>>535814265
One of the logical fallacies of the movie that never fails to get a chuckle out of me is they officially, on record, call them "Phantoms," then the "Bomb Them All General" acts all chuffed when whatsherface calls them ghosts. Just the way he's like, "You mean to tell me, the things we've been calling Phantoms this entire time, are actually... Ghosts? That's ridiculous!"
That said, the CGI was also REALLY good for the time. I don't recall anyone really smack talking the CGI the way they did with like, the first Green Lantern movie.
FFVII was fairly sci-fi too. Like, the only difference I can recall between the two is the energy dome protecting the main city, and the orbital laser, but even that last one is matched by the Juno/Midgard Cannon. Though, admittedly, the cannon in FFVII was more effective than the one in Spirits Within, since it actually killed Sapphire Weapon and severely damaged, I wanna say it was Diamond Weapon? It's been a number of dog's ages since I last played FFVII.
I do agree with the handwaving, yeah. But that's why I said it should have been it's own sci-fi thing. you could have expended on that with novels, comics or even a video game.