fairnymph said:
You cannot discuss a movie you have not seen. If you do so anyway, you are doing so IGNORANTLY. That's not meant as an insult -- it's a fact.
I have no problem taking the good with the bad, Tanuki-who-can't-read-my-name-properly, however, NO BAD THAT IS RELEVANT HAS BEEN POSTED. Everyone who has actually SEEN the movie, has loved it. So there is only good, when it comes to the actual MOVIE.
Why the hell are you talking to me about 'reasonable' discussion when you and souny and others are attempting to bash a film YOU HAVE NOT SEEN?
Do you not understand this extremely basic logic? I really can't put it anymore clearly for you.
You are right. Ill ask somebody whos seen it. Especially not some obvious rabid Wheldon fan. How about some bad reviews. Or so-so for that matter.
'Serenty' audience has no peace of mind
By Jeff Reese
Published: Thursday, September 29, 2005
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1
"Serenity" follows a crew 500 years in the future that will take on any mission for money, money which shouldn't be spent on watching this film in theaters.
The adaptation of the TV show "Firefly" written and directed by Joss Whedon tries to cover all bases. The action/sci-fi/drama/adventure/comedy is much like a track star trying to run a 400, a relay, and poll vault all at once - it is just too much.
"Serenity" follows captain Malcom "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew as they run a transport-for-hire ship around the outer edge of the galaxy. The crew of the Serenity has recently taken on Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his telepathic sister, River (Summer Glau). They are hiding from The Alliance, the coalition that is running the universe.
River was taken as a child and had been brainwashed as part of The Alliance's plan to create the "perfect weapon." Her brother's "daring" rescue of her sister from The Alliance lasted 30 seconds and was about as visually stunning and entertaining as a cardboard box.
After escaping from The Alliance, Mal and his crew have a run in with the Reavers, a cannibalistic group of people that sweep in and kill everything they see. No one knows where the Reavers came from, or how they have become the way they are, but The Alliance seems quite content with denying they even exist.
"Serenity" has a few high points that make the movie worth renting once it comes to video, which probably won't be that long. Seemingly out of nowhere River snaps and literally wipes out everyone in a bar and doesn't even get touched. By far the best fight scene in the movie, she knocks out 30 grown men in a matter of minutes and would have killed Mal if her brother wouldn't have said the safe word, which immediately causes her to pass out. The other two major fight scenes are involving the assassin sent by The Alliance (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Mal, which are mildly entertaining but still dissatisfying compared to the destruction that River rains down upon the bar.
The other upside is the twist, it keeps the movie going (and is somewhat creative). It comes at a time when you start to wonder what exactly is the point of this movie. The crew, thanks to River, finds out a secret that The Alliance will do anything to keep. Mal and his crew go through a transformation that everyone can see coming. They put aside their own agendas and fight for the greater good, they fight to make sure that everyone knows The Alliance's secret.
"Serenity" is not overly predictable, but that is largely based on the fact that a majority of the movie the audience is left wondering what exactly is the purpose. It is rated PG-13 for scenes of intense violence and some sexual references, most of which come seemingly out of nowhere and are actually pretty funny. Do yourself a favor and wait until it comes out on video, get some microwave popcorn, buy a 2-liter, and save yourself ten bucks.
The fire burns cooler for this space thriller
FOX series turned film lacks understanding of original idea
By Grace Devuono
Published: Thursday, September 29, 2005
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1
Fans of the short-lived FOX television series "Firefly" campaigned for a movie version, arguing that 14 episodes just weren't enough to tell the story right. Serenity may just disprove that theory.
Creator and cult icon Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel") supposedly had creative free reign over this project as writer and director, so why he betrayed the integrity of his story is a mystery. A sci-fi western, "Firefly" leaned a little on the western side, one of its winning, unique points. But it seems Whedon has tired of the western genre, and chosen a strictly science-fiction plot for Serenity. It's unfortunate that he couldn't save it for another project and do the wild west tale a little justice.
In "Firefly," nine crew members of the spaceship Serenity all struggled to find a place for themselves in the universe. There's the unrefined mechanic who crushes on the high-born doctor; the dim-witted mercenary who bonds with the troubled man of god; the tough warrior married to the mild-mannered pilot; and the alluring courtesan in love with the emotionally cut-off captain. But all of these dynamic, interesting relationships are more or less ignored in the film.
The character at the forefront of the story is River Tam (Summer Glau), a young genius turned psychic and a weapon of the inter-planetary government, whom Capt. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillon), who is less likeable and effectual than most lead characters, is sheltering on his ship. She is interesting enough, but the film's treatment of her remains superficial. She's been conditioned as an assassin, and at one point Mal questions whether she is a "person or a weapon," but the film leaves this question hanging.
Like any good western, "Firefly" dealt with morality - the notion that when you live beyond the reach of the law, you have to decide for yourself what's right. Serenity focuses more on concepts than individuals, however. It turns the frontier into a dystopia, examining the horror of government failure and its consequences on a large scale.
Serenity does do a couple of things right. The dialogue is appropriately punchy and smart. The set, identical to the TV version, works beautifully outside of the confines of the TV standard. Direction is nice and the CGI is impressive, but the characters falls flat.
Those who have never seen the show may be a bit confused, but won't necessarily detest Serenity, though they may want to rent the DVDs.
Mindless Whedonites, who believe the man to be God Almighty, will find no fault. But even devoted lovers of the character-centered drama must prepare themselves for disappointment.
Far Future, Old West
'Serenity' boasts space outlaws, space Apaches and the best space captain since Shatner shed his velours
By Richard von Busack
THEY SAY THAT it is not seemly for a writer to show all that he knows. But Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has made a career of doing just that. As a third-generation TV writer, he is soaked in the history of the tube and knows just how to manipulate its machinery. He knows when to lower the boom on an audience, when to rustle up a "Scenes We'd Like to See" worthy of Mad and when to spray a group of actors with the shrapnel of an exploded cliché.
Whedon's Serenity is based on his 2002 TV series Firefly, sabotaged in the usual fashion by the Fox Network—first, broadcast the show without the pilot episode, for maxim confusion of the viewers; second, show the episodes out of order and pre-empt them with little warning.
Fortunately for Whedon, the sci-fi fans are the most vocal and organized of all TV-gazers. Firefly's rabid supporters, self-described as "Browncoats" (after the losing side in a space rebellion), stuck with the show long enough to bring it around to a full-length movie.
So, welcome the outlaw Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), the true successor to Capt. Kirk. His 26th-century space ship, Serenity—held together with Bondo and bailing wire—is named in honor of the Battle of Serenity Valley, a space Gettysburg where rebels fought against government forces. Happily, the captain didn't catch one in the face. Fillion has the improbable handsomeness, the good-humored slouch, of Victor Mature in his cowboy roles.
His wanderin' crew consists of six specialists of various degrees of gung-ho. The three who stand out are Jayne (Adam Baldwin), more powerful and more intelligent than a box of rocks; Gina Torres, a leather-clad Super Lt. Uhura; and River (Summer Glau), a waifish, half-sane stowaway mind-reader whom Mal plans to use on his raids. It helps to have someone who knows if a robbery victim plans to draw a gun. River turns out to be a Buffy-style martial arts maniac when triggered by a code.
The ship's hand-to-mouth existence is complicated by Reavers (of the planet Faulkner?)—howling savages who splash war paint on their space ships and use skeletons as hood ornaments. Hunting Mal is "The Operative," a government samurai (English stage actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, the duplicitous pianist in Melinda and Melinda). The Op crosses space to run Serenity down, while never seriously raising his well-spoken voice. His dirtiest trick is making a hostage of Mal's lady love, Inara (Morena Baccarin), a sacred courtesan (but shoot, the dance-hall gals in those Westerns were always sacred prostitutes).
This morsel is battered with a crunchy crust of crash landings, fight scenes and much neurotic complaining by the crew. Its anti-government qualities will warm a lot of hearts. And a subplot about psychoactive pharmaceuticals will bring comfort to those believers of a certain sci-fi-based religion—the ones who think Hitler invented Trazadone.
To unearth the double-meaning in the title, Mal needs faith in faith itself, a higher power to help him find the serenity he needs. The captain's spiritual plight is counteracted by the Reavers' nihilism. Folks around here say these savages were driven mad by the sight of the edge of the universe. (In the words of existential comedian Brother Theodore: They looked into the void, and the void looked into them, and neither one of them liked what they saw. The muscular Jayne, untouched by spiritual worries, grunts, "I been on the edge of space. And all it was was more space."
Whedon hasn't made the hyperjump between small- and big-screen composition. Serenity is visually noisy, with the restless jitteriness that is the way of distinguishing a TV show from a film at one glance.
Otherwise, Whedon's first film is a low-tech treat, as witty and nimble-minded as it is low-budget. It's a happy reminder of the days when a tree was a tree, a rock was a rock and Vasquez Rocks was Mars. All the planetary surfaces look like the rugged side of the Antelope Valley, except for a futuristic academy surrounded by ornamental ponds and cypresses (some Theosophical Society's water garden).
Against these economical but reassuring backgrounds, Whedon stages a yarn about space Apaches, blazing carbines and a captain who doesn't stick his neck out for anybody. George Lucas may make sure every window on an imperial palace gleams in a different way, but he's long forgotten the good, dirty, meaty storytelling that's in Whedon's blood.
Good with the bad . . .
