I've been waiting to see this movie for a few months. Had no idea what the story was, I was just enchanted with the computer graphics. After the movie came out there was an immediate Slashdot review that didn't like it, and after Donald and Shannon said that it was only an ok movie I was a bit apprehensive about going to see it. But I still went, expectations at mid- level, and I'm glad I did. This is a fine movie that appeals to the same audience that the video game appeals to. This review is going to give out more plot than is usual for me. You were warned.

The year is 2065. Earth is deep in the middle of a war that it is currently losing. Phantoms, which are invisible extraterrestrial creatures ranging from small movers to gigantic crawlers, have infested most of the planet. The only safe places are the barrier cities, which aren't really cities at all as can be seen by Barrier City #42: New York City, which encompasses about 2/3rd of Manhattan Island. Barrier cities are englobed by a bio-ethereal field that keeps out the phantoms.

It is the bio-ethereal energy that is also used to power weapons and vehicles and it is used to detect phantoms, because phantoms are invisible to the naked eye. But even with bio-ethereal energy, humanity is losing. Perhaps their last chance is the newly built Zeus gun, orbiting the Earth. With it the humans can blast the alien meteor crater where they originate from.

But what damage will that cause the Earth (or really the Earth Spirit, Gaia)? Dr Sid (Donald Sutherland) is convinced that everything has a spirit, and a weapon that can strike deep into the earth to get at the phantoms may also damage Gaia. Nonsense, there is no proof that there are spirits at all. How can humanity wait on the hopes of a brilliant scientist (the man who first developed bio-ethereal energy)?

That's what Aki Ross (Ming-Na) sets out to do. She is Dr Sid's assistant and a well respected scientist in her own right. Aki has just returned with the sixth spirit. Spirits are synchronized souls with both Terran and alien energies. Dr Sid feels that with the eight spirits he'll be able to build a device that can cancel the phantoms and banish them forever. The spirits (and why you need eight) is one of the aspects of the movie that I didn't understand completely.

The council gives Dr Sid more time, much to the chagrin of General Hein (James Woods), who distrusts the spiritual mumbo-jumbo and wants to use a weapon he understands. Fearing that Aki has been "compromised" by the aliens, he details the Deep Eyes Squad to both assist her and keep an eye on her, not knowing that the Deep Eyes' leader, Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin) was involved with Aki until she broke it off perhaps weeks ago.

Will Aki find the last two spirits before the Zeus cannon is used? Will General Hein's machinations inadvertantly doom the earth and humanity along with it? Can Gray romance Aki into taking her back? And what about those dreams that Aki has been having, is that a clue as to the real motivations of the phantoms?

This is a visually stunning movie. The computer graphics are as close to lifelike and real as you can get today. Lots of facial closeups and the details are amazing. What's still lacking a bit is human movements, which at times seem a bit jerky and not quite natural. Also speaking with the mouth and facial expressions are not quite perfect. But it's an amazingly well animated movie.

The voice acting is pretty good. Along with Baldwin, Na, Woods and Sutherland we have Steve Buscemi as Neil Fleming, the wise-cracking technical expert; Ving Rhames as Sergeant Ryan Whittaker; and Peri Gilpin as the taciturn Jane Proudfoot.

The only flaw I found with the movie is that it assumes a little too much viewer knowledge. Some things are poorly explained or explained later, which means you have to pay attention. If you've played the Final Fantasy video games I'm sure it makes perfect sense, but I had a few questions that were not resolved at the end of the movie, though nothing important. I'm totally fine with the spiritual Gaia thing, which is a common element in a lot of Japanese RPGs and anime. Not very Western and maybe one reason why Final Fantasy may be a miss in the US market.