*The following is a repost from my original blog. If you want to go see the original text, I will link it right below but the text is basically unchanged between the two so be aware of that.
https://afterthoughtreviews.blogspot.com/2017/07/after-thoughts-what-if-final-fantasy.html
Another blatant ripoff you can probably guess the inspirations of. Yay!
What if Advent Children was good? Really good? What if I was an executive at Square Enix back when the script was written for this movie and I just made some changes to the script that made it a bit more solid as a movie? How would it have gone down? The following is a hypothetical of what that script would look like.
So before we get into this, it's worth noting that this movie is a sequel to a video game that came out a few years before and was a cultural phenomenon. So it's important to remember that Advent Children's current state is not one of a product that can stand on its own but rather is one that is more of fanservice and fighting. I think keeping the fighting is fine, as long as there's a good reason for it. But we want to make sure this movie can stand on its own.
So first, we need to address the big issue: Cloud and the events following Meteor. Cloud, thanks to this movie, is thought of as an emo with no real depth. In the game he was not necessarily upbeat but he was a bit more extroverted and sassy than the Cloud in Advent Children. However, it's worth noting that this is because of the influence Zack had on Cloud.
Remember for most of the game, Cloud remembered his name but his backstory and personality were mostly a copy of Zack due to the events following the Nibelheim reactor event that is later expanded in Crisis Core. Because of that, Cloud himself was a bit of a blank slate and because of that, by the end of the game, we didn't really have a clear idea of how much of the personality we had seen up to that point was truly his and how much of it was lifted from Zack due to the trauma.
With this in mind, we want this movie to be less plot driven and more character driven, we want it to be an exploration of Cloud's character and his relationships with the others much more than we do about any actual events that take place in the movie. For this reason, the fights, while arguably unnecessary, don't automatically have to be removed.
We also want to keep in mind that a big part of this movie is about the effects of Geostigma which, in the movie is described as Sephiroth's will, which did actually affect Cloud in the initial game.
Because of that, I think it's best if this movie follows Cloud's struggle to move on from his relationships with Zack and Sephiroth while also his difficulty with not knowing himself anymore.
So the first thing we want to do is find a list of characters that are prominent in the movie and I'm going to put a strikethrough on the ones that could be removed with little to no consequence, I will bold the ones that should have more screen time, I will wrap in hyphens the characters that need less screen time, and I will put an asterisk next to characters that are not in the movie but may benefit it to some extent. Characters whose name has no modifications are perfectly fine in terms of screen-time even if what they do changes in the actual script. Also, if I don't put down every surname, I apologize, as I don't know every character by heart.
- Cloud Strife
- Tifa Lockhart
- Zack Fair
- Aerith Gainsborough
- Marlene Wallace
- Denzel
- Barret Wallace
- Cid Highwind
- Vincent Valentine
- Yuffie Kisaragi
- -Cait Sith-
- Red XIII/Nanaki
Rufus ShinraRudeRenoElenaTsengLozYazooKadaj- Sephiroth
- Reeve Tuesti*
As you can see, Tifa, Zack, and Aerith need more time than they got, which I will get into in a little bit and, granted this was somewhat addressed in the complete version in the case of Zack and to a lesser extent Tifa. However, the way these characters interact with Cloud and each other should be addressed. Pretty much the entirety of Avalanche that isn't Cloud needs more screen-time since they're the ones that are closest to Cloud and would probably be present for his self-discovery.
Cait Sith has been reduced as there would be no purpose for the doll in this script modification and Reeve the man controlling the dolls has been added to replace them, since he would probably serve Cloud's character far more in his personal appearance than with a medium like a robot.
Rufus and the Turks have been removed because they serve no actual purpose. Even if you want to go into detail about what happened to Rufus after the Shinra building was blown up, there's nothing stopping the script from having it be narrated and really, it's not important to this plot anyway.
Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj have been removed because, while the concept of Sephiroth dividing himself into three so he can revive himself from within the life stream is interesting at the very least, instead, I want Sephiroth to try to revive himself using the last person who's left that he has influence over, Cloud.
In this version of the script, Sephiroth will not be an actual antagonist that Cloud fights as much as an obstacle he needs to overcome in order to recover and become himself again. Because of that, all of the battling will be inside his head rather than in the real world.
As for Geostigma, well, having it be an infection of Sephiroth's will and kill people is an interesting concept but I want to revise it slightly. Instead of it being a disease that infects and kills you, it should actually be a disease that rots away the mind through extreme bouts of pain and psychological hallucination. These hallucinations can be Sephiroth's method of influencing the world in the state he's in: by using the infected as a sort of puppet that he can use to inflict damage onto others: the more people he infects, the greater his will, using Cloud as a sort of Network Tower to exert his influence. In other words, Cloud is the source of the damage and it will not stop until Sephiroth is removed from his soul. And, if you want to go that far, you can even make that the reason Cloud no longer interacts with anybody during the movie if you want, since he would have no idea how people get infected with Geostigma and, knowing he's the source, he would want to get as far away from everybody as possible so Sephiroth can deal less damage and so he can fight by himself, something that Tifa would obviously object to.
Okay, so now we have the groundwork set up, what about the actual plot events? Well, Marlene's introductory narration about the Life Stream and the battle with Sephiroth is fine, especially for anyone coming into the movie having never played the game. After Marlene's narration ends, we cut to Cloud resting in Aerith's church, where he's having an internal battle that involves Cloud trying not to submit to Sephiroth and Zack and Aerith helping, Zack by fighting off Sephiroth's will, and Aerith by protecting Cloud himself. This doesn't have to be particularly flashy, just a small skirmish between Sephiroth and Zack while Cloud watches and Aerith tells him it's not his fault. And, if you want a bit of fanservice here, you can insert fire to the landscape as a reference to the Nibelheim event, showing Cloud's memory with the whole thing and the way his mind is interpreting the battle with Sephiroth's influence.
After that, Cloud wakes up to his phone ringing. Here, Cloud's phone will be where most of his interactions with other living characters will take place, since he's too afraid of harming them to go to them in person. He picks up the phone and it's Tifa calling to make sure he's okay. She asks him if everything's alright and Cloud responds that everything's fine and that he just needs more time. Tifa, unconvinced, goads him a little bit by telling him that Marlene and Denzel miss him and that if he doesn't do something about it soon she won't be able to stop them from doing something drastic.
Cloud relents a little bit and tells her to get in contact with Reeve since he himself is currently unable to get to him. She asks what he plans to do and he tells her that while he can't see them yet he does have a compromise in mind that has something to do with Reeve. She's curious but ultimately drops the issue since she wants to trust him and not drive him off by putting him under too much pressure.
Next we cut to the 7th Heaven Bar where Tifa hangs up the phone and her eyes linger on it for a while as she's ruminating on what he could possibly be doing. She then starts to reminisce about her time in Cloud's mind during the original game and contemplating the state he may be in before Marlene interrupts and asks how Cloud's doing. Tifa, not wanting to scare the kid, reassures her that everything will be fine. She lets Marlene know that, even if she doesn't know what Cloud's up to, they have to be strong and allow him the time to get past whatever is blocking him.
Following this, the phone rings, Tifa picks it up and finds out it's Reeve contacting her to let her know that the ShinRa Corporation is going through some changes and, while it's still very early, some positive things are happening. However, before he can get to that, she cuts him off, telling him that Cloud wanted to get in contact with him for some reason and Reeve, being the helpful type, decides to hear her out.
Now we cut to a few days later where the entirety of Avalanche sans Cloud and Reeve, are at the 7th Heaven speculating on what Cloud's solution is. Yuffie gets excited, wanting to see the bastard again, Cid and Barrett try to calm her down in the event she's disappointed, and Vincent is being his quiet self. Red XIII speculates that, since this compromise involves Reeve, who is very heavily into robotics that his solution may be something akin to the Cait dolls. Yuffie then responds by complaining about Cloud not just coming to see them himself and asks what the point is. Vincent then chimes in by pointing out that Cloud has some very real demons he has to overcome.
Noticing that Vincent seems to know something, Cid asks him to go into more detail, and Vincent explains that though Sephiroth is dead, his influence over Cloud and ability to influence those around Cloud is very real and though Cloud has always been physically strong, he doesn't have enough mental fortitude at the moment to overcome an entity that is messing with his mind. Not only that but his choice to place himself into solitude is reducing his mental constitution even more and that, one way or another, Cloud needs someone who can bear the weight of who he is while stimulating growth in him.
After Vincent is finished, Reeve walks in with a comically proportioned Cloud robot that speaks with his voice, confirming what Red speculated earlier. The robot starts talking and makes note that it's good to see everyone again. He notes that he's never had to work with a remote controlled toy before and though Reeve rolls his eyes at the toy sentiment, Cloud tells them that it's good to see all of them again, even if he has to do so from behind a screen and a robot.
Tifa, excited that Cloud came up with something this good, calls Denzel and Marlene down to greet Cloud's avatar. When they come down, they have understandably opposite reactions. Denzel is happy to be able to hear Cloud's voice again but Marlene is understandably concerned. Having not heard the conversation the adults had earlier, she doesn't know what the adults do and because of that she asks him why he couldn't just come see them himself.
He tells her that he has stuff to work through at the moment but that once he's done he'll come straight to them. The robot isn't a replacement and isn't supposed to be the only thing they get forever, it's just supposed to tide them over until he can come see them for real. Marlene isn't satisfied but drops the issue because she doesn't want to complicate the situation further.
Cloud then tells them that the toy is going to be interacting with them from now on until he's able to overcome his battle. However, since it's late at night, he tells the two kids to go to bed and he'll greet them in the morning.
Now we cut to a landscape filled with water, this time Sephiroth is exerting his influence again but, instead of the damage to Zack and Cloud's former impersonation of him that was previously shown, this time Sephiroth's hitting a little closer to home by showing him a memory of an event that he wasn't able to stop but that he feels much more guilty about due to it being more recent and surrounding someone he knew much more personally.
However, this time, instead of Sephiroth being the one to kill Aerith, the memory shows Cloud killing her instead. Cloud, now with bloodied hands, is starting to break and collapse with guilt. Zack intervenes, telling Sephiroth that that's a cheap move, and tries to let Cloud know that he isn't responsible for what happened to her. Cloud argues initially by telling him that if he had just kept Aerith away from the Turks or at least Jenova, she would still be alive.
Zack then punches Cloud in the face, knocking him backward a bit. Zack, now visibly irritated, tells him that despite what he could've done to prevent it, the fact is that he's not the one who put the sword in her back. Aerith then chimes in and tells him that she has already moved past it and feels no ill will toward him, following that with reassurance that it's okay to forgive himself and that he shouldn't blame himself for what is already over and done with. Zack then says that he has more important things to worry about right now, such as the state the kids are in.
Cloud then wakes up, at the remote controller and the screen where he sees through the robot's eyes and he's shocked to see that Denzel has a wound in his head.
Now we cut to later at the bar, where Tifa tells Cloud through the doll that thankfully Denzel's injury is mostly just blood. However, understandably Marlene and Denzel both are having trouble trusting him anymore and Tifa, now really concerned and frustrated, demands an answer for why he's spending so much time away so that she has something she can relay to the children.
Cloud then goes into detail about some of the dreams he's been having and how those dreams are all memories of the events caused by his and Sephiroth's influence. He also notes that sometimes he's not where he should be, waking up in places that he doesn't remember going to and doing things he has no recollection of.
Tifa then quickly recalls what Vincent told them about Sephiroth influencing him and she tells him that she's not going to put too much blame on him but, as it stands, his compromise failed and the doll needs to remain inactive and away from the children, saying that their safety is far more important than their ability to interact with him. Cloud understands and accepts the terms, noting that all he can do now is seclude himself even more.
Now we cut to Tifa on Cid's ship talking to Vincent, telling him that Cloud confirmed what Vincent had initially told them. Knowing that Vincent understands the problem better than she does, she asks for advice on how to proceed. Vincent, unsure of how to respond, notes that the situation is complicated: on the one hand, any method of physically interacting with anyone has the risk that Cloud may lash out without realizing it, putting more people in harm's way and giving Cloud more reason to blame himself, reducing his ability to resist even further. On the other hand, Cloud's defenses are eroding rapidly and he'll soon become a complete copy of Sephiroth if nothing is done, and once that happens, Sephiroth's will will start to spread to whoever Cloud comes into contact with.
Tifa recalls the White Materia and the spell Holy and asks if it has any properties that can protect from mental attacks as well as physical power. Vincent, although intrigued by the idea, tells her that Holy was made specifically to counter Meteor, nothing more nothing less. However, he does note that while Holy may be ineffective, there may be some other method of purifying Cloud of Sephiroth's influence, noting that Sephiroth is already in Cloud's mind and therefore purging him may be more effective and permanent than simply trying to block him, especially since just blocking him would only be temporary and may not even work at this stage at all.
Tifa then remembers Aerith and her final limit break, noting that it had the ability to heal any injury and cure any impurity. She asks if there's any way they could replicate its effects and Vincent, still unsure, replies that it may be their best bet and that if that doesn't work probably nothing will.
From here, Tifa contacts Reeve and asks him if there's some way, within ShinRa's technology to be able to use Aerith's purifying powers on Cloud, noting that she was a Cetra and that that may be the root of why she could do that in the first place. Reeve agrees and tells her he'll look through the documents they have on Aerith and start working on a cure.
Now we cut to Cloud sitting in Midgar and wondering why he's there. He then looks up and sees that Meteor is approaching. In this scene, Meteor isn't just a memory of what Sephiroth did at the end of the previous game, it's also symbolic of Sephiroth's complete penetration and dominance of Cloud's mind. The closer Meteor gets, the less Cloud is able to resist.
Cloud, wanting to protect what he has left, fires a full power Blade Beam at the giant piece of rock. It doesn't make a dent in Sephiroth's will but, on the way to Meteor, the Blade Beam cuts a nearby building which, in turn, allows Cloud to see through his right eye the real world.
Here we can have a really cool double-vision effect like a split-screen mode, where on the left we see what Cloud is experiencing inside his mind, and on the right he's experiencing what his body's doing against his will from his perspective.
Out of his right eye he sees that his body is walking, walking toward Midgar, specifically the destination where Cloud is standing right now in his psyche. He looks around to see out of his left eye where that is and it's none other than the 7th Heaven bar where Tifa, Barrett, Denzel, and Marlene are living.
Cloud, terrified of what Sephiroth is going to do now that he has almost complete control over his body, leaves the Midgar inside his mind in the hopes that his body will follow suit and follow the destination he's going instead. Cloud runs in the direction his body currently is so that he can hopefully meet it halfway and then, redirect it once they're in roughly the same location.
However, before he can exit the city, Zack blocks him off. Cloud, panicked and flustered, demands to know why Zack is stopping him, and Zack tells him that Sephiroth now has full control over his body. Even if he leaves the Midgar inside his mind, the body will behave independently of that fact. Cloud, now unable to keep himself together, tells Zack that he has to do something, that everyone he cares about will be hurt if he doesn't do something now, and that he doesn't want to lose anyone again, all of this said in a frantic yell as he's pleading for some amount of help or guidance since he obviously has no idea what to do anymore.
Zack, defeated, tells him that Sephiroth's already too deep and that it's outside of his control now. Cloud laments this, stating that if he had just been stronger before there might've been something he could've done about it. Zack, not ready to give up completely, tells him that it's not over yet. Even if Sephiroth has gotten into his mind, as long as Cloud can still think for himself, he still has the ability to fight.
Cloud, initially confused, remembers that he's in Midgar and that Midgar has weapons and tools he can use, some of which may be able to reduce the size of the meteor. Cloud then guesses that if he can reduce the size of the meteor, he can reduce Sephiroth's influence and possibly even fight him on equal footing. Zack, though skeptical of this idea, tells Cloud to go for it since it may be his last shot.
As Cloud goes to the ship that was intended to be fired at Meteor with the Giant Materia in the original game, Cloud sees out of his right eye that Tifa and Avalanche have arrived. Cloud, starting to panic, steels himself and gets back to what he's working on since this news just means he has to work faster.
Cloud jumps into the rocket and gets ready to go fight Sephiroth at the center. Meanwhile, as Cloud is sitting in the rocket waiting for it to reach Sephiroth completely, he closes his eyes to watch what his body is doing and sees it battling against Avalanche.
Cloudiroth clearly has the advantage since Avalanche are trying to contain Cloud without hurting him but Sephiroth has no problem with harming them, in fact he delights in it, since their deaths will be his gateway into Cloud's mind permanently.
Here, we can see a nifty first person battle where Cloud is fighting against the Avalanche members who are all strong enough to deal damage but who are more focused on keeping Cloud's body occupied until Reeve gets to them with the cure. Tifa even tells him that Reeve and the remainder of the ShinRa scientists are close to finding a way to get Sephiroth out of Cloud permanently and that he just needs to stay strong and keep fighting until it gets there.
Upon hearing this news, Cloud toughens up a bit. Now he's not just solid, he's determined as well. The rocket makes it to Meteor and though it doesn't deal much damage to it, Cloud makes it to the surface of the Meteor and makes it to his final memory of his battle with Sephiroth from the game, the scripted one right after the final boss Sephiroth.
Sephiroth, confident that the cure won't make it in time, is glad that Cloud chose to fight him directly because now it means he can shut Cloud down directly and can subdue him while making him watch his friends suffer at his hands.
However, doing this proves to be difficult as Cloud puts up a bit of a fight and Sephiroth finds it difficult to fight a mental and physical battle at the same time. Because of this, Sephiroth takes a slightly different approach.
Now we cut to the real world where Cloud is restricted but has stopped moving entirely. Vincent is the first to take notice and though he does figure out what's going on, he realizes too late as Sephiroth infects Tifa and begins using her to fight against the other Avalanche members. Though this does weaken his proficiency against Cloud a bit, Sephiroth ultimately finds this to be a much more suitable goal as, once he's possessed every member of Avalanche, he can cause them to commit a group suicide, and Cloud, in the state he's in, would be unable to stop his own defeat or his friends' collective demise.
Vincent calls attention to Tifa's infection and Tifa strikes at Barrett first. Barrett blocks the attack with his metal wrist, with the idea that its soulless nature would prevent the infection from spreading to his body. This does mean, however, that Cloud is free again and now this battle has gone from 6 on 1 to 5 on 2, reducing their odds of victory by a significant margin.
Yuffie suggests that they run because if they get infected Sephiroth will kill them and nothing will stop him. However, Vincent rejects the idea, noting that even if they escape now, Tifa is more important to Cloud than anyone else and her death at Sephiroth's hands may be enough to break him completely. Cid agrees and suggests that they keep fighting, since it's the only thing they can do to stall until Reeve arrives.
Then we get the split screen in Cloud's mind again. Now we see Cloud fighting Sephiroth in his mind in a sword battle on one side and Avalanche fighting to buy time on the other. Think of the scene where Snake fights Gekko walkers while Raiden battles Vamp in Metal Gear Solid 4 if you want an idea of how this would look.
Finally, as every member of Avalanche is infected with Sephiroth's will, Cloud continues to fight even harder, now knowing that the moment he gives Sephiroth an inch, he'll take a million miles and kill his friends right there.
Finally, as Cloud is putting up his last remaining vestiges of will into this battle, a Cait doll arrives with a water balloon. Reeve sent it knowing that if he got close to Cloud Sephiroth would infect him, rendering the entire pursuit pointless.
Cait makes a mad dash for Cloud as the different Avalanche members try to destroy it, only for Cait to put all of his strength into a throw for the water balloon. It lands on Cloud and a small amount of it also lands on Tifa, reducing Sephiroth's control on all of them considerably and completely freeing her.
Cloud, seeing Tifa out of his right eye, hears her tell him to finish this. Sephiroth, damaged but not out yet, tells Cloud that that water was their last shot and it ultimately failed. Aerith shows up in front of Cloud and notes that Sephiroth has lost as, now that some water from her final limit break has landed on him, she can exorcise Sephiroth from him completely, both inside and out.
With a final push from Aerith's power, Sephiroth quietly accepts defeat, not wanting to give his opponents the satisfaction of hearing screams of defeat or anything like that, and he quickly fades as does the scene from that moment.
Cloud then wakes up, now in a bed in the 7th Heaven. He sits up and sees where he is. He exits the room and goes down to the bar where Tifa and the rest of Avalanche are waiting. Tifa greets him with a hug and a single tear of joy as Vincent notes, with that final battle, Sephiroth is gone for good.
As everybody is celebrating, Marlene and Denzel enter through the front door and are surprised to see Cloud. Marlene is initially hesitant but is spurred on when Denzel goes up to him and welcomes him back. Marlene then walks up to him and welcomes him back as well.
Then with a final panning shot of the bar, Cloud says it's good to be home.
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And that was my altered script for Advent Children. Although I think the version of the script that I ended up with is probably better titled Advent Cloud, I'm confident that this would've made a much more significant movie.
Of course, I'm open to criticism and, if you think I made any mistakes, or you think you could improve on this script in any way, feel free to do so in a comment and I'll make sure to read it. Any comments that I think would make good edit suggestions will be added as an addendum.
That's all for now and I hope to see you next time.