Visually stunning but too little character development in between the action scenes, giving it a frenzied pace. Another half an hour of characters interacting would have vastly improved things.
It needed a lot more scenes between the main characters other than Cloud and Tifa (would a scene with Barrett and Marlene been too much to ask?). A good example of where this was well done was when Marlene meets Vincent. Very little spoken dialogue, but you get a good impression of their relationship. Also the villains needed more work, motivation and complexity. Kadaj was the only one with more than one character note.
Reno and Rude were handled just about perfectly. They were the only ones I was really rooting for, not because they made the fighting look effortless, but exactly because they had to work hard at it. Plus they balanced action and comedy nicely. Too bad the other Turks were reduced to cameos.
So it's great eye candy, but the story is lacking. But seeing the Turks in action goes a long way to overlook its other shortcomings. |