: Near the beginning of Cloud and Sephiroth's fight, when Sephiroth points his sword in Cloud's face while he's laid out.

** Yuffie's entire contribution to the film is having a flashy shuriken to throw around.

** In one of ''Complete'''s new scenes, Cloud throws two of his swords as boomerangs. One comes back quite soon. The other one he catches about 10 seconds later, still in mid-flight, using the sword he was already holding. [[Beyond the Impossible|The laws of physics wept, before getting kicked to the curb]].

** Denzel, after regaining his senses and seeing Tifa get hurt. "Son of a BITCH!"

** This is actually the only time a swear gets subbed. Of course [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Reno and Rude]] are ''supposed'' to say "holy shit" when Bahamut Sin unleashes a breath of fire, but the subbers changed it to "hell no".

* [[Product Placement]]: The Panasonic P900iV cellphone.

* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: The silver-haired men. Miniboss, check. Quirky...definitely.

* [[Recycled Soundtrack]]: Piano tracks come directly from a previous Final Fantasy VII piano album.

* [[Remember the New Guy?]]: If you find yourself wondering who this Denzel kid is, trust us, you're not the only one. ''Complete'' expands on his role and backstory.

* [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself]]: Why didn't Yuffie just pass around some materia, have everyone cast one of their maxed-out spells (most of the materia was green), and wipe Kadaj and his ilk off the face of the earth? Because they've lost their edge - they've moved on and rebuilt their lives after Sephiroth's defeat, while Cloud spent all of his time brooding on [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die|his failure to save Aerith.]] Tifa infers, from her defeat at Loz's hands, that none of them are the demigod-slayers they used to be. None of them save Cloud, who has refused to let go of his grief, is still riding the wave of desperation that let the party match superhumans like Sephiroth blow-for-blow. She even says those [[Exact Words]]. Letting him finish the final fight himself not only keeps them out of his way, but enables him to find closure.

* [[Together in Death]]: Zack and Aerith

** Or ''regained'' levels, more like. Tifa comments during Cloud's fight with Kadaj how they all got weaker since the end of the game, but Cloud's retained much of his edge due to his isolation, and after entering single combat with Kadaj, seems to once more become "the man who killed Sephiroth"...''twice.''

** Also, Denzel in the ''Complete'' version in comparison to the old version.

** Did ''you'' think Sephiroth was going to come back for this movie?

** Not the trailer, but the cover for the ACC Blu-Ray release shows both Cloud and Sephiroth on the front of it. But anyone whose a fan of ''FFVII'' would have known they were going to bring him back anyway.

* [[Updated Rerelease]]: ''Complete''. Roughly 30 minutes more footage, as well as some altered scenes.

* [[Variable Terminal Velocity]]: Kadaj manages to fall faster than Rufus Shinra, even though Rufus fell first.

** Zack's [[BFS|Buster Sword]].

** The stinger for ''Complete'' directly references this - {{spoiler|The first shot is of the spot Zack died, with flowers growing, and Denzel asking if it was someone's grave. Cloud replies that it was where "a hero began his journey". After this, the shot fades to Aerith' church, where the sword has been moved to.}}

* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Sephiroth, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo

 

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