Back in 2005, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released to a host of unfavorable reviews from critics and audiences alike. However, a strange thing has started to occur in more recent years, more and more millennials are starting to look back on the film with a more favorable lens.
At the time of its release, some viewers criticized the movie for its complicated narrative, pacing, and characters, while an equal amount of Final Fantasy VII fans applauded it for its action scenes, stunning visuals, and commitment to the original game.
In recent years, the film has gotten more positive reviews from fans, with many praising its emotional depth and treatment of topics such as loss, grief, and redemption. The film's popularity has also been increased by its release on Blu-ray and streaming services, which has made it more accessible to a wider audience.
You can count The Marvels Nia DaCost among Advent Children's newfound supporters. Speaking to IGN, she revealed that she actually referenced the CG animated video game film in her pitch meeting to Marvel Studios.
"One of my references when I was pitching for [The Marvels] was from Advent Children. A couple of scenes from that because it's just an amazing, amazing movie, and has really great fight scenes and has a really great ending sequence with the main character being thrown into the sky by all the other characters," explained the Nora Ephron Prize-winning director.
She went on to add, "I actually didn't want [The Marvels] to look like a video game in the sense of what you think of when you think of video game, it's more linear, but obviously they're so cinematic as well. Think about The Last of Us cutscenes, or Horizon Zero Daen cutscenes but it's a very different style. So for me, it was from the best kinds of games, the best kinds of stories you get, that's what inspires me to play and inspires people to watch movies like this."
It seems DaCosta is a big gamer as she went on to share that she loves Skyrim and most recently finished playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Who knew the director of a big-budget MCU film would be such a huge gamer?!