Serenity: This Isn't Your Mother's Science Fiction
When my father asked me last week (prior to Serenity's release) if my Mom should see this movie, I said no. My mother doesn't like violence, moral fuzziness, or less than happily-ever-after endings. And, knowing Whedon, I knew the movie would upset her on all three counts. This is not Star Trek, where humans and their society are mostly perfect and aliens are everywhere. This ‘verse is populated only by humans, and each individual has their flaws, both great and small. This is not Star Wars, where the line between good and evil is pretty clear. Some of the good guys do bad things and some of bad guys have noble goals (which aren’t justified by their means). It’s a mixed up ‘verse where things can be very unpredictable.
When I saw Serenity last night I was utterly exhausted. I didn't sleep well at all last week, I woke up early Saturday to play football, then I walked around D.C. and Georgetown between lunch and dinner. So when I sat down in the theatre, with my emotions already raw from sleep deprivation, I began to question the wisdom of seeing this movie in that state of mind. I knew going in that this was going to be an emotional roller coaster. Would being tired make it harder to handle?
As a fan of Firefly, I did in enjoy the movie. A lot. It was funny, exciting, scary, and heart rending. The adrenaline rush sustained me long enough to get to the metro station from the theatre. There were at least a dozen "Oh, As a fan of Firefly, I did in enjoy the movie. A lot. It was funny, exciting, scary, and heart rending. The adrenaline rush sustained me long enough to get to the metro station from the theatre. There were at least a dozen "Oh, $&#*" moments. And I will be seeing it again next week with my father, hopefully having gotten a bit more sleep. Not to say I'm not upset about a couple of things that happened (I now understand why Whedon said this was one of the hardest things he ever had to write). Whedon has the amazing ability to make you laugh and cry within the span of a second. As such, I tend to love his work and curse his name in the same breath. As in, “You bastard! How dare you make me feel this way! Man, he’s good!”
See this movie, if you think you can handle it. But DON’T READ SPOILERS. With Whedon, anything can happen, so if you know what happens, you’ve ruined the effect. RUINED, I say!
When I saw Serenity last night I was utterly exhausted. I didn't sleep well at all last week, I woke up early Saturday to play football, then I walked around D.C. and Georgetown between lunch and dinner. So when I sat down in the theatre, with my emotions already raw from sleep deprivation, I began to question the wisdom of seeing this movie in that state of mind. I knew going in that this was going to be an emotional roller coaster. Would being tired make it harder to handle?
As a fan of Firefly, I did in enjoy the movie. A lot. It was funny, exciting, scary, and heart rending. The adrenaline rush sustained me long enough to get to the metro station from the theatre. There were at least a dozen "Oh, As a fan of Firefly, I did in enjoy the movie. A lot. It was funny, exciting, scary, and heart rending. The adrenaline rush sustained me long enough to get to the metro station from the theatre. There were at least a dozen "Oh, $&#*" moments. And I will be seeing it again next week with my father, hopefully having gotten a bit more sleep. Not to say I'm not upset about a couple of things that happened (I now understand why Whedon said this was one of the hardest things he ever had to write). Whedon has the amazing ability to make you laugh and cry within the span of a second. As such, I tend to love his work and curse his name in the same breath. As in, “You bastard! How dare you make me feel this way! Man, he’s good!”
See this movie, if you think you can handle it. But DON’T READ SPOILERS. With Whedon, anything can happen, so if you know what happens, you’ve ruined the effect. RUINED, I say!
posted by SpakKadi at 10:49 AM
3 Comments:
My cousin Jason could probably answer this one better than me. He did have a couple of questions after the movie, but mostly of the "was such-and-such in the series?" variety. You should know that "shiny" is their word for "cool". Also, Chinese is scattered throughout the dialogue, though when they did this in the series, I heard that it's almost butchered beyond recognition by the actors. But they use it like I use Kathra - when context makes the intended meaning pretty clear.
That's all the info my cousin had going in to see the movie, so I'll echo Christiana and say that you'd get more out of it if you'd seen the series, but there is enough information about the characters and the 'verse so that you won't be confused.
Yeah, I went with an exhausted Spak to see this movie, and I really enjoyed it. I had seen parts of an episode or two before at her family's house (they're all hardcore sci-fi junkies), but I didn't recall much beyond "shiny" and the fact that it's basically a western in space, a formula which works much better than you'd expect. You won't get all of it, but this is still not a movie where you HAVE to see the series first. I would recommend you see it.
-Jason
That sounds great, but I've seen very different opinions of glow in the dark contact lens
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