It’s the year 2065, and it’s been 34 years since a meteor containing millions of alien creatures known as Phantoms crash-landed on Earth. These ghost-like creatures feed off the Gaia/energy in humans, literally sucking their souls out of their bodies as they pass through them. They have become a deadly threat, and survivors have been forced to live in barrier cities, protected by energy force fields. However, these protections are starting to fail, and the reach of the Phantoms continues to grow.
Discredited scientist Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) has a theory that the key to stopping the creatures is finding the right combination of 8 spirits/Gaia from various plants and animals to create an energy wave contrary to that of the Phantoms. His partner, Doctor Aki Ross (Ming-Na Wen), has some sort of deeper connection to the Phantoms. Every night she has the same dream of how this 34 year battle will finally come to an end, but it looks more like the apocalypse than peace. She and Dr. Sid have managed to track down 6 of the 8 spirits, but they are running out of time. The government has created a massive weapon, the Zeus Cannon, and General Hein (James Woods) is eager to fire it at the Phantom’s nest—the meteor that crash-landed on Earth—as soon as the council gives him authorization. However, Dr. Sid believes this weapon will do more damage to the Gaia in the Earth, and actually make the problem worse rather than better. Meanwhile, Aki is on a mission to obtain the final two spirits, hopefully before the general decides to launch his weapon. Helping her in this mission is a ragtag military squad known as Deep Eyes. The team is led by the Captain Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin)—who has some sort of romantic past with Aki—and includes Master Sergeant Ryan Whittaker (Ving Rhames), wisecracking pilot/mechanic Neil Fleming (Steve Buscemi), and tough Corporal Jane Proudfoot (Peri Gilpin). Can this team find the final two spirits before it’s too late, and will Dr. Sid’s crazy plan even work if they manage to?!
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within has an interesting premise, and an amazing voice cast to bring it to life. The Gaia/spiritual talk can get a bit over-the-top and hand-waving at some points, but at its core the film is about a quest to find the thing that can stop an alien invasion/war that’s been waging for decades. And in the process our heroes find themselves up again both the seemingly-unstoppable alien threat that has the ghostly advantages of being invisible and being able to move through walls and other obstacles. At the same time they also have to deal with the human threat of the evil General Hein, who believes that Dr. Sid is a quack and that Aki is being controlled by the aliens. He will use any and all fire power at his disposal to take down these aliens, even if that means manipulating the council to see things his way. It’s an action-packed adventure filled with lots of twists and turns, some tense moments, and even some humor (thanks to Steve Buscemi’s Neil).
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was the first photorealistic computer-animated feature film, and it cost quite a fortune to make. However, despite vast improvements in computer technology over the 20 years since this film was made, it holds up remarkably well. There were definitely a few moments where I forgot that I was watching an animated film—the characters can feel quite realistic at times. Sony’s 4K UHD release looks and sounds great. The Blu-ray already looked quite good, but the new 4K presentation adds a slight but noticeable new level of detail in faces and textures. The colors also see an improvement, such as with the red glow of the Phantoms as they attack the ship, or in the expanded color palette of Aki’s dream sequences. There is a pleasant level of film grain, but it never feels overpowering or distracting. Sony’s release also includes an all-new Dolby Atmos audio track, and it sounds amazing. Right as the film opens, you feel the ratting and rumbling of the ship, and the sounds of storms fill the room, transporting the viewer to this mysterious planet in Aki’s dreams. Throughout the film, there is this immersive feeling, and dialogue also remains clear throughout.
The 4K disc does not include any bonus material (new or old), but the release does contain a Blu-ray disc that is identical to the one released in 2007. This disc contains two audio commentary tracks, a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, as well as about an hour of other outtakes, montages, trailers, and behind-the-scenes material. The 4K and Blu-ray discs are packed on either side of a standard 4K keepcase, placed inside a glossy slipcover, along with an insert containing instructions on how to redeem a 4K digital copy of the film.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:45:58)
- 2160p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- HDR10
- Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Czech Stereo, French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, German 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Hungarian 5.1, Italian 5.1, Russian 5.1 VO, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1, Spanish (Latin American) 5.1, Thai 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovene, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Thai, Turkish
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- Audio: English PCM 5.1 (Uncompressed), English 5.1, French 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai
- 4K Movies Anywhere-compatible digital copy of the film
- Audio Commentary: Animation Director, Staging Director, and Editor (1:45:58)
This commentary is presented in English. The participants include animation director Andy Jones, editor Christopher S. Capp, and staging director Tani Kunitake. - Audio Commentary: Co-Director and Crew (1:45:58)
This commentary is presented in Japanese with English subtitles. The participants include co-director Motonori Sakakibara, sequence supervisor Hiroyuki Hayashida, creature supervisor Takao Noguchi, and set & props lead artist Tatsuro Maruyama. - Aki’s Dream Reconstruction (9:02)
The various clips of Aki’s dream combined into one long sequence. - On The Set With Aki (:55)
In this fun clip, after filming her scene, Aki heads backstage past the other characters sitting on couches to check the video village playback. - Compositing Builds (7:46)
Moontage demonstrating how various layers of effects are added to scenes to get to the final product. - Joke Outtakes (1:51)
Some fun incorrectly rendered scenes (purposely and not purposely). - Matte Art Explorations (6:13)
One of the animators shows off some of the film’s digital matte paintings. Presented in 4:3 Full Frame format. - Original Opening (4:54)
Aki awakens from her dream, narrating the current situation on Earth to the audience. Presented in 4:3 Letterboxed format. - The Gray Project (5:37)
Montage of proof of concept footage used to establish how the characters would look, plus some behind-the-scenes footage of the animators. - Interactive Documentary: The Making of Final Fantasy (30:49)
The filmmakers provide a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film and all the various stages in the development process. The participants are not always introduced by name and no names/roles are printed on the screen. Throughout the featurette, icons appear on the screen to activate optional linkout commentaries and additional video interview segments. While this provides an interesting look at the making of the film, having to constantly press enter to see it all got a bit annoying. It would have been nice to have a way to include all of the extra video segments automatically during playback. Also, the footage is covered by futuristic overlay, making it appear more like a postage stamp in the middle of the screen. I would have rather they just included the raw video as this got to be a bit distracting. - Character Profiles
Video profiles on 7 characters from the film, providing their background story, over clips from the film, and behind-the-scenes footage with the main animator and voice actor. Select from:- Dr. Aki Ross (2:25)
- Gray Edwards (3:03)
- Dr. Sid (2:37)
- General Hein (2:55)
- Ryan (1:51)
- Jane (1:27)
- Neil (1:45)
- Vehicle Scale Comparisons
Video profiles on 3 vehicles from the film, comparing their specs to real-world vehicles. Select from:- Bandit (1:09)
- Black Boa (1:00)
- Quatro (1:18)
- Trailer Explorations (4:50)
Producer Jun Aida talks about creating the various trailers for the film. - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Theatrical Trailer (2:11)
- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Teaser (1:40)
- Previews
- Coming to Blu-ray (1:13)
- Ultraviolet (2:19)
- Ghost Rider (2:32)
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4K Ultra HD:
Blu-ray:
Digital (subject to expiration):
Extras:
Only included on Blu-ray disc, which appears to be the same as the disc from the 2007 Blu-ray release. Play All, or select from:
Final Thoughts:
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was my first experience with the franchise, and I was pleasantly surprised. 20 years later, the film still holds up quite well. While parts of the story get a little overly-complex and involve some magical hand-waiving, for the most part, it’s an exciting, action-packed quest/alien-invasion story featuring an excellent (and instantly-recognizable) voice cast. The 4K release looks and sounds great, but includes no new bonus material. All of the supplements are found on the Blu-ray disc, which is identical to the 2007 release, which fans likely already own. That said, for those who don’t already own a copy of this film, this is definitely the version to pick up.
