![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lurkittyI finally saw the movie now, twice. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have read a lot of reviews, positive and negative. Problem is, haven't really liked many of the reviews I've read because I don't like the style of reviewing films nowadays. So I'm dusting off my Film Studies 101 vernacular and hopping in. I'm cutting this because there are spoilers.
The agonizing wait is over for Firefly fans with the release of Serenity. Creator Joss Whedon has brought about a coup of tremendous proportion in not only sucessfully translating the cult series to the big screen, but doing so in a manner that makes sense to people who had not seen the series.
Serenity is anything but what the title suggests. Any expectation of serenity is shattered within the first few minutes of the movie. This sort of juxtaposition is pure Whedon stock in trade. The soft-spoken, smiling, articulate man is the evil villain, while the crude, scowling and less articulate characters are our heroes. The weakest looking character, River, is actually the strongest and deadliest of all.
But Serenity is as much synechdoche as it is juxtaposition. In naming his Captain Mal, Joss exposes the dark nature of Reynolds character without apology. Just as revealing is another name, Jayne, a character whose internal conflict has him cycling between being a heroic John Wayne and a heartless mercenary. Through the film, the Mal is guided by Shepard Book and the ship is piloted by Wash. These two guides are killed during the film as Mal finally accepts that he has the wherewithal to lead himself and his crew (Wash's death scene with the giant spike through the heart pays homage to Whedon's Buffy origins). The death of Wash also sets Zoe up as a more tragic character.
The score of the film did not, as in so many recent films, detract from the action. The action did not detract from the story, but enhanced it. The fight scenes were more realistic than usual; I have begun to tire of Matrix-style wire work. I like the fact the the characters look the worse for wear after a fight.
The snappy editing is another Whedon trademark both in dialog and action scenes. My biggest criticism would be that he does not pause long enough on the beautiful sets to let us see them, but that's what DVD's are for. This film does not linger long anywhere, it does not fall in love with itself narcisistically like Revenge of the Sith, nor does it batter the viewer with lingering horrors, though horrors there be. It speeds through a simple story and challenges the viewer to keep up. The experience adds up to a film that is engaging enough to make an audience sit still and be silent, save for the appropriate gasps, cheers and laughs, for an entire movie. What's better than that?
The agonizing wait is over for Firefly fans with the release of Serenity. Creator Joss Whedon has brought about a coup of tremendous proportion in not only sucessfully translating the cult series to the big screen, but doing so in a manner that makes sense to people who had not seen the series.
Serenity is anything but what the title suggests. Any expectation of serenity is shattered within the first few minutes of the movie. This sort of juxtaposition is pure Whedon stock in trade. The soft-spoken, smiling, articulate man is the evil villain, while the crude, scowling and less articulate characters are our heroes. The weakest looking character, River, is actually the strongest and deadliest of all.
But Serenity is as much synechdoche as it is juxtaposition. In naming his Captain Mal, Joss exposes the dark nature of Reynolds character without apology. Just as revealing is another name, Jayne, a character whose internal conflict has him cycling between being a heroic John Wayne and a heartless mercenary. Through the film, the Mal is guided by Shepard Book and the ship is piloted by Wash. These two guides are killed during the film as Mal finally accepts that he has the wherewithal to lead himself and his crew (Wash's death scene with the giant spike through the heart pays homage to Whedon's Buffy origins). The death of Wash also sets Zoe up as a more tragic character.
The score of the film did not, as in so many recent films, detract from the action. The action did not detract from the story, but enhanced it. The fight scenes were more realistic than usual; I have begun to tire of Matrix-style wire work. I like the fact the the characters look the worse for wear after a fight.
The snappy editing is another Whedon trademark both in dialog and action scenes. My biggest criticism would be that he does not pause long enough on the beautiful sets to let us see them, but that's what DVD's are for. This film does not linger long anywhere, it does not fall in love with itself narcisistically like Revenge of the Sith, nor does it batter the viewer with lingering horrors, though horrors there be. It speeds through a simple story and challenges the viewer to keep up. The experience adds up to a film that is engaging enough to make an audience sit still and be silent, save for the appropriate gasps, cheers and laughs, for an entire movie. What's better than that?
