Shiney!
I was a fan of the television series Firefly and so I had high expectations for the movie Serenity. Too high, no doubt, as no one could live up to what I expected. After all, I’m the guy who absolutely hated Starship Troopers, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Gladiator and just about everything Spielberg in the last seven years (except for Shrek).
But Joss Whedon excelled, successfully transforming his television vision to the big screen and delivering two hours of action-packed, humor-packed, feel-good entertainment.
There were spontaneous bursts of applause during the show. There were frequent outbreaks of laughter.
Fans of the TV series will be pleased to see all of the original characters with all of their original characteristics. Mal is still the tough freedom-fighting leader who is all-too-human when you scratch the surface, and still has a rather unique way of putting things. Kaylee is still carrying a torch for Simon. River is still nuts which still drives Jayne nuts. And so on.
She’s disturbing my calm.
— Jayne
Newcomers won’t feel lost as there is enough backstory to bring them along, told with enough barbs to entertain everyone.
It is rarely predictable: most of the time I figured things out just before they happened (I hate sitting through ten minutes of dialogue leading up to something I already know is going to take place).
And it explains so much that the TV series had in place for mystery.
But mostly, it’s fun (my cheeks still ache a little from smiling for almost the entire two hours). And the fight scenes were great (no wires like Kill Bill). The cinematography didn’t get in the way of the film (as in Gladiator) and the special effects were never thrown in just to show what great computers the CGI nerds in Hollywood have (ala Starship Troopers).
Bottom line: Serenity Rocked.
I aim to misbehave.
— Malcolm Reynolds
Go see it. I think you’ll be glad you did.
As for me, I’m ready for a new bumper sticker:
You didn’t like Starship Troopers? Why?
I grew up on Heinlein and read Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress so many times that I literally wore the books out and had to buy new copies. They were part of the set of books that were formative influences on both my political beliefs and personal values.
Starship Troopers ripped out everything that was noble in the book and replaced it subtle anti-war sentiment ending up with nothing more than a shallow plot masked by stunning special effects.
It was a disgraceful use of Heinlein’s work; his family should be ashamed that they let it happen and the writer/corruptor should be consigned to burn in the lowest depths of hell for destroying a great literary work.
But if you never read the book then I suppose it would be OK for you.
Of course, I read it. I just didn’t expect much from the movie–you can count the number of good adaptations on one hand. I didn’t pick up on the anti-war thing. Maybe I’ll have to reread it.