Serenity mini-review
Saw it, liked it, enthusiastically recommend it. Good for Firefly fan and SF-loving non-fan alike. See it soon, so we can boost their first week's numbers and guarantee a sequel.
See Julie's Gothhouse blog for a collection of one-liner descriptions.
Read David Edelstein's review in Slate where he explains why the Firefly series was better than Serenity, or at least had the potential to be.
Or read on for a longer review by me, with minor spoilers...
I went to see Serenity hoping for something at least as good as the TV series. I was definitely not disappointed: the writing was excellent, the acting was good, the direction was unobtrusive and the editing was so tight it squeaked.
Some friends who had never seen the TV series liked it, but it was clear much of the humor went over their heads. When asked afterwards, they did admit to wondering a few times why people were laughing out loud at lines which seemed only moderately funny. Other than the in-jokes there were several other instances of fan service (things Josh Whedon clearly added with malice aforethought, but which didn't detract from the story).
And what a story! Although this movie stands alone, it also neatly wraps up many threads hanging loose from the TV series. For one thing they finally explained the Reavers in a satisfactory way. They also covered a much bigger chunk of River's back story (in a sense Serenity is more about River than the other characters, with her brother actually getting short shrift dialogue wise). The ending was reasonably satisfying, although I didn't entirely buy the final scene with the bad guy.
Surprises? Well, they killed off two major characters: One that didn't cost the story a thing (you know who I mean), and one that will piss off a lot of people. Whedon is clearly planning a sequel so, to me, the fact he is willing to whack characters people like means only good things for the future -- it means he is willing to surprise us in other ways. I'm hoping this is a case where the sequels only get better, especially since they are free to do things you can't do in a long-running TV series.
Right now, somewhere in Hollywood, there are some Fox executives taking turns kicking each other in the butt...
Update: Serenity came in second over the weekend with a take of $10.1 million. Number one? Last week's "Flightplan," if you can believe it. Still, ten million on the first weekend is not bad for a movie that is rumored to cost only forty million.
See Julie's Gothhouse blog for a collection of one-liner descriptions.
Read David Edelstein's review in Slate where he explains why the Firefly series was better than Serenity, or at least had the potential to be.
Or read on for a longer review by me, with minor spoilers...
I went to see Serenity hoping for something at least as good as the TV series. I was definitely not disappointed: the writing was excellent, the acting was good, the direction was unobtrusive and the editing was so tight it squeaked.
Some friends who had never seen the TV series liked it, but it was clear much of the humor went over their heads. When asked afterwards, they did admit to wondering a few times why people were laughing out loud at lines which seemed only moderately funny. Other than the in-jokes there were several other instances of fan service (things Josh Whedon clearly added with malice aforethought, but which didn't detract from the story).
And what a story! Although this movie stands alone, it also neatly wraps up many threads hanging loose from the TV series. For one thing they finally explained the Reavers in a satisfactory way. They also covered a much bigger chunk of River's back story (in a sense Serenity is more about River than the other characters, with her brother actually getting short shrift dialogue wise). The ending was reasonably satisfying, although I didn't entirely buy the final scene with the bad guy.
Surprises? Well, they killed off two major characters: One that didn't cost the story a thing (you know who I mean), and one that will piss off a lot of people. Whedon is clearly planning a sequel so, to me, the fact he is willing to whack characters people like means only good things for the future -- it means he is willing to surprise us in other ways. I'm hoping this is a case where the sequels only get better, especially since they are free to do things you can't do in a long-running TV series.
Right now, somewhere in Hollywood, there are some Fox executives taking turns kicking each other in the butt...
Update: Serenity came in second over the weekend with a take of $10.1 million. Number one? Last week's "Flightplan," if you can believe it. Still, ten million on the first weekend is not bad for a movie that is rumored to cost only forty million.