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| Reel Fanatic: 'Serenity' is old fashioned sci-fi done just right By Keith Demko TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER Fall is the best time of year for film buffs. After the bombast of summer - and this one was particularly atrocious - you get to see not only the movies that are being dangled as Oscar bait, but also those that were too tricky to market in the crowded summer. One of those little gems is Joss Whedon's "Serenity," the unlikely successor to "Firefly," Whedon's space Western that only lasted 15 shows on Fox. The movie, theme and storywise, lifts huge chunks from the original "Star Wars," but this is more a valentine than a ripoff job. Its likeness to "Star Wars" is, in fact, much of Whedon's point in making "Serenity," I think. It shows us how great sci-fi movies used to be, something George Lucas himself forgot about the time he came up with those wretched little ewoks in "Return of the Jedi." The story of "Serenity" is that of Capt. Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and the ragtime band of petty thieves that make up his crew on the spaceship Serenity. Fillion is Harrison Ford down to every facial gesture, and boy have we missed him. Also aboard the Serenity is a seer with a secret, a freaky psychic named River Tam played by newcomer Summer Glau, who is exactly Whedon's type for a heroine. Like Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the famous vampire slayer, she's a waif-thin powder keg about to blow, and Glau is definitely a star on the rise. What River knows could bring down the all-powerful force that controls the universe - in this case the Alliance - that is requisite for any sci-fi adventure. To take her out, the Alliance dispatches an assassin known as the Operative played with chilling precision by Chiwetel Eijofor, the English actor who co-starred with Audrey Tautou in Stephen Frears' criminally under-seen thriller "Dirty Pretty Things." To reveal more about what River knows or where the movie goes from there would ruin it for everybody, but trust me, as the Serenity crew flees from the Operative and works to reveal its dangerous secret, you'll love the ride. Two things set Whedon's w**k apart from the other fluff filling up our movie screens: great dialogue and a finale that really delivers. Fillion, in particular, plays his reluctant hero role to the hilt, delivering this speech to rouse his troops: "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." Whedon has been a master of banter for years, with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" his college course, "Angel" his graduate w**k and now "Serenity" his graduate thesis. As for the finale, Whedon, who both wrote and directed "Serenity," isn't afraid to show that actions have consequences. I'll just say that in the final standoff between Serenity's crew and the Operative's Alliance troops, not every one will survive, and that's very refreshing. |
| QUOTE (prophecy girl @ Oct 6 2005, 09:10 AM) |
| Empire Online cover the UK premiere of Serenity in London. http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/story.asp?NID=17178 |
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| His crystal ball is clearly w**king on overdrive, so we asked him (joss) about his thoughts on Serenity 2 and 3. "Serenity 2 and 3 – that's where I really got self-indulgent and clearly it wasn't about the art anymore. It was just about me having a good time and quite frankly I left the audience behind. The second one made a lot of money, but by the third one they were tired of me, and it really dipped in the box office." And Serenity 4? "Oh, it goes straight to DVD and stars Scott Baio instead of Nathan." Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first. |
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| Review 2005 The Times October 06, 2005 Screen Serenity By Wendy Ide View a trailer for Serenity Click here to find out where this film is on near you Watch a bonus clip 15, 119mins Fans of Joss Whedon will know far more about his feature film directorial debut, Serenity than could be crammed into this review. They’ll know that the film is a spin-off from a sci-fi TV series called Firefly which, despite apparent acclaim from critics and audiences, was cancelled midway through its first series. They’ll know that Whedon has indulged his taste for teenage girl warriors again — rather than the perky, pop-socked Buffy we have brooding psychic, River, a 17-year-old programmed by the Universe’s dominant coalition forces to be the deadliest weapon yet conceived. She looks like Avril Lavigne throwing the mother of all teenage strops. Whedonites will know that the action is set 500 years in the future and they’ll probably forgive the fact that, in the crew quarters of Serenity, a scrap heap of a spaceship, there’s a coffee machine that you could buy in any decent-sized department store. But Whedon fans are not really the issue here. There’s no doubt that they’ll flock to the cinema to catch this latest offering from the pen of the master. The question is, what, if anything, does Serenity have to offer those who never caught an episode of Firefly and who remain immune to the appeal of a cheerleading blonde doing battle with the undead? Although the thumbprint of its TV roots is smeared all over Serenity, the film is surprisingly successful. Whedon’s whistle-stop tour of the Firefly world gives us enough background information to put the story into context, but stops short of haranguing us with detail. A meagre budget compared with that of many other sci-fi pictures has actually worked in the movie’s favour. Rather than relying on a wall-to-wall carpet of CGI effects, Whedon’s script takes the time and effort to get to know its characters. And although some, such as the tough-guy mercenary Jayne (he gets cross a lot) and the mooning, lovelorn mechanic Kaylee (she’s a bit wet), remain two-dimensional, Whedon is generous with choice lines. The linchpin of this ensemble is Captain Mal Reynold (a likeable Nathan Fillion), a former freedom fighter turned outlaw, his idealist’s conscience constantly wrestling with the survivalist pragmatism necessary to make it in the wilder fringes of outer space. After the portentousness of the later Star Wars films, it’s refreshing to see a sci-fi film that realises and revels in the inherent ridiculousness of the genre. But while nobody could accuse Serenity of taking itself too seriously, you sense a quiet confidence on the part of Whedon that he has just given birth to his first movie franchise. |
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| Serenity opens in the UK today. The Times casts its eye over the movie and mentions the magic word "franchise". Whilst The Guardian says "Whedon is a movie-making force to be reckoned with". And the The Mirror resorts to using traditional cliches with "fantastic non-stop action adventure" (spoilers in the reviews btw). |
| QUOTE (Cardelia @ Oct 6 2005, 10:49 PM) |
| There was another piece in the film review section of the Times, a small article about film heroines. I can't find a link to it though, so I might have to type it out tomorrow. |
| QUOTE (little pixie @ Oct 7 2005, 01:50 PM) | ||
This article ? :ponder: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,...1812318,00.html ( The Times only archives for 7 days, so if anyone wants to keep the article.... :) ) |
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| But, really, anyone who doesn’t enjoy genre filmmaking this smart is taking themselves, or their science-fiction far too seriously. |
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| Pre-release hype, gripes and, um, snipes about Serenity have focused on one issue: can Joss Whedon, creator of cult TV shows Buffy, Angel and the short-lived Firefly, translate his particular smarts (knowing dialogue, layered characters, plot curveballs) into a film with broad, mainstream appeal? Or, to break it down: is this film any good? Do you need to have seen the TV series Firefly? And will it lead to a franchise? Well, yes, no and hopefully. Because with Serenity, Whedon has delivered a universe as quasi-philosophical as The Matrix, a crew dynamic as soap operatic as Star Trek and a sense of fun and wonder last seen in a galaxy far, far away. But with better dialogue. The artfully edited and paced opening minutes should offer enough exposition to get newcomers up to speed while still finding time for a few sly shocks. In rapid succession we learn that there’s been a civil war which the good guys lost; our heroes – the crew of the Serenity – are far from perfect; their human cargo, the mysterious River, is probably very bad news indeed, and in the future mankind resides in a combination of the Wild West and, bizarrely, China. What follows is a suitably epic journey where practically everyone is pushed to their limits and forced to take a good, hard look at themselves. Whedon’s original concept of a Western in space is adhered to, giving the film a nice touch of spirituality. In fact, if you’re so inclined, you could probably find a subtext comparing the merits of Christianity and Buddhism. But, fear not, there are also plenty of fights, explosions and chases to look at, too. The characters are well-drawn and benefit from performances already honed over 15 small-screen episodes. The relationship between pilot Wash (Alan Tudyk) and his wife Zoe (Gina Torres) is warm and comfortably underplayed, a myriad of unrequited love and unspoken emotion between the rest of the crew is similarly communicated with a pleasingly light touch, while the excellent Summer Glau is twitchily unsettling as the mysterious River. The most difficult job falls to Nathan Fillion as Mal, who’s required to deliver the best space rogue since Han Solo... and then get deadly serious. He’s no Harrison Ford (but then, who is?) though he delivers what’s required competently, if not with quite the wattage to scorch celluloid. Most pleasingly, when the film needs to get dark in the second act, it gets really dark, setting up a proper sense of fear that things are not going to end well. On the downside, budgetary issues seem to have hampered a couple of the CGI moments and there’s a touch of portentously solemn acting (yes, you, Chiwetel Ejiofor). But, really, anyone who doesn’t enjoy genre filmmaking this smart is taking themselves, or their science-fiction far too seriously. Fans of Joss Whedon will love it and non-believers should also have fun. A seriously entertaining piece of sci-fi. A sequel wouldn’t go amiss |
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| Review The multiplexes are already rammed with the fetid, mewling cinematic offspring of hit TV shows, so why on earth should anyone want to watch a spin-off of a series that failed to even make it through its first season? Well, firstly: it’s the big-screen debut of Buffy god Joss Whedon, a man with more pop-culture funnies than Scream’s Kevin Williamson. Secondly: everybody knows that these days truly great shows rarely make it beyond a debut run. Thirdly: it’s a hell of a lot better than The Dukes Of Hazzard. Genre obsessives will already be fully clued up on the seemingly doomed course of the good ship Serenity, which, in the US show Firefly, launched with great fanfare before being buffeted by network execs to such an extent that only the most dedicated viewer could find it on the schedules. But with its complex mix of Western, sci-fi, thriller and comedy, not to mention a sprawling cast and twisting back-stories that 14 episodes could barely touch on, it was Whedon’s most ambitious project, and a show of such wit and originality that naturally it refused to die. Thus, through the power of the browncoat (read: Firefly nerd) and stellar sales on DVD, the lawless cast was given a reprieve and Whedon $40 million to resurrect his project. All of which should send anybody disinclined to conventions and mint-condition collectables running from a darkened cinema for the sunshine of the outside world. Fear not; herein lies black comedy, spiky romance and action adventure — without an alien to be seen. You could question Whedon’s wisdom in making this his first foray into movie direction (he’s previously been Oscar-nominated for co-scripting Toy Story), with its demands to satisfy both the faithful few and the indifferent masses. Screw this up and he’s not only dashed the dreams of his die-hard following, but also called into question his big-budget future. Thankfully, through pluck, talent and enormous imagination, Whedon’s done it, cheerfully Frankensteining the smart mouth of Buffy, the dust of Deadwood and all the fun bits of Star Wars. Which, in some ways, is the movie’s sole problem.Serenity exists on a plane somewhere between cinema and TV. For much of the running time it feels like an extended episode of the series, with televisual staging and a slow reveal strategy that seems to be saving something for next week’s show. A large lead cast (played wonderfully by the original TV actors, all stretching their comedy and action muscles with ‘may never get the chance again’ vigour) demands a great deal of screentime to draw in newcomers. Whedon’s economical with his exposition, but with the amount of story to be squeezed in, even a tiny lapse in concentration will leave some scratching their heads during a few of the plot twists. Gloriously, though, around the halfway point Serenity blossoms, breaking free of its small-screen confines. Whedon lets loose a series of confident action sequences befitting any summer blockbuster, the cast step up to big-screen presence (all hail Nathan Fillion, the new Han Solo!), and the careful seeding of the characters and story bears the fruit of an ending in which nothing is certain, no clichéd outcome inevitable and no crew member safe from the jaws of death. Bring on Episode II. Verdict If you’re a novice, this is a plucky introduction to Whedon’s world and the most fun sci-fi of the year. If you’re a devotee, this is the magnificent return you’ve been praying for. Olly Richards |
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| Previous Story Next Story Saturday, October 8, 2005 The "B" Movie King 'Star Trek' never had a robot in a prom dress By Jordy "Ray" Purlky Jr. / Cox News Service "Serenity" Naked breasts: Nope. Dirty words: Just some naughty stuff with Kaylee talking about how (sexually energized) she feels. Best lines: "Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a 90-pound girl." - Wash, totally digging hearing about River trouncing the big guy. "I swallowed a bug." - River, after a big chase scene. The rest: Written and directed by Joss Whedon. Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, and some sexual references. 1 hour, 59 minutes. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery ATLANTA -- I never watched that TV show "Firefly," which was created by the guy who made "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - another show I never watched on account of it sounding so incredibly gay. But here comes "Serenity," the big-screen version of "Firefly," and I'm starting to think I owe Joss Whedon an apology. See, I was gonna check out "Into the Blue" because it stars Jessica Alba and a bikini. And since half of the movie is filmed underwater, that means you can watch Jessica Alba and her bikini WITHOUT having to listen to her talk. Because talking is not one of Jessica's big talents. But then I looked at the poster outside the theater and remembered the movie ALSO stars the big blonde vanilla tool known as Paul Walker, who is to movies what kids without bladder control are to swimming pools. But right beside that poster was one of a guy looking real serious, and a spaceship and, best of all, a semi-hot chick holding a big gun. So "Serenity" it was. The serious guy is Mal (Nathan Fillion), and the girl with the gun is River (Summer Glau), a 17-year-old psychic with a major head trip. See, it's 500 years in the future. Humans have colonized all these other planets and built frontier towns like the Old West, but with cool upgrades like video games, legal prostitution and a sex robot wearing a prom dress. Before the movie starts, some of these far-flung settlers waged civil war against the Alliance, the evil big-brother government, but they lost. Mal was one of them, and so was Zoe (Gina Torres), one of the crew on his rattletrap spaceship, Serenity. The rest are Zoe's pilot husband Wash (Alan Tudyk), the engineer Kaylee (Jewel Staite) and the big dumb muscle, Jayne (Adam Baldwin). There's also a couple of old team members no longer on the ship: the preacher Book (Ron Glass) and the "companion" (aka high-end hooker) Inara (Morena Baccarin). We don't see nearly enough of them, especially Inara, who runs around in a harem outfit straight out of "I Dream of Jeannie." The Serenity crew goes wherever there's w**k, most of it on the dirty side, stealing and smuggling stuff. They also take on paying passengers. River's one, along with her brother Simon (Sean Maher), who stole her away from the Alliance hospital where doctors were monkeying with her brain. But the Alliance wants her back and sends the Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) after her. He's a bad(buttocks), making people fall on his samurai sword and telling them, "This is a good death, there is no shame in this." (Well, not for HIM, I guess.) He's bad news, but he's got nothing on the Reavers, these mutated humans that rape and eat whoever they get their hands on, usually at the same time. They're like a cross between zombies and intergalactic hillbillies, and their trashed-out ships look like an outer-space trailer park. There's a lot of plot in "Serenity." Mostly it has to do with Mal and his crew figuring out what to do with River when something triggers her brain and turns her into a kung fu fighter who might kill them all. To be honest, I didn't follow every little plot twist. Maybe that's because these folks talk old-fashioned funny in a way that keeps throwing you off. Like Mal says, "Let's have no undue fuss" and "I aim to misbehave." It's kinda quaint, and when Kaylee complains about not having anything "twixt my nethers" for months, it takes you a minute to realize she's talking pure filth. It's the kind of movie you have to pay attention to, but it pays you back with cool things like excellent fight scenes, outer-space chases and, yeah, a sex robot in a prom dress. And what's really surprising is Whedon kills off (spoiler deleted), and people in the theater gasped when he did. So now I REALLY have to watch the old "Firefly" DVDs and find out what the fuss was all about. But it's gonna take more than one good movie to make me go anywhere near "Buffy" - am I right? Jordy "Ray" Purlky is the pseudonym of a longtime writer at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. |
| QUOTE (laughitupfuzzball @ Oct 9 2005, 10:50 AM) |
| Nice to see Empire and Total Film have both given it a big thumbs up. |
| QUOTE (prophecy girl @ Oct 9 2005, 05:29 PM) | ||
:ermm: |
| QUOTE (prophecy girl @ Oct 11 2005, 10:34 AM) |
| "Serenity" Movie is out of gas - Chud.com Article <_< http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=11835 :unsure: |
| QUOTE (laughitupfuzzball @ Oct 11 2005, 11:19 AM) | ||
Joss actually rose to the defence of Browncoats after that and I believe an apology was made, think it was on Buffy nu. :) |
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| Joss actually rose to the defence of Browncoats after that and I believe an apology was made, think it was on Buffy nu |
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| Posted: 03 Oct 2005 10:20 am Post subject: Well. Here I am. Reply with quote So I was flouncing (that's lurking but fancier) about WHEDONESQUE (for which I have forgotten my password yet again) and I couldn't help but see the little CHUD.com hate-bomb that Devin wrote. I don't mind that he doesn't love the film, but things like "It failed in a big way" and "It's over" are about as charming -- and journalistic -- as "I was right." I am being totally realistic when I say the weekend grosses did not meet expectations -- but those expectations were based on models that don't apply to this situation because, seriously, nothing does. The industry is not calling this a failure, just a slightly soft version of a normal opening in a generally weak weekend. Now I did meet Devin, and he's not a dumb guy. But he seems to have a real animus against you Browncoats, and that's the thing I wanted to comment on, 'cause that doesn't sit well with me. He actually blames you guys for making sci-fi fans stay away from the movie. Says you should be ashamed for having adopted a name, that you will start finger-pointing and bickering now that you've 'caused' the 'failure' of your film. He blames other things as well -- the title, the ads -- but that's fine. If one --ONE -- of you guys reads that column and takes it to heart I'll not sleep. You guys did an amazing thing this weekend -- and the exit polls showed how much you guys were out there, and how much business you dragged in with you. Not to mention everything you did for the months - sorry, YEARS -- before it opened. I'm crazy proud of you. Yes, there is an exclusionary element to some fandom that is inevitable, but this group has fought that as well or better as any, and maybe I'm a nerd, but being compared to a Trekker (or even a TrekkIE) doesn't offend me a bit. We all know this remains an uphill battle. We all know that next weekend is crucial -- and a lot of it will rest on us. A lot will rest on the studio reaching people we can't. And factors we can't see coming. But I don't especially appreciate people calling Time of Death while I'm still operating. I don't like smug defeatism. And nobody disses the 'coats without me wading in. That's all. The question remains: Did Early die out there in space, or did some passing ship show up at the last second? There's no answer yet, but I sure as hell know how I'd write it. -j. |
| QUOTE (laughitupfuzzball @ Oct 11 2005, 01:45 PM) |
| The question remains: Did Early die out there in space, or did some passing ship show up at the last second? There's no answer yet, but I sure as hell know how I'd write it. |
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| Review: 'Serenity' - Why stop the signal when it's this good? By CHARLIE COX Contributing Writer Faithful readers of The Advocate-Messenger may remember a column I wrote two months ago about my experience at an advance screening of "Serenity," one of many set up by Universal Pictures to generate positive word of mouth on the project. I'll admit it: In the column I gushed a bit, begging movie-goers to take a chance on the film and displaying my affection for the material. But that was the fan side of me speaking - or Browncoat, depending on your level of understanding for the "Serenity"/"Firefly" universe - and now, two months later, I've seen the film from the point of view of a critic, the one from which the review will be given. Ultimately, though, you might find that both voices strike many similar chords because, in all honesty, "Serenity" is a darn fine film, excellent even, and one that certainly should be seen. The film takes us 500 years in the future, when the human race has grown too large for "Earth that was." Over time, we've expanded, finding a new solar system and cultivating dozens of planets to have the same conditions as our former world. Along the way, the universe has been under the governmental rule of The Alliance, a big-brother type authoritative body whose need for complete control of all planets in the system sparked an inter-galactic Civil War between themselves and the Independence freedom fighters, known as Browncoats. After the smoke cleared, The Alliance stood victorious, leaving the few Browncoats to scurry about the universe. Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) was a leader in the resistance, and now is captain of a rickety Firefly-class ship named Serenity. He leads a crew that includes Zoe (Gina Torres), who fought with Mal side-by-side in the Civil War; her husband and Serenity's pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk); cuddly-cute mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite); muscle-for-hire Jayne (Adam Baldwin); as well as "Companion" Inara (Morena Baccarin), whom Mal secretly holds a torch for. They're looking for jobs, honest or not, trying to make ends meet and hide off The Alliance's radar. Mystery surrounds Serenity's two newest passengers, Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his seemingly unstable sister, River (Summer Glau), as The Alliance becomes hot on their tail. Deployed by the parliament is The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a lethal assassin who will stop at nothing in finding and capturing the young River who, because of her psychic capabilities, may hold many of the Alliance's top secrets. In the aforementioned previous column, I gave a pretty complete rundown of Serenity's unique journey to the big screen. Here's the Cliff's Notes version: "Serenity" is based on Joss Whedon's short-lived - as in 11 aired episodes - but much-beloved - as in one of the most dedicated followings this side of George Lucas - Sci-fi/Western hybrid TV show "Firefly," which aired on the Fox Network during the fall of 2002. Fox, apparently not knowing how to handle a show that doesn't involve marrying a millionaire or people making fools of themselves singing in front of Simon Cowell, aired episodes out of chronological order and cancelled the show in December. Long story short, the cult following "Firefly" spawned was enough to propel DVD sales of the show to great heights. Universal Pictures decided to take a gamble, purchasing the rights of the material from Fox and giving Whedon the green light to write and direct a "Firefly" feature film. And because Whedon is basically sci-fi geekdom's equivalent of a rock star from creating "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," and "Firefly," it's easy to forget the fact that this is Whedon's debut as a feature film director. Whedon's directorial transition to the big screen goes superbly, giving us some thrilling action sequences and innovative, character-driven scenes. Note the expert staging of the first shot aboard Serenity: It's a single shot lasting around four minutes, which creatively introduces us to the entire ship and every member of the crew. Speaking of the crew, all nine of the main cast members from "Firefly" (including Ron Glass as Shepherd Book) reprise their roles with great ease and fun. Fillion is a movie-star in the making and this will be his launching pad. He's got the uncommon ability to turn from dead serious to comic on a dime. As Jayne, Baldwin, an actor known for serious roles, shows his considerable comedy chops as well, providing many of the film's laughs. As a newcomer to the "Serenity"/"Firefly" universe, Ejiofor makes a considerable mark as The Operative, a clich-defying villain who, while well aware that his actions are evil, believes with absolute conviction that his job is necessary to create a better world, or worlds, in this case. The combination of Ejiofor's effective performance and Whedon's characterization makes The Operative one of the most interesting villains of any film this year. Amidst the considerable action and laughs in his whip-smart script, Whedon manages to make some socially relevant political messages. One of the underlying themes in "Serenity" is the right for people to know the truth, which is especially valid in our current times. Unusually thoughtful for a sci-fi adventure, isn't it? But then again, "Serenity" is anything but run-of the mill. It's fast, fun, and refreshingly original. It's a triumphant piece of magical moviemaking, which works on every level and is destined to, at some point, be imbedded in our culture with "Star Wars." However, judging by last weekend's slightly underwhelming box office opening, it may take some time for "Serenity" to be embraced by the mainstream, sad as it might be. But, to quote a character from the film, "You can't stop the signal." And why would you want to when the signal is this good? Copyright The Advocate-Messenger 2005 |
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| Serenity is an oddity: A major movie based on a failed TV show from a first-time director w**king with a cast of unknowns. And it's a tough sell: A science-fiction space opera with hints of Chinese and westerns thrown into the mix, a complicated backstory, nine major characters and dark themes. Given all that, Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) does about as well as can be expected, coming up with an exciting, funny, scary and thought-provoking movie that fulfills much of Firefly's promise. Fans of Whedon's w**k will recognize a lot: There are hints of Buffy here and there, lots of his trademark snappy dialogue and character-based humor and plenty of acrobatic action, and Serenity wraps up the Firefly story neatly. Whedon also gets a chance to w**k his directorial chops, glimpsed heretofore only in episodes of Whedon's Buffy, Angel and Firefly TV series. He expands the Firefly universe, shows great skill in staging massive action set pieces and throws in nods to filmed westerns and SF epics of the past. The movie even features one of Whedon's signature tracking shots early on: a four-minute scene that walks the audience through the entire ship and introduces each of the main characters in succession, without a cut. (Necessarily, the story focuses more on Mal and River than on the rest of the cast, and some characters—notably Inara [Morena Baccarin] and Shepherd Book [Ron Glass]—are hardly in the movie at all.) As for the movie's story, it plumbs character and thematic material familiar to anyone who is a fan of Whedon's previous w**k: faith, heroism, sacrifice, surrogate families and the price of blind idealism, yadda. It's pretty deep for what is otherwise a genre piece, and non-fans may find the movie a bit slow in the midsection. But Whedon more than makes up for it in the finale, which puts Star Wars to shame. Throughout, Whedon never loses sight of his characters' essential humanity, which is as authentic as any in dramas without spaceships and cannibalistic savages. That's what gives Serenity its heart and soul and is the reason that Whedon continues to command a legion of fans willing to embarrass themselves with a singalong of the Firefly theme even at a press screening. Shiny! |
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| 1. It's a Western! It's Sci-Fi! It's a Western! It's Sci-Fi! It's a Drama! It's a Comedy! It's Fantasy! It's Art! Or, Maybe, it's Just Plain GOOD. |
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Relevant Magazine reviews Serenity. Peter Suderman says, "Unassuming and unpretentious, [Serenity] bests blockbusters with three times its budget, |
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| Firefly - "Serenity" Movie - Orient.bowdoin.edu Review From Orient.bowdoin.edu - By Gabe Kornbluh - 2005-10-23 Serenity a soothing sci-fi success Nothing soothes the soul like a solid sci-fi flick. Serenity, Joss Whedon’s big screen foray and extension of his late TV show, "Firefly," is as soothing as can be. With special effects that hover slightly above shoddy, and a humbly remote vision of the future, Whedon’s pet project shirks the facetious expectations associated with the genre. By accomplishing this, Serenity achieves a humility that makes the film feel like a surprise rather than a bargain. To clarify, Serenity is by no means a genre buster. With a ragtag group of intergalactic thieves, a divided universe, and an all-powerful government involved in shady dealings, the movie’s plot is far from innovative. The opening sequence, which involves a narrator spitting out the status of our future universe, feels a lot like the famous opening of cinema’s sci-fi saga, Star Wars, sans the towering yellow scroll. If, at the outset, this resemblance seems worrisome, have no fear. The closest similarity Serenity holds with George Lucas’s original is an asset unappreciated in current cinema: a cast of fresh and unknown faces. Leading the pack of likable nobodies is Nathan Fillion, a soap star who plays the Captain of the ship Serenity. Reminiscent of a capable Brendan Frasier with a Neanderthal’s brow, Fillion brings both brawn and stoicism to the delightfully anti-heroic role of Mal. He’s a hardened warrior with a sordid past, and he guides his team with the heavy hand of practicality. A long lost son of Han Solo, Mal’s character must have a reserve of compassion somewhere, and Fillion’s career must break out big after this modest starring role. The rest of the crew samples the catalogue of TV archetypes as well, which, in the gifted hands of Joss Whedon, is far from a bad thing. There’s Zoe, the level headed tough girl, Kaylee, the spunky mechanic, the comic pilot Wash, and Jayne, the muscle-bound simpleton. All are relatively straightforward; they w**k well alone, but even better together. After skippering "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," two hugely successful TV fantasies, Whedon displays a particular skill here for making quick introductions and leaving lasting impressions. His characters have a snappy flair for dialogue and exude a potent self-assurance that gives each one a unique purpose. Complete with their own hooks and choruses, Serenity’s crew is a bunch to which we cannot help but hum along. Mr. Whedon also makes it clear that he appreciates the value of a good villain. Chiwetel Ejiofor turns in a startlingly evil performance as the Operative, a cryptically named government hit man out to take down Serenity’s crew. When he faces off with Mal in different stages of the film, a genuinely gripping rivalry starts to form, thanks to the ease with which Whedon embroiders standard dramatic conflict with winks of humor and wit. During an intense firefight, Mal asks his crew how much ammo they have left. Responds Jayne: "Three full mags, and my swinging cod!" It’s lines like this one, brought forth by the western lingo that Whedon has made natural to his space vagrants that make Serenity hilariously enjoyable. One of the films greatest successes arrives in its neat blend of sci-fi awe and nostalgic reverence; Mal carries around a revolver, draws in shootouts, and announces his plans with the enchanting hard-headedness of the beefiest of cowboys. When Whedon silhouettes Mal in a shot of the ship’s elevator, it’s a space-age homage to John Wayne in The Searcher: the lonely prestige of manhood framed in metallic darkness. Serenity’s plot and setting are nice, but not essential. Whedon’s characters could be sitting in a circle, furiously knitting winter caps for two hours, and the movie would still be enjoyable. For all that Serenity owes to Star Wars, Mr. George Lucas himself would be wise to inspect the elegant breeziness of Whedon’s characters. The joy of watching Serenity is seeing someone like Whedon take obvious pleasure in playing with big toys, but never allowing those toys to play him. Whedon has no qualms about presenting a piece that is simply and unabashedly character driven, however far, far away its galaxy resides. |
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| Firefly - "Serenity" Movie - Spectator.org Review - Spoilers From Spectator.org - By Peter Suderman - 2005-10-25 Spaceships and Small Governments NOTE: Some spoilers appear in this report. During its long life on syndication — following a short-lived network run — the original Star Trek became a massive cult phenomenon that used science fiction as a means to spread a multicultural, anti-capitalist, progressive gospel. With its post-money, post-war Earth and its valiant, UN-like Federation of Planets, it reflected the liberal passions of the 1960s. Now, nearly four decades later, another short-lived TV show, Joss Whedon’s Firefly, has inspired similar cult adoration and made the leap to the big screen — only this time the politics are reversed. The result is Serenity, a scrappy, energetic science fiction/western hybrid that is as libertarian as Star Trek was liberal, reminding viewers why even well-intentioned government intervention is more a problem than a solution. Whedon, the creator of beloved teen-horror TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, packs his narrative with familiar genre elements, but recombines them in clever, unexpected ways. In the far future, overpopulation has led to a new wave of frontiersmen, only this time they’re exploring the edges of space. The central planets are run by a meddling unified government called The Alliance which recently suppressed an outer world revolt and now has designs on the outlaw crew aboard the spaceship Serenity. That crew, and their effusively witty banter, is a significant part of what makes the film so enjoyable. Whedon’s biggest strength is his ability to swiftly establish a wide cast of quirky characters with compelling balance of strengths and weaknesses. They’re not exactly Randian supermen, but each is a plucky, strong-willed individualist, most notably Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion). Fillion plays Mal as a scowling, selfish ruffian who has no qualms about stealing, shooting, and generally causing mischief whenever it suits his interest. And yet he’s not malicious or cruel; during a robbery he calmly informs an opponent, "I got no need to fight you. I just want to go my way." Later, when scolded for theft, Mal reminds his accuser that he’s just taking the only option left after Alliance interference, saying, "I put this crew together with the promise of w**k, which the Alliance makes harder every year." Mal’s goal is never to harm anyone else — he just wants to be allowed to look after himself. The problem, from Mal’s perspective (and the film’s), is that The Alliance won’t let the crew of Serenity or any other outer world settlers find their own way. The Alliance is populated by bureaucrats who are quick to pass the buck when accused of mistakes and quicker to impose their ideas of "civilization" on pesky frontier planets, trying to force a one-size-fits-all order on societies they’ll never visit, much less live in. Serenity shows the propensity for big, intrusive government to suppress individuality by demanding uniformity of thought. The film opens with a deft satirical jab at progressive education, in which Alliance school children are being taught how brutish and ugly the outer worlds and their inhabitants are. The teacher, with her soothing voice and appropriately mixed ethnicity, calmly tells children that The Alliance just wants to provide the frontier with "social and medical advancements." When one student protests that Alliance control amounts to telling people how to think, the teacher replies, without irony, "We’re not telling people what to think — we’re just trying to show them how." The film also shows that increasing bureaucracy leads to decreasing transparency. As is often the case with oversized government, there’s a tendency for Alliance bureaucrats to hide information from the public. In Serenity, the government refuses to even acknowledge the existence of psychotic, cannibalistic raiders called Reavers, and the driving force behind the film’s narrative is the crew’s desire to expose a secret government experiment. The government may be trying to control information in the interests of safety, but the result is that the public is unable to make informed choices. But government meddling isn’t just a form of thought control; it’s also a death sentence. After the crew lands on a planet in which the entire population has literally laid down to die, they discover that it’s the hideous byproduct of a government experiment attempting to forcibly regulate aggression through airborne chemicals. The implication is clear: Aggression may cause conflict, but it’s also intrinsically tied to that primal energy that keeps people alive. In Serenity’s vision of government, even benevolent bureaucracy kills. In addition to being a solidly entertaining science fiction romp, Serenity is the rare film that advocates small government and libertarian ideals. In fact, the film’s entire existence is a prime example of market forces at w**k. Fox originally aired the TV series sporadically and out of order, making the already challenging task of developing a following even more difficult. But when the show was released in its entirety on DVD, the strength of the sales were enough to convince a major studio to sink a substantial amount of money into development of a feature film. The market was there; it was just waiting for the product to be delivered in the right form. And deliver it did; even with its strong political message, Serenity is first and foremost a rowdy, exciting sci-fi romp with few pretensions beyond providing two hours of crafty genre thrills. At one point, Mal, with typically straightforwardness, says to his crew, "All right, let’s have no fussin’." And throughout, Serenity exemplifies the no-fuss film, largely by decrying the biggest fuss of them all — a callous, overbearing government. |
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| Serenity review: the nitty gritty Posted on Thursday, November 17, 2005 Last week I saw Serenity for the second time. My father hadn't seen it yet and I had unfairly gotten him hooked on the DVD and not taken him yet. After the screening my father turned to me and said "Well...they're not going to be making any more of that, are they?" What follows next are my thoughts on the movie and what I think the future holds for fans of Firefly. These thoughts contain MAJOR SPOILERS. So if you don't want this movie ruined for you, you should stop reading now. Okay. Angela and I saw Serenity in the best possible conditions: at a sneak peek with hundreds of Firefly fans. The movie was exciting, fast, funny, and reminded me why I fell in love with these characters in the first place. As a fan of Firefly, it delivered 100%. My favorite line in the movie is "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar." It's the line we all want to quote, but can't bring ourselves to because it is now forever associated with the biggest shocker of the movie...the death of Wash. I was surprisingly unaffected by the death of Shepard Book. I love his character and I would miss him from a television show. However, I was getting along fine and enjoying the movie without him, so it didn't hurt so much when he died. They had just spent a good portion of the movie convincing me that the Firefly universe could still be fun if Book was absent. But Wash? He's a big spark in that cast. It's hard to think of Firefly being the same without him there. But Wash and Book's death makes perfect sense. Walking into the movie, we have expectations and unanswered questions left by the cancelled show: 1) Why is the alliance after River? What did they do to her and why? 2) Will Mal and Innara ever w**k out? 3) Will Simon and Kayleigh ever hook up? 4) What are the Reavers? 5) What is the deal with Shepherd Book's past? The movie tied up every single one of these questions as far as I'm concerned. Joss tied up every loose end. The alliance made the reavers. Simon and Kayleigh hook up finally. Mal and Innara, in one exchange, figure out how to coexist without pushing each other away. The Reavers were made by the Pax. Maybe River was designed to fight them. I personally think that Book was once an operative like the one chasing the crew in this movie. I think he was once a believer for the alliance and much like the operative in this movie, he woke up and broke away. Everything got tied up. And there were consequences. Changing consequences. The Alliance Parliament was shaken. Wash died. Book died. River was cured of a huge mental problem. Things are changed in that universe. Which may mean that we won't be getting more Firefly. It certainly, in my opinion, means Joss Whedon is assuming we wont. Serenity wasn't movie #1. It was movie #3. We got Return of the Jedi first because I don't think Joss was certain that if he started with movie #1 he would ever get a chance to show us movie #3. So he gave us the last movie first. He let us see how things end first. He let us peek at the last page of his novel. He wanted to make sure that his fans got to see how everything ended. The final chapter. He gave us that first. And even though we know Wash dies, he can always show us previous chapters and we can all still enjoy them. Book and Wash still live in earlier stories that Joss and his cast have yet to tell us. I really like that Serenity was so final. I like that we got to see how these guys end up. That they went through a lot but ended up okay, and made a difference in their world. I don't feel so sad now about the loss of the show because he gave us closure on these characters. I really can't thank Joss enough for doing that. It's really a brilliant move. So bottom line. Serenity really kicked me in the balls. It was fun, exciting and most importantly, satisfying. It really helped me scratch the itch that I couldn't reach after Firefly was taken from me. Thank you Joss! |
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| Once more, with muppets. Serenity gets a hand puppet make over. Extremely silly fun; "(River) Um, my reaver-sense is tingling." |
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| Sci-Fi Theorizer: Serenity's Reavers Contest Hosted by Joe Crowe, December 01, 2005 What's with . . . Serenity's Reavers not Reaving each other? 7. Revelation: Recreant Reavers revel in rarely revealing relevant self-reaving recreation. (Righteous, right-thinking Reavers relegate self-reaving Reavers to Reaver rehabilitation.) (vplexico) 6. They love each other. Like Paul Simon sang, there must be 50 ways to love your Reaver. (dchilders) 5. Reaving another Reaver must have the same social stigma as looking at other guys when you're standing in a men's bathroom. 4. That would be like eating your own mom, man! (truthseeker) 3. It's the same thing as Zombies not eating each other... Why eat something that ate something good, when you can just eat something good. (spam01) 2. They don't like to get their body mutilations all tangled up. I mean once that lawn dart through your cheek gets afixed to the meat hook protruding from their thigh, it'll be all friggin night to get undone. (shade668) 1. When you Reave a Reaver, you're not just Reaving that Reaver: You're Reaving every Reaver that that Reaver ever Reaved. (gbeenie) |