Film review: Serenity.
I finally had the chance to see this film, which I was eagerly anticipating due to the fact that I downright loved the TV show Firefly. I wasn't disappointed.
Let me start this review by stating that I don't understand the American broadcasting system one lousy bit. Fox TV Network never gave this show a chance, barely advertising it, giving it a terrible time-slot, pre-empting it on many occasions, and showing the episodes out of order (the pilot being shown last). The show was excellent but never stood a chance with a network that seemed to purposely want to destroy it. I'm glad Serenity, which is raking in the millions as we speak, is proving Fox wrong.
Anyway, the film.
A short summary: The motley crew of Serenity will take any job, even if that job isn't exactly legal. Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his crew take small smuggling and petty thieving jobs to keep their ship afloat, and to stay under the radar of the Alliance, the galactic conglomerate that just about rules the galaxy, and also happened to be on the opposite side of the war Cap'n Mal lost, years ago. But when a doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister River join the crew, they get in much more trouble than they bargained for. A mysterious man, the Operative, is after River, because she stumbled onto a secret no one was supposed to know, and he and the Alliance will stop at nothing to get her back.
There were two things about the initial TV show that enormously appealed to me, and both those aspects are carried over into this feature film. First of all there's the unique combination of science fiction and western; two genres which I always thought would go together like water and oil, but which, in Whedon's reality, go together perfectly, and even compliment eachother.
The other appealing aspect of the universe as Whedon creates it in Firefly and Serenity is its plausibility; if humanity will ever master space travel, than this is what it will look like. Not the sterility of Star Trek, nor the vast array of suspiciously humanline aliens of, well, Star Trek. The society Whedon creates is as real as anything we've ever seen in science fiction, however contradictory that may be.
The cast does a tremendous job, but that was to be expected; they already inhabited these characters through and through. The bad guy was well done, the ice cold and nameless assassin, only known as the Operative; played to excellence by Chiwetel Ejiofor. It's also clear where the extra budget went; the SFX are a couple of notches better than the TV show, which greatly improves the appearance of perhaps the most important character in the entire film. Serenity itself.
Shortcomings? Sure. Specifically speaking, there's the completely unnecessary death of one of the crew, and the fact that the relationship between the doctor and the ship engineer is reduced to a series of crude jokes. Generally speaking, there's the fact that the film is more directed at the action, while the show was more centred on the drama; it's been dumbed down a bit for the masses. Besides all that, the film answers too many questions, and poses too few new ones.
I'm hoping someone will give Whedon the money and the opportunity to make another film, and that he'll make it as in-your-face as Firefly was. I want a film that prompts more questions than it provides answers. I want science fiction that is a feast for the brain, and not just for my eyeballs; that challenges convention and, most of all, makes use of the incredible talent that Whedon and his fabulous cast have between them.
Having been knifed in the back by Fox for making a superb TV series, Joss Whedon and the cast deserve a round of applause for getting Serenity made at all. Artistic freedom doesn't come cheap, and the original series was far too (W)hedonistic for Fox' average audiences. Whedon is a brilliant writer and his cast have done the characters justice. Serenity is a great sci-fi action film that is well worth seeing.
Serenity is a grand, sweeping finale to Firefly and with any luck, the beginning of a new film franchise.
A 82 out of 100.
Cheers
Let me start this review by stating that I don't understand the American broadcasting system one lousy bit. Fox TV Network never gave this show a chance, barely advertising it, giving it a terrible time-slot, pre-empting it on many occasions, and showing the episodes out of order (the pilot being shown last). The show was excellent but never stood a chance with a network that seemed to purposely want to destroy it. I'm glad Serenity, which is raking in the millions as we speak, is proving Fox wrong.
Anyway, the film.
A short summary: The motley crew of Serenity will take any job, even if that job isn't exactly legal. Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his crew take small smuggling and petty thieving jobs to keep their ship afloat, and to stay under the radar of the Alliance, the galactic conglomerate that just about rules the galaxy, and also happened to be on the opposite side of the war Cap'n Mal lost, years ago. But when a doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister River join the crew, they get in much more trouble than they bargained for. A mysterious man, the Operative, is after River, because she stumbled onto a secret no one was supposed to know, and he and the Alliance will stop at nothing to get her back.
There were two things about the initial TV show that enormously appealed to me, and both those aspects are carried over into this feature film. First of all there's the unique combination of science fiction and western; two genres which I always thought would go together like water and oil, but which, in Whedon's reality, go together perfectly, and even compliment eachother.
The other appealing aspect of the universe as Whedon creates it in Firefly and Serenity is its plausibility; if humanity will ever master space travel, than this is what it will look like. Not the sterility of Star Trek, nor the vast array of suspiciously humanline aliens of, well, Star Trek. The society Whedon creates is as real as anything we've ever seen in science fiction, however contradictory that may be.
The cast does a tremendous job, but that was to be expected; they already inhabited these characters through and through. The bad guy was well done, the ice cold and nameless assassin, only known as the Operative; played to excellence by Chiwetel Ejiofor. It's also clear where the extra budget went; the SFX are a couple of notches better than the TV show, which greatly improves the appearance of perhaps the most important character in the entire film. Serenity itself.
Shortcomings? Sure. Specifically speaking, there's the completely unnecessary death of one of the crew, and the fact that the relationship between the doctor and the ship engineer is reduced to a series of crude jokes. Generally speaking, there's the fact that the film is more directed at the action, while the show was more centred on the drama; it's been dumbed down a bit for the masses. Besides all that, the film answers too many questions, and poses too few new ones.
I'm hoping someone will give Whedon the money and the opportunity to make another film, and that he'll make it as in-your-face as Firefly was. I want a film that prompts more questions than it provides answers. I want science fiction that is a feast for the brain, and not just for my eyeballs; that challenges convention and, most of all, makes use of the incredible talent that Whedon and his fabulous cast have between them.
Having been knifed in the back by Fox for making a superb TV series, Joss Whedon and the cast deserve a round of applause for getting Serenity made at all. Artistic freedom doesn't come cheap, and the original series was far too (W)hedonistic for Fox' average audiences. Whedon is a brilliant writer and his cast have done the characters justice. Serenity is a great sci-fi action film that is well worth seeing.
Serenity is a grand, sweeping finale to Firefly and with any luck, the beginning of a new film franchise.
A 82 out of 100.
Cheers
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