Serenity

[sobrique]

Went to see Serenity on Saturday.
Thought it was well worth seeing. If you don't like the genre, or didn't like the series, well there's not a lot of point, but otherwise...


Generally a good plot, sort of a 'double episode' sort of feel, but a bit more of a 'Do or Die' sort of feel to it than the series. Oh, and it's pretty dark.



Overall, thumbs up. Thing that bothers me? What was the point of killing off Wash? I mean, Book gets dead to advance the plot, "We'll kill everyone who sheltered you" but Wash was kind of unnecessary. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind character deaths, but ... that one did absolutely nothing for the storyline. Unless they're planning Zoe to go boffing Mal or something.

Missed those scary guys with the 'explody brain' trick. Could have done with some of those.

And that agent guy - anyone else thinking 'hmm, so that's what Book used to do?'. He was pretty cool, in a 'chilled, calm killer' kind of way.

River was cool, as ever, although I'm _still_ not entirely sure what her purpose was. I mean, weapon, I get. But really, there's easier ways to flatten rooms full of people. Serious hardcore deep cover agent, maybe, but ... I dunno, she's just too flakey for that.

The Reavers were cool, and scary. Although despite their origins, I thought that in the series one guy 'went reaver' after they rescued him? That, to me, implied that it was kind of a 'torment until they crack' sort of thing, rather than chemical.

Characters were good, although there really wasn't a lot of spotlight on several of them. I don't know how well you'd 'get' what's going on if you didn't know the characters already. Inarra just comes across as 'Mal's bird, who he walks into a trap for', rather than anything more 3 dimensional. Book gets the Mystic Negro hat.

Oh, and I missed the theme music from the series.

And I still don't get why they killed off Wash.

Comments

[malal.livejournal.com]

They killed Wash to give them a real sense of loss. It emphasised the whole "We're probably going to all die" thing. Book was only a marginal part of the crew, and in the film got relegated to external friend. Wash was an integral part of it.

The "Two by two, hands of Blue" guys were conspicuous by their absence, yes. But I can see a reason behind that. They were part of the River project who wanted her back. What happened in the film was that someone in the ruling body had discovered / realised River had gone, and might have been able to read one of their dirty secrets. The Operative gets sent, and the Blue Hand guys fade out of sight. (Like the way the Psy cops publicly were subservient to earths dirty command in B5, but had there own Plans).

I think killing off Book was a real shame, his background was full of promise as we slowly learned more of it, but we never will now. Yeah, him being an Ex-operative was likely, but he didn't strike me as being quite that capable.

Wasn't too keen on the reaver origins. While the "The Government meddling caused this horrific thing to happen, and it still plagues us" plot is cool, surely they would have just all killed each other by now? Yes, you're right, they did turn someone Reaver in the series, which always lead me to think there was some warped philosophy behind it (Kinda like the followers of Chaos in the Warhammer 40K universe).

They had a slight variation on the theme music at the very end of the credits. :-P

And River's Powers. WTF?? In the series, I see her as an uber genius, who's had that pushed to do God-knows-what, and might have developed telepathy, or other weird psychic stuff. But that's all messed her up and is uncertain. (The shooting incident in the series I see as her calculating the trajectories more than anything).

In the Movie, it's well known that she's got telepathy (reliable as well), and she's suddenly gained Kick Arseness (Which is Really nasty because it's combined with the telepathy...). Hmmm... Doesn't feel right really... Though your right that she's being done as a deep cover agent. Yes, she's currently too flaky. But that would have been Dealt With by the time they'd finished with her...

I think River gained the uber martial arts at the studios insistance on more actiony stuff. And that's also possibly why the Reaver background feels a bit flat, and why it's The Operative rather than the Blue Hands after River.

[xarrion.livejournal.com]

his background was full of promise as we slowly learned more of it, but we never will now

I wouldn't say never. There's tonnes of scope for backplot still.

As for River, I suggest you watch the series again. She's revealed as a telepath by 'Safe' (the fifth episode, counting 'Serenity' as ep.1), and it's reasonably clear that combat training was part of her brain tinkering. Even if it wasn't, she's a fast learner and could pick it up in a few minutes of observation. Knowing what your opponent is about to do next probably helps too :)

[nuala.livejournal.com]

Damn them! I liked Wash. I cried like a fangirlie. *sigh*

Perhaps the Reavers pass on this chemical when they bite?

And don't get me wrong, River kicks ass, however... at one point I was expecting them go to stupidly over the top - like her laying hands on and healing people. She can read minds and wield swords, why not that too, eh? I think her character is cool, but I also think they're pushing it a bit.

Zoe will not boff Mal, any more than Inara will ever boff Mal.

[malal.livejournal.com]

Inara's more likely to. Those two do have Feeling for each other, that may eventually possibly be worked out. Zoe and Mal are just friends, if anything would happen between them it already would have.

[nuala.livejournal.com]

Nah, call me cynical, but Inara and Mal won't get together until the very end. That tension is too good not to use as a plot device. But you're correct re: Zoe and Mal. Nothing will happen there. And there's now stuff in place for new character introduction. Great, River can fly the ship. But do we really think Mal will trust her enough? Will he get a new pilot? Can we trust the new pilot - or are they just trying to get to River?
Oooo. I'll stop my speculations now. :D

[the-wood-gnome.livejournal.com]

maybe they'll employ Wash's twin brother :D

[jorune.livejournal.com]

Josh Whedon's work in Buffy and Angel is filled with Metaphors - Vampiric/Werewolf transformation representing teenage desires, etc, etc. So the reavers are presumably representative of some theme in modern life, either terrorists or a rampaging military that chews up people and leaves corpses in its wake. While the film tries to make up backstory for them I don't believe we are meant to take reavers literally. As for the rest of the stuff I will see when I watch the original series.

Wash's death heightened the tension, while it was probable that our heroes (tm) would survive it was by no means guaranteed. In this case it was done for reason of story telling.

We have no idea what was going on in the background, perhaps the Actor has been offered another role which would mean contracting to another show for X years.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

The Wash death lingers with me still.. but in a way his death was as pointless as death in RL.. I'm not sure if other politics are involved or wether 'they' felt that the married couple aspect would detract form future stories?? I am laying bets though that Joss will be pestered about that scene for the rest of his career:). I know I want to know why??? Why????? (although i o have a niggling little thought that the Reavers shot Wash to "kill the pilot" which would be very scarey as it would show that they have intelligent cunning as well as scarey psychological head wierdies.)

The Reavers I didn't feel were scarey enough. In the series they were these things that even Jayne is scared of, I didn't feel people were really scred of them. The gas thing I think only worked on the first wave of Reavers, I do think the later additions are people who have just mentally cracked after seeing what the the others ave had done to them etc.

River was a bit of a let down in that they have severely trimmed her charcater concept down. In the series she was showing signs of empathy and telepathy (they did alter the story a little for her release - in the first episode Simon says that River was gotten out by agents in a cryo-sleep unit he'd picker her up on Persephone???) along with deep combat conditoning. She went from a flawed precision instrument into a sledge hammer, i'm not sure if its good or not???

I felt over all that the film was very different from the series. Serenity was bigger and more open,the over all look was steel grey rather than browns and orange. The camera work in the series had you as part of the crew, in the film, your strictly third person.

I got some serious Mega Blake's Seven vibes from this, with at one point I was very sure they wouldn't succeed in what they were trying for. Something which I greatly appreciate in a movie. There were some nice continutiy with the series, with Mal having the scars from previous episodes (see right chest near shoulder and left shoulder arm) and Mal flipping the three switches to launch Serenity (i as looking for the little red button)

Joss really does write enigmatic 'bad guys' I did find it hard not to like the agent. And I think if the series does happen it may be interesting, especially if River becomes the Pilot, psychic nutter pilot appeals to me. I will deffinately be going to see any more that arrive, I am trying to decide if I want to buy the series or wait to see if theirs a "movie" boxed set. I will be getting the dvd if only for the directors commentry with Joss begging forgiveness:D

[xarrion.livejournal.com]

I see the reavers as all being the first generation. There's actually no indication that the chemical is contagious as it's only a decade old, so they might still be the original million or so colonists infected.
The series outlines that the guy they rescued went crazy from prolonged psychological torment rather than poisoning.

They were underplayed though. I can understand that he didn't have the time for the movie to build up the tension, but they were more chaotic and less predatory/scary (although the 'poised to strike' reaver in the belt was really funky)

I think BlueSun were left out intentionally as 'an extra plot point that would take too long to explain'. Being corporate, going up against a top government assassin was probably out of their remit, even with the loss of investment. Although it was a liiitle blurry who was actually responsible for the project in the first place. BlueSun was still present, though - there were some BlueSun branded products in there, if you look closely enough ;)

I think it's very possibly one aspect of Book's background. Or that might just be what JW wants people to think ;) No doubt it will be revealed in time. There's plenty of room for flashbacks and sidequests. I actually saw the assassin being a slightly less space-crazy version of Jubel Early (Bounty Hunter from Objects In Space).

[huwjones.livejournal.com]

I will miss Wash as the voice of humanity.
But I always miss the wise-cracking guys.
Serenity without a hawaiian shirt behind the wheel feels almost as wrong as Serenity without a mechanic that likes flowery dresses would feel.

[the-wood-gnome.livejournal.com]

cynically speaking, you could say the Wash died because Alan Tudyk is shaping to be a very expensive actor. Or that having 9 main characters is too much for films.

I'd have said he had some potential for background, but out of all of them had the least actual background hooks brought out.

I always saw Book as a scientist (research) or maybe general, high up dude. Perhaps did something soooo bad he decided to give it all up and become a shepherd to repent. There is still possibility of a Books Legacy.