Film: Serenity

[huntmich]

New York Times: (Don't have full access to the site, but here's a quote)

"Scene for scene, "Serenity" is more engaging and certainly better written and acted than any of Mr. Lucas's recent screen entertainments."

I first saw the first season this past week, and was really surprised to find that I liked it. I'm not a sci-fi guy at all, but the show is hardly sci-fi.

It has witty, fast-paced dialogue, intricate plot weavings, and solid acting. I'm going to see the movie tonight, I'll let you know what I think when I return.

 

[asmodeus256]

Once upon a time, I too bashed the work of Joss Whedon. I hadn't even seen an episode of Buffy or Angel, and I bashed it. Mostly because a bunch of my friends were fanboys and couldn't stop talking about it.

That all ended when I watched a Firefly marathon. I was hooked. The dialog was so clever the characters so real, I just had to get my hands on more. I quickly began watching Buffy and discovered the genius that is Joss Whedon.

Joss didn't just create the characters for his series, he created entire worlds.

I loved Serenity. That film captured my attention, grabbed hold of my heart and mind and did not let go. When it ended, it took a part of me with it.

View it with an open mind.

Watch the series and understand the plight of the characters.

Realize that many of his scripts have been edited (id est, Alien: Resurrection).

Know the trouble that Joss has gone through to get this story heard.

 

[indelibleface]

Serenity was a pretty damn solid sci-fi film. I loved the series, so I can't really speak from the point of view of someone who has never seen these characters before, but I think that the average movie-goer would love it if he/she has any interest in sci-fi whatsoever. Definitely recommended.

 

[Spencer]

An Honest Review from the type of people who should be reviewing this movie - The Geeks. It tells me prettymuch waht i wanted to know - Wait for the DVD and make sure you Watch The Series First.

I'd already seen Serenity before this weekend, but of course one must see that sort of thing again. I don't know that I ever went into very much detail on it. The opening weekend did not resound, financially speaking. I think that it is a good enough film, but because I find more Firefly infinitely superior to no more Firefly, the pure mathematics of it are saddled with a strange weight.

It is a good movie. It is not a good movie to open a franchise with, this much I will tell you plainly. It is designed to complete the series first and foremost, which is fine for series fans but perhaps less fine for the hapless relatives they drag to it. It's best to think of it as the culmination of threads already introduced. It was not the rambunctious introductory romp, not the grim cliffhanger. I got the impression throughout that I was watching the "third movie," with the broadcast season in aggregate comprising the first two virtual "films." Really, all this means is that you should watch the series first.

The movie has another purpose, in my opinion, but that would be telling. Maybe after there's some faith that most people will have seen it, we can discuss it. But I think it serves Serenity as a storytelling context very well in the long-term.

As for the opening weekend not "sizzling" or whatever insider term is appropriate, I think it's wrong to think of the take from this film in the ordinary way. Firefly fans and their converted throng are the sort of dependable support a studio dreams of. I imagine the films performance will be much more sustained than they expect, and then the DVD will freak the fuck out sales-wise, etcetera. Honestly, they should have just started with the DVD, a lesson some studios are beginning to figure out.

taken from Penny-arcade.com

 

[Finder]

^Thanks for posting that review, Spencer. I've been intrigued by the Firefly series for some time now, but have been largely too lazy to rent/download/watch it. Seems like I should be viewing the show before the movie.

 

[fairnymph]

I went again to see it with 2 friends who had never seen the series. They both thought it was awesome.

My husband saw it separately with his best friend, who had also never seen any of the series -- he also loved it.

It is absolutely a stand alone film. Not that anyone who has seen the series would be in a position to realize that.

 

[fairnymph]

Oh and Finder, it's really a movie that should be seen on the big screen. It's very, very pretty. So if you want to watch the series first, hurry up! Don't miss watching it on the big screen simply because you want to see the series first. The series is awesome, but seeing the movie again reaffirmed my earlier statement that it really isn't that spoilerly for the series.

 

[randycaver]

??

I haven't seen the series, nor had I even HEARD of it, but I went to see the movie anyways and I LOVED IT.

 

[Chaos Butterfly]

Well I've finally gotten around to watching my way through Firefly. I've watched the first 9 episodes, and it is absolutely compelling viewing. I know that I'm just going to want more as soon as I get to the end of the 14th episode...

I will go and see Serenity again after finishing with Firefly and I'm sure I'll pick up more things, but I still absolutely loved Serenity even without seeing any of Firefly originally.

Go Joss!!

CB

 

[Finder]

Orson Scott Card reviews Serenity.

Uncle Orson Reviews Everything
September 30, 2005

First appeared in print in The Rhinoceros Times, Greensboro, NC.

Serenity

For some of you, 30 September 2005 has been circled on your calendars ever since the release date of Serenity was announced. That's because you have seen the TV series Firefly and you love these characters and can't wait to see them again.

Some of you have no idea what all the hooplah is about.

Some of you didn't even know there was any hooplah.

And it's true that there hasn't been some massive hype campaign. Instead, the producers and the studio did something different.

They held special screenings of Serenity starting much earlier in the year, letting diehard fans of Firefly see the feature film and then talk about it.

And talk they have. I've been hearing buzz about how great the movie is for months.

But here's how much the fans love this movie and want it to succeed. Some massively important things happen in this movie, things that are emotionally devastating, things that it would be almost unbearable to know about without telling.

Yet as far as I know, nobody has told. I walked into this movie reasonably aware of the advance word-of-mouth (though not obsessively so) and only as the film actually began this afternoon, the day of its premier, did it occur to me that I had not heard a whisper of a breath of the actual plot of the movie. All I heard was, "It's great, you'll love it."

Well, guess what.

It's great.

I'm not going to say it's the best science fiction movie, ever.

Oh, wait. Yes I am.

Let me put this another way. Those of you who know my work at all know about Ender's Game. I jealously protected the movie rights to Ender's Game so that it would not be filmed until it could be done right. I knew what kind of movie it had to be, and I tried to keep it away from directors, writers, and studios who would try to turn it into the kind of movie they think of as "sci-fi."

View the rest of the article.

 

[asmodeus256]

Orson Scott Card comparing Joss Whedon to Shakespeare... you can't get a much better review than that.

Also Dom from MegaTokyo (popular online comic/manga for the uninformed) reviewed Serenity. It's currently on the main page on the bottom right. To paraphrase the review: Initially he didn't want to see it because every other geek was going to see it. He changed his mind, saw it, and loved it.

 

[SA]

I will be going to see this tomorrow. Was planning to watch the Firefly series first, but won't have time. I'll probably catch up on Firefly when Serenity comes out on DVD, doing a marathon of sorts.

To be perfectly honest, I'd never heard of Firefly until last week. Then again, a lot from 2002-2003 is a bit of a blur for me.

 

[randycaver]

Why don't you just watch the fucking movie, and THEN review it?

 

[fairnymph]

Yes, stop beating around the bush and posting irrelevant crap and making pointless comments when you have NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, and go see the movie.

 

[Finder]

I like the conflicting view points. What fun is a thread where everyone is mutually masturbating to their love of a film/band/song?

 

[randycaver]

It's not a valid view point if you haven't seen it. Honestly. I'm not going to go and ridicule something if I haven't seen it.

I have never been a joss whedon fan - but I did like this movie - and I can't understand the hatred given to it if you haven't SEEN it yet. It's just silly.

To be honest - I didn't want to go see it, and I only went because it was free and I was bored. It's not my type of movie at all.

 

[randycaver]

^^ for the record, I wasn't misquoting you. If i was doing so, I would have said you were saying those things. It's more of a general complaint. However, how can you ridicule a review, when you have yet to see the movie? For all you know, it might be valid. You won't know until you watch it.

Obviously a forum is for conflicting viewpoints but YET AGAIN - how is a viewpoint valid if you haven't seen what is being discussed?? Sorry, but I fail to see how that is logical.

 

[keystroke]

I was ridiculing the people saying this is going to be the best movie of 2005 and it's a "must see"

I just watched the first 20 minutes and I think this movie isn't worth my time any further. So I stopped it.

for all the good things Whedon has done, I think this just sucks.

 

[randycaver]

I was offered a free movie to go see. yes, that day, I was bored. so, I went. Sci-fi is not my favorite, no, but I LOVED this movie.

I don't see how that's contradictory. I went to see something I normally wouldn't and I was pleasantly surprised. 8(

 

[Raz]

MASSIVE SPOILERS MAY BE IN THIS POST:

















What I didn't like about Serenity:

• Wash died.
• Not enough of the Shepherd or Inara (though to be honest I haven't seen Firefly in one sitting yet, so maybe there's a reason for that)
• To be honest, I was kind of unimpressed with what River's secret was...the series had always led me to believe it would be something a lot more immediately status quo changing..

What I did like about Serenity:

• River kicked so much massive amounts of ass that her complete uselessness in the series became null and void and I almost became heterosexual purely as a result of this movie (I've always thought Zoe and Inara rocked so their awesomeness in this doesn't count).
• The reavers...if they were ever in the series, I missed them. Regardless, they were scary and cool.
• Mal's redmption; there was never any doubt in the series that he was a moral man, but that was always shown as something which had been compromised. This movie showed more than the series ever hinted at as to why he inspires such faith in his crew and how strong he is.
• Inara was in it.
• Jayne was in it. (he confirmed why I'm gay)
• Simon actually showed a lot of usefulness. He always seemed to be underused in the series.
• Space Cannibals!!
• The black guy who was the assassin...he was way cool, and despite his nature I kind of half expected him to be invited onto the crew at the end of the movie. I'm glad he wasn't because while it would be a standard movie cliche, it would have been very insulting to the story.

All in all, I so loved this movie. I am getting it on dvd as soon as I can.