Instead of trying to adapt the video game experience into a film format, Kingsglaive transforms the movie-going experience into something familiar to video game fans. It’s essentially a really long cutscene.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Slant Magazine by Aaron Riccio
The film is, at least, a marvelously enticing advertisement for the upcoming Final Fantasy XV video game.
Like many a poorly-plotted video game, “Kingsglaive” manages to skate by for a while on the sheer splendor of its visuals.
You may not want to spend more time with these characters, but you will want to sink deeper into their world — fortunately, the forthcoming videogame will allow players to do just that. Whether the game will make retroactively make “Kingsglaive” a more engaging movie remains to be seen, but there’s certainly room for improvement.
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
This spinoff from the story of a magical kingdom besieged by an evil empire is too ludicrous for words.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV is so lacking in human interest, or even in merely satisfying action, it is difficult to imagine anyone wanting to pay to sit through it. What Takeshi Nozue's movie does offer is massive, vividly rendered landscapes of sci-fi/fantasy pastiche, home to mayhem that is prettier than it is involving.
Los Angeles Times by Noel Murray
The slick animation and exciting battles lose their novelty eventually, and there’s just not enough here in the way of edge-of-the-seat storytelling or vivid characters to compensate.
A quantum leap forward in animation and design, if not a great leap in motion capture technology or in story.
The Seattle Times by Soren Andersen
It quickly becomes apparent that the narrative content of “Kingsglaive” is a barely coherent muddle.