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Serenity
Kicks ass
2005
Review: October 3, 2005
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Can't hurt!
THE SETUP:
Extension of the Firefly TV series in which a band of space robbers find they have a psychic young woman on board who has been trained as a killing machine.
DISCUSSION:
I had seen only the first four episodes of the series on DVD before I got bored and decided I didn't want to bother sitting through the rest. I liked the whole vision and some of the characters [though I wanted Shepard Book to SHUT THE FUCK UP from the start], it's just that you'd come to the end of an episode and say "What, was that a climax? Did something get resolved? Was there a reason that I watched this?" I am glad that I watched a little of it before I went into the movie, but I'm also not going to go back and watch the rest. A friend of mine, and obsessive Buffy and Angel fan, watched the whole thing and ultimately decided that she shouldn't have. I understand that there are thousands of fans. so I'm just telling you where I stand.
The movie opens with a great deal of exposition, handled in a very clever way. You have a whole explanation of the universe, which turns out to be a class young River [the explosive psychic in question] is attending, then that turns out to be a dream she's having just before her brother springs her, which segues cleanly into the operative out to get her. and we're off. It was admirable just how much information Whedon crammed in so quickly, and how cleverly and entertainingly he was able to do it. It also becomes apparent right up front that this movie is going to be very violent. Actually a little too violent for me, but you know, I'm a grumpy old codger.
We then get a very nice tracking shot through the entire ship, and a somewhat dull action piece to introduce [or re-introduce] us to the characters, and slip in the Reavers. Remember the really angry zombies from 28 Days Later? The Reavers are like them, but with spaceships. Anyway, then we can finally slow down and get some character stuff.
All of the cast from the TV show fill the big screen quite ably, look great [it's amazing how much better-looking the big screen makes Nathan Fillion], deliver hilarious line readings of their hilarious lines, etc. I'm saying they don't seem like TV actors at all. Nor does this seem like TV to me-several other critics have said the shots and setups look overly "television." Well, I didn't find that. And I liked how the story and special effects and danger were all amped-up for the movies. My friend who watched the entire series said she felt like story was stretched out to extend it over the entire course of the show. If anything, this film feels like an entire season's worth of story crammed into two hours-which I suspect it may have been.
Anyone who has seen any Whedon creation knows that he creates very funny and snappy dialogue. I was also impressed anew at his skill in structuring a story and providing minor variations on worn themes to make them fresh, how he can work in genuine conflict and drama and surprises that keep the viewer intrigued as one is propelled through the story.
One annoying Whedon holdover, however, is how the characters never just KILL the bad guy during the NUMEROUS times when they have a chance, because we need him to keep going with the story.
I was quite impressed with Chiwetel Ejiofor as the operative who is after River. He seemed very smart and menacing and in control, making it all the more satisfying when he seemed flummoxed or surprised. Without giving anything away [as there are a number of surprising and interesting turns], I REALLY liked the moral revolution he goes through at the end, and the resonance it gave his entire character throughout the story. Fillion's Mal also gets a very nice and convincing moral arc throughout the movie, and he carries it off beautifully. I really wish the best for this cast after this movie. Whedon has written them all a perfectly well-rounded movie with deep characters, believable arcs, moral issues, and resonance to our world today. While this isn't the best movie ever, every base is well handled. This really is everything and a bag of chips, and it's better than Buffy seasons 5-7 or anything I ever saw on Angel [except for full-power, time-stopping Illyria, Hello!!!!].
This movie also taught me something about myself, and that is that I MUST HAVE SEX WITH ADAM BALDWIN. I liked him okay on the show [and does everyone realize that this is Ricky Linderman from My Bodyguard, the movie that defined my adolescence?], but once I saw him in that suit as the liaison on Angel, I knew that cupid had pierced my heart. He's lookin' good and snarlin' sexily as ever here. Adam: need a sex slave? Someone to shine your shoes? Pick up your laundry? Scrub the sink? Whatever, man, just drop me a line.
So I was in the theater like, okay, this is interesting, funny dialogue, all that, when the big space battle happened, and from that moment on I was like THIS MOVIE TOTALLY FUCKING ROCKS. It rocks like this right until the very end. This scene makes an excellent comparison with the battle that opens Star Wars III, as they both have about 300 ships in the air and the POV zips in between all of them, but just look at how utterly inert the Star Wars battle is, and compare that to how exciting and intricate this one is. Star Wars-Pah!-I spit on you.
The friend I went to this with had never seen the show and knew nothing of the story, and he was blown away. His comment was: "You know, if someone can make something like this, that is generally good in every department, there's really no excuse why movies today have to be so bad."
And I said "Dude. WORD."
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
You sure should.
