First movie review we’ll be looking at the recent Final Fantasy Movie Kings Glaive.
So for Kings Glaive just as with anime reviews we look at the premise, the characters and the story itself and observe both the good and the bad to give you the best objective review. So your time and money aren’t wasted.
Kings Glaive takes place before the events of Final Fantasy XV and then just during the first moments of it. The setting is the Kingdom of Lucis in its Royal City of Insomnia ruled by King Regis. At the current time the Niflheim Empire is conquering territories all over the world and the Lucian Kingdom is one of the few left that is protected by a powerful barrier powered by King Regis. A military force that shares his power known as the King’s Glaive helps defend the city and push the Empire back.
King Regis is the father of Prince Noctis. Holding up the barrier around Insomnia has aged him long beyond his years. He lives in fear knowing that if he dies that burden will pass to his son Noctis assuming the war with the Empire continues. As a result of this he comes to accept the Empire’s proposal for a peace treaty. This obvious conflict between his love for his son and his duty as king is what causes most of the friction in the plot with the other main characters.
Nyx is the closest thing to a main protagonist for this movie as he gets the most screen time of any other character. He is part of the Kings Glaive serving directly under King Regis. As an immigrant from outside Insomnia and a former citizen of territory taken by the Empire he has good incentive to hate them and dislike the peace treaty that King Regis agrees to. Despite that he still fights to defend the city of Insomnia from all perceived threats.
Libertus is a lessor main character yet still plays a good part in the second half of the story. He is Nyx’s best friend and a fellow member of the King’s Glaive. He is also an immigrant from outside Insomnia and unlike Nyx he really doesn’t react well to King Regis giving up the battle and making the hard work of the King’s Glaive feel like nothing. He arguably has the most character development throughout the story.
Princess Lunafreya Nox Flueret is the main heroine of the story. The fiancé of Prince Noctis and the princess of Tenebrae that is currently under imperial control. She is a strong character not in the fighting sense but in the mental and emotional sense. The movie does a lot to emphasize that. She is not afraid to take dangerous risks to accomplish what she believes is right but besides that physically she is a normal woman in a world with super powered fighters and knows her limits. Basically she knows when retreat is the better option.
These two are the main villains, Aldercapt and Izunia. The emperor and his chancellor that want the crystal of Insomnia for themselves for reasons that will surely be explained in the main game. They come to the city of Insomnia under the guise of a peace treaty after attacking the place with their technologically superior army.
General Glauca is a leading man in the emperor’s army and helps him in many of his large scale schemes. He is as powerful as a boss from Dark Souls and has no problem show casing that fact to all that face him. He is the only one in the empire that only relies on swords rather than guns.
The story of Kings Glaive starts off strong making sure you know essential back story right before you're thrown into the center of a battle.
The Kings Glaive unit is able to repel the enemy but its clear that the kingdom of Lucis is on its last legs. So a peace treaty is proposed and King Regis reluctantly accepts. The story goes on from there to the reactions of the other characters and the results on the rest of the world that happens as a result of this treaty.
From there we have more battles that are incredibly well done, political plots that help add interest to the story and terrific performances from the voice actors and the people responsible for the motion capture in this animated movie. The movie also builds itself up and just when you think they can’t do more they keep going to give a truly epic ending scene.
The bad of this is that anyone who is new to the final fantasy franchise might get lost at first. There are tons of references and Easter eggs to be found that any final fantasy fan will certainly pick up on and appreciate but anyone new will likely be lost. Then there is a big plot hole the story has, but that being said it is easy to ignore and forgive if you try yet that still takes points off.
If you are already a final fantasy fan I definitely recommend Kings Glaive to you it will help explain the current situation in the upcoming game. If you’re not but your looking to get into Final Fantasy I would recommend watching Advent Children first because a lot of the action is done by the same people and you’ll be more prepared for what you’re getting. If you’re not a fan and not interesting in getting the game then don’t bother seeing this one you won’t enjoy yourself.
As a final fantasy movie it does really well, rest assured it is a far cry from Spirits Within. It gets an 8 out of 10.