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Topic: Serenity (Read 486 times)

Rhune
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Serenity
« on: Sep 29^th, 2005, 8:11pm »

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I can't wait.

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Rhune
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Re: Serenity
« Reply #1 on: Oct 2^nd, 2005, 10:45am »

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By Daniel Fienberg, Zap2it.com

Serenity info & showtimes

Joss Whedon's "Serenity" is a gift to fans of the quickly cancelled FOX series "Firefly" and a slap to the face of the short-sighted network executives who have been so good at getting innovative shows on the air (see also: "Wonderfalls" or "Keen Eddie") and so useless at keeping them there. It's a tribute to the power of the Internet and one of the best signs this side of the return of "Family Guy" that DVD has changed the primary marketplace as well as the secondary. If it proves to be financially successful, "Serenity" will be taken as a singular achievement, one worth emulating for small screen auteurs and big screen marketing departments alike.

Given all the hubbub about obstacles overcome and rulebooks rewritten, it's very different to tackle the more complicated question: Is "Serenity" actually any good? Or, given the anemic audience for "Firefly" as a television series, will it play to the millions upon millions of fans who can't harmonize to the "The Ballad of Jayne" and think a Browncoat is something you pick up at London Fog?

Set roughly 500 years in the future, "Serenity" rushes to establish the parameters of its frontier universe of planets and its post-civil war discomfort between the Universal Alliance and the displaced outlaws from the losing side. Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is one of those rebels, now captaining a transport ship and alternating between legitimate low-level jobs and petty heists and crimes. He's accompanied by second-in-command Zoe (Gina Torres), Zoe's pilot husband Wash (Alan Tudyk), tough-guy mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin) and sexy tom-boy mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite). The plot actually revolves around the other two members of Serenity's crew, doc Simon (Sean Maher) and his troubled sister River (Summer Glau), a telepathic savant liberated from government control. In her time in captivity, River learned something the Alliance doesn't want getting out and they've sent the deadly and dedicated Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to get her. He's willing to kill countless people the audience has barely met in order to achieve his goal. Oh, and let's not forget about the Reavers, debauched pirate cannibals who prowl space's outer reach.

Does that sound like a lot of new characters and concepts to introduce and delineate? It is. But "Serenity" also has to bring mysterious preacher Shepherd Book (Ron Glass) and classy courtesan Inara (Morena Baccarin) into the fold.

So how will "Serenity" work for people who never watched a second of the story? The formalities of the context are zipped through in less than five minutes and the members of the Serenity crew arrive without excessive exposition. Because Whedon's series mythology relied so heavily on science fiction, fantasy and western conventions, it's all easy to understand. Anybody who has seen "Bonanza" or "Star Wars" will recognize the assortment of heroes led by the Han Solo-esque Mal. He's an inter-stellar Robin Hood with a band of Merry Men and Women and without that boring habit of distributing his booty among the rich.

The relationships between the characters are more problematic without a primer. Though the repressed desires between Kaylee and Simon are easy to pick up, how anybody would recognize that Zoey and Wash are married is beyond me. Newcomers could be forgiven for not understanding how important Shepherd Book was to the series or really figuring out what Inara has to do with Serenity gang. And with at least a dozen heroes and villains to introduce, the emotional impact attached to several casualties could be limited.

Enough of the film's basic appeal, though, isn't tied to knowledge of "Firefly." Whedon's dialogue is consistently smart and the quips and one-liners are delivered by a cast that clearly relishes the words. As a director, Whedon is still learning, but the pacing is lively and frequently exciting, particularly when River discovers some unexpected physical gifts. Although most of the actors are inexperienced at performing for the big screen, they all hold their own and certain stars -- Fillion, Torres and Baccarin in particular -- can expect a big bounce.

Even if the special effects speak to the relatively low budget, there's enough intellectual might to the material to keep people interested. Whedon's political allegory about a totalitarian beaurocratic machine that isn't evil, but still aims to crush free thought, isn't difficult to read, nor is it over-articulated.

How will fans of "Firefly" respond to the new movie? Well, judging by the bawling Browncoats at the press screening I caught (several of whom had obviously seen earlier screenings as well), it will strike a chord, resolving several dangling threads from the series without sealing off possibilities for another film. Somebody out there is bound to be overjoyed to see a more assertive Simon and Glau gives River her natural dancer's grace along with a surprising dead-pan wit that appeared only fleetingly on the show. Because the characters have many episodes of good faith on reserve fans will be invested in their fates and the dark twists the story takes. The new characters, Ejiofor's Operative and David Krumholtz's Mr. Universe, are complimentary additions

There are disappointments, or at least there should be. Part of the pleasure of "Firefly" was Whedon's low-frills vision of the future, in which alien planets were inhabited like towns of the Old West, with a minimum of technology or futuristic embellishment. Folks rode horses and fired six-shooters. There are no horses in "Serenity" and the weaponry has been upgraded. Thanks to computer imagery, the planets are much more conventionally designed, as are the space scenes. The retro charm of "Firefly" has been buffed to too much of a shine by cinematographer Jack Green, one of many supposedly upgraded members of the behind-the-scenes team. Given the lavish and justified praise for Greg Edmonson's "Firefly" musical compositions, David Newman's generic adventure score is a major let-down.

Reviewing as a casual supporter of the show -- one who couldn't be bothered to watch when it was on FOX, but eagerly wolfed down the episodes on DVD -- "Serenity" was satisfying fun, hardly boundary-breaking revelation, but certainly not out of place in its new medium. Judging by the looks of adoration from exiting devotees and the looks of confusion from exiting first-timers, expect "Serenity" to produce variable responses.

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