Eagle's Path: Serenity (2005-10-05)

Went and saw Serenity in the theaters today, which is, I think, the first movie that I've seen in a movie theater in a year and a half. Yes, Firefly was that good as a series. If you haven't watched the DVD set yet, I highly recommend it.

Conclusion after watching the movie: Yes, Firefly was that good as a series. If you haven't watched the DVD set yet, I highly recommend it.

Less flippantly, it's not that I didn't like it. I did. I loved River as a character, and loved seeing more of her. The overall plot was a little hokey, but the characters were back and (mostly) doing their thing, and it was great to see them again. The special effects didn't always work, but when they did, they were amazing. It was a great SF action movie, and it brought back great memories of the series.

However, I'm with jwz on this one (warning: spoilers halfway down the page on that link). It felt like Joss compressed a season's worth of plot into a movie, and did so by hitting all the action climaxes that would have been paced through the season. The result was to squeeze the depth out of what we knew and loved in Firefly, with less banter, less setup, less impact, less humanity, and less of a reason to care. It also made all the stock bits stand out and look cheap and superficial, whereas in Firefly he could get away with using unoriginal ideas since there was time for the plot to set the idea up and the actors to sell it.

You can sort of mentally construct the episodes that could have been while watching the movie, and they're very good. I did that throughout the movie. But I have to admit to being disappointed for what could have been. The movie is certainly better than nothing, and I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD and watch it again, but it's not the series. The series was much, much better.

Was it worth the hassle of going to the movie theater for the first time in a year and a half? I'm not sorry that I did it, but if I had to be completely honest, the answer is probably no. And that means that I doubt it will earn enough that we'll be seeing more movies, which is really a shame. It's still better than almost everything being done in SF film these days, and I'd watch more of it. It's just not quite as special.

I had never heard of the Firefly series - I do not think it has ever screened in Australia - and Serenity was a 'direct to video' release here, not on at the cinemas and no promotion. My 8yo son picked this up in the video shop, his choice dictated by the cover. Despite the feeling I had that the movie was low budget and had a 'made for television' feel, both he and I enjoyed it - he for the fights and spaceships and I for the tongue in cheek approach (and the space ships if truth be told). I have never seen any of the actors before either but thought the captain was great with some memorable lines. Will have a look for the series but was not a fan of buffy (give me aliens not vampires) so will tread lightly. BTW, the other video my son grabbed was called ultraviolet (also a straight to video no promotion release) and this was also quite enjoyable for a low budget sci fi, he loved it for the weapons and I will watch anything with Mila Jovavich in it regardless. Going by your datestamp, we get these videos released well after you guys.
Best, David

Posted by david Thorne at 2007-01-24 20:51

I think watching Serenity without having watched Firefly is probably a slightly weird experience, and would be much more of a generic sci-fi movie than it really could have been. The series is definitely better, and more to the point it has much deeper characterization. I cared about the movie mostly because of the series. The River payoff matters because River had come to matter after watching the series.

Firefly is very different than Buffy. Buffy is lighter in a lot of ways, more about humor than about sarcasm and defiance. Firefly also has much more plot, particularly in the form of continuity between episodes, than all but late seasons of Buffy.

Buffy gets much better later on, I think. I liked the fourth and fifth seasons much better than the early seasons.

Posted by eagle at 2007-01-25 20:42