Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

2016 • 115 minutes

About this movie

The magical kingdom of Lucis is home to the sacred Crystal, and the menacing empire of Niflheim is determined to steal it. King Regis of Lucis (Sean Bean) commands an elite force of soldiers called the Kingsglaive. Wielding their king’s magic, Nyx (Aaron Paul) and his fellow soldiers fight to protect Lucis. As the overwhelming military might of the empire bears down, King Regis is faced with an impossible ultimatum – to marry his son, Prince Noctis to Princess Lunafreya of Tenebrae (Lena Headey), captive of Niflheim, and surrender his lands to the empire’s rule. Although the king concedes, it becomes clear that the empire will stop at nothing to achieve their devious goals, with only the Kingsglaive standing between them and world domination.

Ratings and reviews

I have to admit the music and the art of the movie is exceptional hence the 2 stars but the story and characters were straight up awful. Sure Nyx was your ideal hero type but everyone else just annoyed me. The enemies were near invincible. The pacing was choppy. It wouldn't hurt anyone if they just included a small intro paragraph of something to explain the character relationships instead of shoving random scenes that seem important. And there were a lot of 'what was the point of this' moments.

A deep and fascinating world to dive into, and I want to know more! If you can connect the dots, (and can wrap your head around certain fantasy concepts) the basic plot is a reasonably straightforward one. The "Empire" is attacking Lucis, and the Kingsglaive are the royal guard. The Empire halts the attack, knowing they can't get into the capital due to its magical shield. Under the pretense of a peace talk, the Empire seeks to gain access to the capital. Treachery and chaos ensue! Designed with the associated video game in mind, this world has a lot of complex story elements crammed into a film that is far too short for the awe inspiring visuals that make it worth any CG art lover's time. It also provides a lesson on things like the ever-present uncanny valley that make incredibly flawless animation look awkward or uncomfortable. Not only this, but a lesson on how NOT to re-animate lips for a re-dub. 90% of the time, the CG is near perfect. The remaining 10% feels rushed through the render farm, and it degrades the overall experience of the film. With a few more hours devoted to rendering, lip animation, and post, some of the less detailed scenes could have been improved.

Many may complain about the plot but overall you should (like any other movie without a sequel) come to understand it more as you watch. As well it is a captivating piece of art being that it is solely CG and yet at certain portions can be hard to tell. Finally any complaints to be made must first come to terms as this is primarily a gaming concept turned into a movie and I have yet to find any others that I'd say dare match up to this with the mentioned concept in mind.