Serenity

[sanalith]

So thanks toprincesslucia and the fic she wrote a few days ago, I got interested in Firefly. But since I am poor do to my myriad of Japanese obsessions, I can't afford to buy the series, so I did the next best thing, which was watch Serenity. All I can say is, this is the strangest movie I have watched in a loooong, long time, and that's saying something. Still, I must admit, it was pretty good.

So, first off, I must say that I absolutely loved the casting, and I absolutely LOVED the dialogue. It was just sooo much fun waiting to see what the characters would say next. On that alone, I highly recomend the film. I felt vaguely like I was missing something during the show (umm...you know, like an entire series!) but at the some token, I was never truly confused, which says to me that the directors and writers did a really good job of introducing stuff. I can't comment on how repetative and/or boring the set-up was for the people who *were* familiar with the series, but from my end, I gotta say it was good.

The characters managed to really draw me in after a while. I found myself really sympathizing with River and her situation, and I LOVED her fighting sequences. That such a little thing could do so much damage is just awesome! Mal reminded me so much of Han Solo that there's no way I could *not* love him, and I'm really interesting in finding out his past relationship with Inara. I must admit to having a special spot for Wash and Zoe, because they seemed to be the only "normal" people in the asylum. When everyone else was freaking out, they just steered their ships and got their jobs done, and I thought that was really cool. I was quite upset when Wash got killed. And Jayne!! What's any kind of space opera without the perpetual complainer/drinker/troublemaker?!?! Probably the scene I remember most with him was when he wanted to kick River and her brother off the ship because they were endangering the crew, and even though he had nothing against them, they weren't "family," so they should just leave. That dynamic, of who to protect first and why, was really telling throughout the entire movie, and I loved it.

Kudos also goes to the main bad guy (whose name is escaping me at the moment...) I *love* bad guys who act horrible because they're trying to achieve some higher purpose. There's just something so sinister about a man who commits murder, acknowledges that it's evil, and yet also believes that it's for the greater good. To me, that's the ultimate villian. When you're fighting a morality war, things just seem more engrossing and believable to me.

And, of course, no sci-fi movie, even a western, is complete without amazing FX. The space battle toward the end between the Alliance ships and the Reavers (sp?) was excellent! That was the one part that really made me wish I'd seen it in the threatre.

So, downfalls? Two of them, one being strictly personal. Probably the biggest downer was that the first half was really, really slow. Mike and I took a break almost exactly half way through, and I seriously felt like almost nothing had happened to advance the plot. The second half was much better. Second (and purely personal) I thought some of it was rather freaky. The beginning was especially weird, with River getting jabbed in the head with that needle, and of course, man-eating barbarians never really settle well on an empty stomach.

But yeah, all in all? Good movie. Mike and I talked about possibly getting Firefly at some point in the not so distant future, so hopefully I'll be able to fill in some more blanks.

Best lines of the movie:
"This is the captain. We have a slight problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some turbulence and then...explode." ~ Mal

"I am a leaf on the wind. Watch me soar!" ~ Wash

"If you can't do something smart, do something right." ~ Jayne, quoting Sheapard