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I guess the major strength of Serenity is that is properly plays around with the fact that our characters in a spaceship (as in visiting plenty of different places, instead of the usual sci-if convention of the characters capable of interstellar travel but sticking to like two planets), everything is fairly logical, there are none of the usual great big emotional moments of spontaneous character development/upheaval, and it puts all its chip on Mal (Nathan Fillion) and River (Summer Glau). I’ve heard the entire cast is strong. Okay. The women are all certainly attractive and the guys have a good grasp of physical and comedic action, but otherwise they’re fairly bland. And don’t tell me the movie had to streamline everything, because I flipped through a few episodes of Firefly and no one really stood out too impressively. My perceptions from seeing ten accumulated minutes on television carried over the to the film: Fillion is a great tortured heroic lead, that lady was on 24, her husband is lame, that selfish guy is so untrustworthy omg why do they keep him around lol!!!!, ooh Glau and the mechanic girl are very attractive, well, I can’t tell if Glau is attractive or not and this companion woman is attractive as well or maybe she just stands out or something, is she trying too hard? I can’t put my finger on it. No, you know what? Summer Glau IS attractive. I’m hungry. That’s how my brain usually works. Impressive, no? I was able everything in the film without knowing the television show, so don’t be worried. And my showing wasn’t besieged by those “browncoat” Whedon superfans that get made fun of and occasionally wear shirts proclaiming “Joss Whedon is My Master Now” (in Star Wars font, taking a nice deserved swipe at George Lucas) so you probably don’t have to worry about fanboy stench or overactive laughs or stuff like that. At certain points in the film (you’ll know them when they happen) a few audience members reacted so strongly it was clear they were Firefly devotees. That’s cool. They probably got a lot more out of the film than people like me did, but I’m pretty sure we all left entertained. Still, I just can’t go crazy recommending Serenity, because while it’s solid sci-fi and the blending of western/civil war themes into the mix is more deftly handled than I expected, it just wasn’t memorable. I’m curious what my Mutant brethren think, since I’m fairly certain a couple are Firefly enthusiasts. I walked out happy, but without plans to pick up the series on DVD or even to purposely click onto and continuously watch any of the episodes replayed on television. So, sorry Whedon-freaks, but this is one geek who didn’t get sucked into your Whedon-verse via my Serenity film ticket. It’s a nice place to very rarely visit, and it’s great you can parrot all the “cool” Buffy/Angel/Firefly dialogue to each other as a method of recognition at Applebee’s and geek conventions. But just please validate my parking and let me leave in peace, please. Just let Whedon’s actresses out to play every once in a while, yeah? UPDATE: I had to collect all the Mutant extras for this review, so I was able to rethink things and change anything before I sent it back in. Ultimately, I was pretty happy with everything I wrote. That is, I don’t feel like editing myself, so whatever I wrote last weekend before I went to bed is what gets published. But I thought I would add that among a lot of film sites out there, the big controversy is that a lot of people are taking great delight in the perceived box office failure of Serenity, not because Firefly or Serenity particularly bothers them, but because the Whedon fan-atics (known officially as “browncoats”) are so hugely annoying to them. I tend to ignore a lot of that sort of stuff. But it does go to show you: if you want other people to like the things you like (if you care about that sort of thing), it’s best to be somewhat reasonable and allow the work/art stand on its own. Serenity is a pretty good sci-fi movie. But stamped from the start with a cultish “greatest thing EVARRRR!!!!!11!!!1!!” tag almost certainly played a part (thus far) in its failure to be embraced by the mainstream. Does it matter? Does anything? Who can tell anymore?
Sorry. That’s kind of the heavy stuff we critics shouldn’t open with, unless we’re pulling for a Pulitzer (*cough*). I got to say, Serenity is one of the toughest films I’ve had to review this year, because I’m conflicted about it. Now, that doesn’t mean BAD, nor GOOD, just something a tad more complicated that’ll need your utmost attention. It’s impossible to separate Serenity as a movie from its predecessor, the 13-episode Firefly TV show that was cancelled in 2003. Make no space-bones about it, Firefly is terrific TV. It took outer space scifi in a daring new direction, with no aliens, a Western/post-Civil War/Chinese-American genre blend, and a cast that was as atypical from your generic grab bag of Starfleet uniforms as you could want. It’s the sort of show that would get you hooked, loving the imaginative stories, the rustic feel and the meta plotlines… and then became the sort of show that broke your heart when you got to the end of episode #13 and realized there was no more. If it wasn’t for the enormous fan base and the great DVD sales, that would’ve been that. As it was, several stories were left hanging (this was only the mid-first season) and time went on. I’m all for Firefly being made into a movie. It even makes a terrifical endeavor, something far off-course from what you’d expect from typical (Revenge of the Sith?) scifi blockbusters, and more in line with a devil-may-care attitude of cult storytelling and pinache. It’s just regrettable that it loses a lot from the show that made Firefly so special, and that it’s most likely difficult to stand up on its own two legs without the show base supporting it. Set a few hundred years in the gritty future, Serenity opens with a different angle on Firefly’s main storyline: a Very Special Girl named River was kidnapped by the Alliance, who experimented on her to make best use of her psychic and physical abilities; River was rescued by her loyal brother and doctor Simon; and the pair end up on a weaponless transport ship named Serenity, crewed by a wild bunch of rebels, hookers, and cutie-pies. The Alliance wants River back at all costs, and end up hiring an Operative to hunt her down. Meanwhile, as Joss is wont to do, the crew of the Serenity is fractured — hooker Inara gone, preacher Brook away, and Simon and River aren’t far behind. Only the double threat of the Alliance hunt and the eerie space cannibal clan known as the Reavers give them enough reason to stick together. Whether you compare it to the show or not, Serenity is a cold, dark movie that does have heart somewhere in it, as long as you’re willing to wade through harsh images and (seemingly) unfeeling characters to get there. The cool steel of Firefly’s innards are a far cry from the warm tones of the TV show; the same goes for Captain Malcolm Reynolds (who’s always two brays short of a full-fledged jackass) and many of the crew. Again, don’t get me wrong: they’re an enormously entertaining ensemble to watch, and each character does get his or her moment to shine. It’s just that Whedon seems to really enjoy batting them around in this flick, and suppresses most of their more likable traits from the show. By the end, it’s not so much a trial by fire for the crew as a witch burning, and without giving anything away, I’d say that Whedon’s plain mean by the end. Hard movie to review, remember? Great scenes and well-crafted smaller moments are all about what I love in both the show and the movie. Here, we’re treated to thrilling chases, firefights, and a visual universe that’s so unlike the normal scifi star romp. The dialogue is witty and the musical score engaging — it’s a movie worth listening to, if nothing else! I’m always a big fan of the Chinese influence used in the show to suggest a true multi-cultural race, and it‘s of course nice to see it in use here. With the darker tone comes one of the more horrendous elements of the series, the Reavers, raping cannibals who are made all the more horrible by the fact that most of what they do or look like is largely left up to the soundtrack (oh, the screams) and our imaginations. Serenity becomes its own animal in the end, apart from its mother show. There’s a lot I don’t approve of in the changes: the loss of most of the "western" feel, the lack of humor (except in a few notable spots), the slew away from the tight-knit family that the Firefly crew was becoming. I am, however, extremely glad that several of the show’s main storylines are given full treatment and answered to satisfaction, which is a lot less frustrating than another cliffhanger that says "Stay tuned for Serenity II: The Search for Jayne’s Gold". We’ll see, in time, what the ultimate verdict of Serenity will become. Will it’s gloomy atmosphere smother the prior fan love of the show? Will new fans of the movie be compelled to go back and discover the show? Will the TV series’ fans be let down or vindicated by this adventure? Is it able to be appreciated as is, without any other bias? See what I did there? Cliffhanger. Boom.
To be brutally honest, I was a little disappointed. WHERE WAS THE HUMOR? Seriously. One of my favorite things about Firefly was the humor. Part of the problem with the movie is that the characters that generally provide the bulk of the humor — Jayne, Wash, and Kaylee — were the three characters pushed furthest to the background. And Mal seemed to have lost his sense of humor completely. I thought maybe Inara took it with him, but he didn't seem to get it back when she came back. So that sucked. But let's talk about Jayne a little more, because it makes a great segue to what I want to say next, and what I felt was wrong with the movie. Jayne started out the show as a complete (Justin, can I say that word? Probably not.) erm, jackass. (Justin used it, so I can too.) There was always something likeable about him in that you could see good facets of him, but he wasn't just rough around the edges. He was out for himself, and totally motivated by money. The character did have to change some, or it would be unbelievable as to why he'd stay on. After the episode "Ariel", you did start to see that change, and it worked. However, in the show, Jayne never really lost his rough edges or his jerkiness. And he and Simon never really got on, and probably never should. That said, where was Jayne, and why was he replaced with someone who actually sort of philosophized with Kaylee there? Why was he getting along with Simon? Where was the undercurrent of hostility between them? Even if they are doing the mutual respect thing, I can't see them ever getting along. Scratch that. I don't want to see them getting along. I like them sniping at each other. The movie sort of picked up where the series left off, but I felt like it didn't pick up the spirit of the series. (Although I was very pleased to see Jayne wearing his hat.) It wasn't just Jayne — Jayne was just an example of what I felt was wrong. Each character lost their three-dimensionality (except River) and sort of became a single personality trait. Simon was summarized as "the doctor brother who loves River." Mal was "bitter captain searching to bring the truth to the people." Inara was "love interest of said bitter captain." Kaylee was "love interest of doctor brother that loves River." Jayne was "the guy that likes weapons." Wash was "the guy that croaks." Zoe was "wife of guy that croaks." Book was "not here." Before I saw the series, I could kind of accept that. Now that I've seen what the characters can be — and in a single episode — that disappointed me. To be honest, I didn't care about these people as much as I might have. I hate saying that. Don't get me wrong — there were still good things about this movie. It was still pretty tightly written, and Wash's death hit me even harder this time around. (As did Book's. Especially since we never found out what was going on with him. And Joss made it pretty clear through Book we aren't going to, didn't he? Please insert muttered swearing here.) There were still things I really enjoyed, and I'm sure I'll watch it again. I'll even watch a lot of the special features and probably the commentary, which is more than I do for a lot of movies. Also, a lot of things I thought would be explained or come up in the series (Mr. Universe, for example) didn't, so it's still easy to follow. And I wasn't at all bored. So, yeah. Before the series, loved it. After the series… not quite as much. But hey, it made me finally watch the series, and that alone makes it a worthwhile movie.
Normally I try to be more or less impartial when I review a film.
I’ve seen the entire Firefly series, most episodes more than once. It’s only a matter of time before I buy it for myself on DVD. I would characterize myself as a moderate Whedon fan, meaning someone who enjoys his shows, but does not buy the merchandise, constantly use Whedon-related avatars on forums I join, or define my existence in terms of fictional characters with laughably ridiculous angst over things like whether or not they will have their soul sucked from their body and replaced by a demon if they have sex with their girlfriend.* I was surprised and charmed to find a sci-fi series that was neither another Star Trek clone nor a bleak apocalyptic blah blah aliens invading blah blah. I liked that the settings and characters were interesting and original, and if they borrowed and sanitized some things from American history** that was okay with me. I was truly impressed that the captain and first officer were a) of different sexes and long acquaintanceship but b) not sexually interested in each other. The dialogue was witty. The plots did not ever involve time travel or creatures who could imitate the appearance of the characters, a trap into which even very non-Trek shows like Stargate have fallen. So I freely admit that my expectations for the film were high. I wanted to see some trailing plot threads sewn up, to watch Mal get beat up one more time, to hear Wash say the kind of semi-incomprehensible things that I always say myself and watch River finally get really savage all over several armed people at once. The film had some of those things. That’s why I gave it a two instead of zero. But mostly it was like this. The characters all look skinnier, grittier, and more tired. Kaylee, terribly cute when sunny and bright, is not so when she alternates cringing and whining. Jayne and Wash both get far fewer lines than before, thus eliminating considerable humor. There are some good lines, but they are eclipsed by the creeping grimness. The Blue Sun folks (“Two by two… Hands of blue…”) are never present at all, bar one label mentioned by Justin’s review. Instead, we get another African American assassin character who speaks in a very literate fashion and is, in fact, virtually indistinguishable from the Jubal Early character in the last episode of the show. And — big spoiler here — they killed Wash and Book. I was sitting in my seat, frozen in horror, trying to figure out why, when I had this realization. I could just see Joss Whedon thinking to himself, “Hmm. I need to kill someone off, so the critics will take my movie seriously even though it’s from a sci-fi television show. Not Reynolds. He has too many fans. Ditto River. Kaylee and Simon have that unrequited love thing going, so they’re still pulling people in. I want Inara to attract in the horny guys who want to look at cleavage and Zoe for the ones who want a pretty face. That leaves Book, Jayne, and Wash. And I gave Jayne all the good lines. I’ll just kill both of the others. Heaven forbid we should keep a happy marriage and a religious character for a Hollywood film franchise.” It’s not as if there was a sound dramatic reason for either of them to die. The deaths are abrupt and pointless, particularly Wash’s — I kept expecting it to turn out that he had somehow survived. I’ll probably watch whatever further movies are made, if only for River and Jayne. But I will not be buying any more on DVD. The magic is gone.
*Yes, as it turns out. Oh, and apparently sex is also the key to perfect happiness. But that’s another show.
So with my dad in tow, (himself also a big fan of the show) I headed towards the theater. It was a bit nerve-wracking getting there as it was in the middle of rush hour and neither of us really knew exactly how to get where we were going. I became convinced we were going to miss it. Finally we arrived at the mall, and I was not the least bit surprised to find that the line had stretched all the way around Scottsdale Fashion Center twice. After waiting something like three hours, and then another hour as the line slowly trickled into the multiplex, we made out way in and took our seats. I could breathe easy, I was actually going to see it. Then we waited through another half hour of people talking about how this was a sneak preview for Serenity, which we already knew as we had gotten into the theater for free. Wow, I'm into the fourth paragraph of the review and haven't even talked about the movie, but have mentioned my ex-girlfriend and gone on a pointless tangent. I really AM a Mutant! Well, let's just start with the gushing. Yes, I loved it. The characterization, the epic story arc, the action sequences and chase scenes, the mind bogglingly huge reveal about one of the most enigmatic characters of the original series, Kaylee (...mmmmm Kaylee). I absolutely enjoy the "less is more" approach Joss and crew took in making this movie. The digital effects in this movie are top notch, but not in a "hey-check-out-how-cool-this-is" way, but instead indistinguishable from the other shots of the film. George Lucas should watch this for pointers on how to make a movie where the effects DON'T completely take you out of the story. The actors, as per usual, are top-notch, with special nods going to Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau taking the responsibility of being the two leads very seriously. Ultimately, the reason this is such a good movie is because it is, from start to finish, a labor of love. The fans of this show achieved the impossible by bringing this story and this universe back from the dead. The director, the cast, the crew, all of them wanted to give those fans something they could hold on to. They succeeded in a way beyond anything the fans could have hoped for. Ok, I'm not gonna sleep well if I get through the review and don't address Shalen's gripes about the film. First, the Blue Sun guys. Most fanboys with no life (I'm including myself in that) will explain that they were private contractors hired by the Alliance and they're dead now, which is dealt with in the three-part comic series released prior to the film. Then there's the deaths in the film. Most any of Joss' Buffy or Angel fans will tell you that he's a big fan of the "things-are-darkest-before-the-dawn" style of storytelling. While the series had comedic and lighthearted moments, this is the season finale that you just know Joss intended but never got to do. The final battle would've meant nothing if the crew hadn't risked anything to fight it. The scene in the kitchen as they're contemplating what is essentially a suicide mission is made that much more poignant and powerful because they are willing to give their lives to get the signal out. To say that the deaths are pointless... well, I would say that Book's death was exactly that. Death is pointless sometimes, and a good storyteller knows that, but in Wash's case he died for something he believed in. I can get behind that. So to sum up, if you're a fan of the show, of course you're going to see this, and you probably already own it on DVD. If you've never seen the show, give it a shot. You may be surprised to learn that you just came across the most innovative and thought provoking scifi film made in years.
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
What Happened In The Show That Led Up To The Events In The Movie?
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
The special effects crew for Serenity was the same group of people who had worked with Whedon on Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. They were able to rehaul the Serenity sets and basically do all the things for the film that they couldn’t do with the television show’s small budget. Groovy Quotes
Malcolm: Define "interesting". Wash: Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die.
The Operative: I want to resolve this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed.
Jayne: Let's be bad guys. Malcolm: Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all comin' to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you, than I have before. Sure as I know anything, I know this. I aim to misbehave. River: I swallowed a bug.
The Operative: It's worse than you know.
Wash: I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Zoë: Do you really think any of us are getting out of here alive?
Malcolm: Do you want to run this ship?
Malcolm: Dear Buddha, I would like a pony and a plastic rocket.
The Operative: [to Mal] You cannot make me angry.
The Operative: Are you willing to die for your beliefs?
Wash: Can I suggest something that doesn't involve violence, or is this the wrong crowd for that? Wash: Can we start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a 90 pound girl? Because that's *never* getting old.
Malcolm: While I'm gone, Zoe is in command. Now, if I'm not back in an hour, I want you to take this ship, take off... and you come and you rescue me!
Malcolm: [about Inara] Did you see us fight?
Kaylee: Been more'n a year since I had anything twixt my nethers that didn't run on batteries!
Malcolm: Yes, I have read a poem. Try not to faint.
The Operative: You know what your sin is, Malcolm?
Zoë: How much ammo is left?
Jayne: Shepherd Book once said to me, "If you can't do something smart, do something right."
Wash: It's okay, I'm a leaf on the wind!
Simon: In all that time on the ship... I've always regretted... not being with you.
Malcolm: I am taking your sister under my protection here. That means that if anything happens to her, I will get very choked up. Seriously, there might even be tears. Soundtrack Review
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