Theatres were packed for Kingsglaive in many locations, some even having long lines just to watch the movie. I think Final Fantasy fans and video game fans alike can enjoy the movie just fine. If you are a movie snob who like to critique everything, you probably wont enjoy it... but you probably don't enjoy life either.
I'm a video game and Final Fantasy fan and I didn't think it was very good, though. Like AC, it's just really poor direction/film making generally, but unlike AC it lacks the power of fan service and characters you really recognize & deeply love to push you through how stodgy it is. It's very pretty though, and the visuals of Insomnia are sort of worth it if you're interested in FF15... though of course it's a dagger to the heart that you'll never likely get to experience the city in full in the game, but it's still beautiful to see. The best parts, for me, were the few minutes where you see where the normal people live in Insomnia, where it sort of looks like New York meets Tokyo meets Midgar. Great stuff.
The actual movie though? Yeesh. The dialogue. The difficult-to-follow plot. Like, I
know all the Versus stuff this comes from and I'm still confused as to major plot points and character motivations are. And the fighting; too long, in the end. I was clock watching by the end. It somehow feels like it could've ended about 5 times before the actual ending, but then even so the actual ending feels abrupt as hell. It's poorly realized.
Like, I enjoyed it well enough. It was fine. I'd recommend seeing it if you're the type of person who has pre-ordered FF15 and been following it. It'll increase your anticipation for the game. It did mine. But... it's not a good movie. I'd planned to show Kingsglaive to non-FF-fan friends, thinking it might draw them in, but I don't think it will now. It's too long, too verbose, too convoluted, with god-awful dialogue.
I enjoyed it, but I guess the most damning statement I can make is that I never really want to watch it again. It was a fine way to tee up FF15, I guess. To act like the scores are just coming from film snobs is silly though; James Mielke did the Rolling Stone review for instance, called it an absolute train wreck - Mielke is ex-1up, ex EGM, ex Square Enix, thousands of hours logged on FF11. He's an FF nerd as much as the rest of us.
I posit that the extra-high user review score is because the people who are seeking out extremely limited theatre showings are simply more predisposed to like it and, to an extent, blinkered. I think it's an interesting phenomenon that the best-made FF movie (and the best-liked by critics) The Spirits Within is universally hated by the fans, but the two that are strictly fan service are annihilated by critics but loved by fans. (But, really, they're poorly made films compared to TSW).
I think being made "for a wider audience" has helped KG, but to be honest it doesn't help much vs AC. I consider AC a blight. It's awful.
TSW > KG >>>>> AC. For me, anyway.
PS: as far as critics taking the piss out of names goes, I just want to go on the record and say the names
are bloody stupid, and it's something I've hated since the inception of Versus. Some of them are painfully on the nose, and honestly unless you're a Latin speaker I think it's pretty hard to keep a handle on who's who sometimes. Some of the names in KG are better tho; Crowe, Nyx, names like that are more 'normal', I feel. But let's not act like FF15's use of Latin is anything but vaguely silly - your mate with a big sword, what should we call him? How about the Latin translation for 'Sword Friend'? GENIUS! Sold! Nah, man.
FF's always had silly names but in this regard 15 is on another level.
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