Serenity Review From New Jersey (Minor Spoilers) by BlackDove

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Serenity Review From New Jersey (Minor Spoilers)

POSTED BY: BLACKDOVE
UPDATED: Friday, June 24, 2005 10:51
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VIEWED: 1530
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Friday, June 24, 2005 5:16 AM

I caught the showing in Elizabeth, New Joisey last night. They had a TV crew there filming for promotional purposes, and I think we're going to be on the DVD! I wasn't interviewed, but the camera focused mostly on those of us at the front of the line, so that was fun. And at the end of our screening, the lovely and gorgeous Morena Baccarin appeared and signed autographs. She is just as luminous in person as she is on the screen. (sigh)

Okay, let me cut the crap and get right into the review.

I love Firefly with a passion, and the movie did a good job of reintroducing us to its universe, but not without a few bumps along the way. The cut of the film we were shown looks to be about 95% completed with color timing, sound, music and SFX. There were a few visually clunky moments throughout the film where the editing seemed a bit off, most notably in the first hour when we are given a lot of heavy exposition to explain who these people are and why they are on the run from the Alliance.

I won't go into a full review of the movie's plot, and instead will focus on what I liked and what I didn't:

The Good

As with most of Whedon's scripts, the dialogue in Serenity is fast, funny, and makes you feel that these are real people. Some actors stand out more than others, which is understandable since you can only give 9 characters so much to do in a 2 hour film. But I was pleasantly surprised that Adam Baldwin as Jayne had the film's best and funniest moments, some of the best dialogue, and Whedon actually gave the boy some goanies this time around. He's still the same dumb lug from the show, but he seems to have gained a few brain cells in their travels and he's not afraid to stand up to Mal and challenge his authority to his face. But the biggest shock is that I agreed with him 100% (see The Bad for explaination). Mal's character is still the badass that we remember from the pilot and The Train Job, and he's not above committing cold-blooded murder to protect his people and his ship. The scene I was most anticipating after seeing the trailer with The Operative telling Mal that he's not threatening him and is unarmed, and with Mal saying "Good." and firing his pistol, turned into one of my favorite character scenes of the film. It showed that Mal is still a badass who's not above acting swiftly and underhandedly to resolve immediate danger.

The action is what makes this film. The chase sequences are exciting, and the hand-to-hand fight choreography works much better in the final film than it did for me in the trailer. It looks natural, painful and badass! The final act of the film is almost excruciatingly painful to watch as the action intensifies, and not a single one of our characters comes out unscathed. The overall plot works since it explains most of why the Alliance wants to get their hands on River, and how the Reavers deteriorated into the cannabalistic mutants that they are now.

Despite the fact that this is a pretty bleak film overall, Whedon was able to inject more than enough humor to lighten the tone and keep the audience entertained. As with most of Whedon's dialogue the jokes are quite funny, yet they aren't forced or seem out of character for whoever is speaking the lines.

The Bad

Whedon breaks some continuity by re-imagining Simon personally breaking River out of the Alliance lab, which works fine if you've never seen the series, but I had trouble accepting it since it blatantly violates pre-established events in the series. It's also one of the most clunky scenes in the film and feels like there was some key moments snipped out for pacing reasons, but those cuts didn't quite work. The opening bank robbery sequence and Mule chase sequences seemed to suffer from this as well as the editing was extremely choppy. I'm seriously hoping that this was due to the film not being finished and that they get a chance to fine tune it before its release.

But my most serious problem is with the way that Whedon tweaked a couple of characters pesonalities for the film, especially Mal and Simon. With Mal, gone is the happy-go-lucky criminal out to make a buck so he can "keep flying", and back is the bitter, angry Mal we remembered from the series pilot. And while that angst and bitterness worked in the pilot, it seems out of character here especially after all we've seen from Mal in the rest of the series. Mal at one points threatens to shoot his crew if they don't follow his orders, and the look of horror on little Kaylee's face matched my own in that it seemed way out of character for him. Mal wants to protect his crew at all cost, but him threatening them in such a thuggish manner is completely out of character and takes away from any empathy we as the audience feels for his situation. Simon's character is also made much angrier this time around, and his emotional outbursts don't work very well. He was always much better in the serious trying to use reason, but here Whedom makes him almost as violent as Mal in that he's perfectly willing to punch or slug anyone he disagrees with.

As has been previously mentioned, two main characters bite the dust this time around, which didn't really bother me at all. It makes sense that they would need to trim down the cast if they hope to continue with a movie series. Nine characters works well as an ensemble in a long running weekly series where you can devote several episodes to fleshing out their characters. But when you have a two-hour feature film it's almost impossible to give everyone enough key character moments. I wan't unhappy with either death -- the first was very moving whilst the second was a huge shock! I know that a lot of fans are angry with the second death (which I won't spoil) for being pointless, but I thought it was well done. It was meant to be horrific and come from out of left field, and it perfectly showed the amount of real danger our characters now face in the world of feature films. Where I have a problem is with how our surviving characters choose to deal with those deaths -- there's hardly any reaction at all. With the second death you would expect at least one or more of the characters to mourn hysterically, but they hardly bat an eye. If Whedon really wants us to care about these characters and wants their deaths to resonate with the audience, then he desperately needs to shoot some quick pickups with our survivors reacting to these deaths in a convincing manner.

And finally, how can you have a beautifully angelic creature like Morena Baccarin staring in your film, and then you basically give her nothing to do! Bad Joss! Bad bad Joss! Not only is Inara barely in the film, it's never explained to anyone who hadn't watched the TV show what her profession is, what her relationship with Mal is, nor why she left the ship in the first place. Gone also is the dry, witty banter between her and Mal that fans so much loved from the show. My only hope is that the movie makes enough to warrant a sequel and they rightfully give her a more pivotal role.

The Ugly

Fooled you! There is no ugly. Despite my criticisms above I really enjoyed this newest foray into the Firefly universe. I hope that Wehdon will do a few more tweaks to smooth out the editing issues and such before the final release, but over all I'm quite happy with the final product. I'm honestly not sure how non-fans are going to react or if the film will make enough money to warrant some sequels. The original two-hour Serenity pilot served as a much better introduction to this universe, but it's clear that Whedon wanted to continue the story rather than go with a complete reboot.

The film is funny, frightening, exciting, and thoroughly entertaining.

My rating: A-

"What y'all order a dead guy for?" - Jayne Cobb

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Friday, June 24, 2005 5:35 AM

GTMAN8503

Quote:
Whedon breaks some continuity by re-imagining Simon personally breaking River out of the Alliance lab, which works fine if you've never seen the series, but I had trouble accepting it since it blatantly violates pre-established events in the series. It's also one of the most clunky scenes in the film and feels like there was some key moments snipped out for pacing reasons, but those cuts didn't quite work. The opening bank robbery sequence and Mule chase sequences seemed to suffer from this as well as the editing was extremely choppy. I'm seriously hoping that this was due to the film not being finished and that they get a chance to fine tune it before its release.

I disagree...Simon rescuing River doesn't violate continuity. In the series, it's said that Simon contacted some people to help him get River out. It's never said how that happens, so Simon breaking River out of the facility with their help is a perfectly acceptable explanation, for me at least. In fact, it seems to better fit Simon's character, and his love for River.

As for the opening editing, I thought it was the best in the entire film. In fact, I thought the beginning was the "least clunky" bit of the entire film. That's not to say that the rest was clunky, but the beginning was magnificently written and edited. I love the history lesson within a nightmare within a hologram thing that's going on at the very beginning. It sets up the history of the movie perfectly. And the bank heist scene is a great way to introduce the characters again.

Quote:
With Mal, gone is the happy-go-lucky criminal out to make a buck so he can "keep flying", and back is the bitter, angry Mal we remembered from the series pilot. And while that angst and bitterness worked in the pilot, it seems out of character here especially after all we've seen from Mal in the rest of the series. Mal at one points threatens to shoot his crew if they don't follow his orders, and the look of horror on little Kaylee's face matched my own in that it seemed way out of character for him. Mal wants to protect his crew at all cost, but him threatening them in such a thuggish manner is completely out of character and takes away from any empathy we as the audience feels for his situation. Simon's character is also made much angrier this time around, and his emotional outbursts don't work very well. He was always much better in the serious trying to use reason, but here Whedom makes him almost as violent as Mal in that he's perfectly willing to punch or slug anyone he disagrees with.

Actually, Dark Mal makes perfect since in the movie. Kaylee even explicitly says that "He hasn't been the same since Inara left". Losing Inara pushed him back over the edge to the place he was in in the pilot. Also, I enjoy the darker version of Mal more...I think he's more interesting. As for Simon, wouldn't YOU be a little cranky if Mal was using River to help with a bank heist, you had to deal with Jayne every day, AND you still couldn't get any from Kaylee

. Plus, he has been hanging out with criminals for over a year.

Quote:
And finally, how can you have a beautifully angelic creature like Morena Baccarin staring in your film, and then you basically give her nothing to do! Bad Joss! Bad bad Joss! Not only is Inara barely in the film, it's never explained to anyone who hadn't watched the TV show what her profession is, what her relationship with Mal is, nor why she left the ship in the first place. Gone also is the dry, witty banter between her and Mal that fans so much loved from the show. My only hope is that the movie makes enough to warrant a sequel and they rightfully give her a more pivotal role.

I agree somewhat with this...Inara wasn't given enough to do. However, while the film doesn't explain her profession, it does explain her relationship with Mal and somewhat why she is off the ship. Remember the vid-card Mal watches? Also, there's plenty of witty banter between her and Mal during the first meeting with the operative. In fact, almost all of the dialogue between the two is witty banter.

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Friday, June 24, 2005 5:43 AM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

Wait a minute...If you go back and watch Serenity, the shows pilot, you'll see a very bitter, angry, and well, darker captain. It was always Joss's intention to have Mal be a brooding, darker character than he ended up becoming. Fox intervened, and I think, for the good this time, but the movie version of Mal is clearly along of the lines of what Joss originally intended, although there is plenty of post Train Job Mal in there...

Simon, on the other hand, makes even more sense to me, given the situations that he gave up, that he currently finds himself, and that, for eight months, he has stopped living his life and given it over to his sister. I can understand considerable anger. And, of course, he's not going to take it out on River...Also, if you want to see another example of Simon's acting out, watch Serenity (the pilot again) to see how he can be a little surly. He doesn't really give in to the captain's rule until he officially becomes a member of the crew.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Friday, June 24, 2005 5:51 AM

BIKISDAD

I just saw the BDM for the first time last night. I generally agree with your review, except for two BIG points:

1) The characters' reaction to the second death. I saw a HUGE reaction by the person most affected by it. I can't help giving the identity away by saying this. When a highly disciplined soldier breaks ranks to engage in a potentially suicidal and unnecessary hand-to-hand combat with multiple Reavers, I call that an extremely emotional reaction. That's how that person expresses their emotions (in case anybody hasn't figured out who I'm talking about yet).

2) I've heard your complaint about Mal's and Simon's change of character - well, mostly Mal's - before. Now that I've seen the movie, I think their characters at the start of the movie are spot on what they should be for two reasons - Book and Inara - they aren't on the ship at the beginning. In the tv show Mal's actions are always being softened by those two. Now we see what Mal would be like without their constant influence. No, it's not pretty, but it is consistent with his history. As to Simon, he's just the way he is at the beginning as a reaction to the way Mal has become without Inara and Book to constantly temper his actions.

Other than those two things, great review. I agree about not enough Inara. At least it looks like she's back on board permanently, which can only be a good thing for Mal and, well, everybody.

Apathy on the Rise. No One Cares.

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Friday, June 24, 2005 6:31 AM

BLACKDOVE

I can understand your reasonings for why the characters are behaving more harshly, but I still feel it's just a tad more extreme than they should be. Mal is almost completely unlikable in this film, and that's not a good thing if you want to attract new fans to the franchise. It's one thing for him to try and kill the operative in cold blood, and quite another when he executes a wounded Alliance soldier. It makes it that much harder for a new audience to sympathise with him.

As for my editing comments, I was speaking as an editor myself having worked on several feature films. I thought the cutting was choppy and needed to be smoothed out.

One thing I forgot to mention that I did enjoy was the opening dolly shot on the ship. They seamlessly blended several different takes to make it appear that the camera moved throughout the entire ship in one take. The set for the ship was broken up onto two separate sound stages at Universal, so it was nice how they used CGI to blend the two shots. The transition came when Mal turned started down the stairs into the cargo bay. It was so perfect I couldn't tell where the cut was. Nicely done. :)

"What y'all order a dead guy for?" - Jayne Cobb

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Friday, June 24, 2005 6:48 AM

CALLMEATH

Quote:
Originally posted by gtman8503:
I disagree...Simon rescuing River doesn't violate continuity. In the series, it's said that Simon contacted some people to help him get River out. It's never said how that happens, so Simon breaking River out of the facility with their help is a perfectly acceptable explanation, for me at least.

Actually, in the pilot Simon says that the underground movement got her out. His exact words are:

"If I funded them, they could sneak her out in cryo, get her to Persephone, and from there I could take her wherever."

However, this really didn't bother me. This is the movie, not the show. There are going to be some differences, but this movie is how Joss, THE CREATOR of Firefly, wants it to be. Personally, I liked how it showed Simon as a stronger character, and it helped show how far he'd go for his sister.

"Invader's blood marches through my veins like giant radioactive rubber pants. The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!"

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Friday, June 24, 2005 10:51 AM

BIKISDAD

Sorry, I just don't see Mal as being too extreme, at all - especially concerning the "wounded Alliance soldier" you mentioned. That wounded Alliance soldier was the same guy who had just massacred a whole village, including small children and a very dear friend of Mal's. If Mal hadn't shot the bastard, I would have.

I agree with your comments about the editing. Lisa Lassek is a fantastic editor, and there's no way that she would let the cut in these early showings be her final work. There was one cut in particular that bothered me. Early-ish in the film there's a really quick cut to a shot of Inara and the Operative. I'm not an expert, but I think it either should have been left out completely, or have been longer. It just didn't look right the way it was.

Apathy on the Rise. No One Cares.

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