[HEADING=1]caffeine|[small]domble[/small][/HEADING][HEADING=1]SERENITY[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]I have a friend who went to school with the bad guy from this. Yes, this is my only claim to fame.[/HEADING]
The road from the cold, turgid hell of TV to the glorious pantheon of movie bliss is a rocky one indeed.
When a Studio Executive trades in his or her heart for whatever clockwork parody that sustains their empty lives, they take on a duty to their hellish overlords to ask certain questions of any franchise. Questions like ?Is the fan base still alive?? (Miami Vice), ?can we still wring money out of them?? (The A-Team) and, most pertinently, ?How stupid are they?? (The Dukes of Hazzard).
Whatever franchise it may be, it?s never easy, and it?s not helped when the franchise in question is Firefly, a 2002 TV series which didn?t even get its first and only season fully circulated.
You see the creator, the God amongst mere mortals that is Joss Whedon (won an Oscar for co-writing Toy Story) made the show in the wake of such eye-blistering successes as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, so when he slammed a brand new concept for a SciFi TV show which reinvented genres as it crossed them on their desk, the Execs reacted in the only way they knew how: Relentless, bowel clenching terror.
In short, it was unceremoniously binned. The pilot was never aired, the second episode was introduced as the first and the seas ran red with blood, because they figured it couldn?t actually get any worse at that point anyway. Its cancellation was announced whilst shooting the final episode, and when finally broadcast the fans, or Whedonites as they prefer to be known[footnote]Presumably to other Whedonites. I mean we don?t have any friends, that much is certain.[/footnote], cried out in self righteous fury.
It?s almost like a stranger, one who has a lot more money than you, wandering into your house, grabbing the remote control from your dumbfounded fingers and switching over to Murder She Wrote right in the middle of your show. I say it was like this because that?s actually what happened.
The ensuing furore drove the fans, who by now preferred the moniker of Browncoats[footnote]Because the good guys wear Brown Coats. Sorry, we're not exactly an imaginative bunch.[/footnote], to take out full page adds in magazines and create petitions, all with the intention of dragging the show, kicking and screaming, back onto our electrical tellyboxes.
With all of the passion and interest created by this, the Execs finally turned around, looked into their cold, dead hearts and, again, did the only thing they knew how: they said no and stopped listening.
Anyway, Whedon then found another studio and managed to get a film optioned.
So, gentle reader, the big question: Did Serenity relight firefly, or simply introduce the killing jar?
[HEADING=2]"We're gonna' explode?[/HEADING]
[HEADING=1]I don't wanna' explode!"[/HEADING][HEADING=3]Words of philosophy relevant to our life and time.[/HEADING]
Writer and director Joss Whedon is well known for his characters.
If we take a minute to re-read that sentence, we'll see just how ambiguous that statement really is. I mean Barry Manilow is well known for his singing, Russell Brand is well known for his jokes and Michael Jackson is just, ahem, well known.
My point is that without all of the time that TV series gets to flesh out its characters, a Firefly movie might have suffered a bit from ramming too much into the scant two hours as is standard these days. I say this because Joss, in his infinite wisdom and hallowed be his name, saw fit to cram a billion of them into the show. Here's the main players:
Kaylee (Jewel Staite): Quirky engineer. A bit skinnier than the TV series Kaylee, who was meant to look a tad more human than a pipe cleaner with googly eyes, but the character is still as vibrant and energetic. Staite gives a good performance, although seems to be subtly aware that she doesn't have a gun secreted anywhere about her person, and therefore isn't cool.
Jayne (Adam Baldwin - no, not of the Baldwins): By the standards of the last statement, Jayne is extremely cool. Baldwin's performance is so deadpan that he gives the impression of being as hard as a wall that wears clothes, with roughly the same IQ.
Zoe (Gina "Married to Morpheus" Torres): Self-styled Amazon woman, Torres is every bit as convincing a warrior as her burly male counterparts, even down to her absurdly toned arms. I say this because while she is obviously a strong person, she doesn't conform to the "surly female action star" stereotype. She's a real woman that can, y'know, kill you without noticing.
Wash (Alan Tudyk): Despite the fact that he looks faintly like a shark, Wash is an ace pilot and is, in many ways, the emotional core of the movie. Cracking jokes and being husbandly, he even manages to stop his wife Zoe from killing everyone she sees. Of all his characteristics, he's loyal to his woman. I mean she's armed, would you want her to catch you playing the field?
Simon Tam (Sean Maher): Ostensibly clean intellectual type. Prim and proper, Maher's performance could have easily reached a 5.0 on the Richard Gere Wood Scale, but adds so much heart and loyalty that you can't help but love him, even with all the gun-toting macho men (and women) wandering around shooting things.
Inara (Morena Baccarin): Ninja space hooker! (Quite possibly my favourite thing to say ever) Inara provides the love interest (ish) to the film. She possibly hands in the weakest performance of the film, some of her lines falling flat and even sounding unconvincing at points, but I still want her.
... To play Wonder Woman.
River Tam (Summer Glau): Psychotic, brainwashed super genius. River is completely insane, but never in a random way. After a second watch, her actions and speech do make a twisted kind of sense, and Glau absolutely sells it. Her former ballerina status gives her action scenes a fluid, inhuman grace, and when she wigs out she will bring the pain.
The Operative (Chiwetel "Impossible to spell" Ejiofor): Despite a name so preposterously camp it almost needs the sounds Dun Dun Duuun to follow it, The Operative is a genuinely creepy character. Believing whatever he's told to with homicidal glee, he stalks the film's background with an unerring veneer of polite menace. He's got a sword too, and as we all know, swords are sweet.
Mal Reynolds (Nathan "Jesus Christ himself" Fillion): The film's hero. I say hero in that contemporary sense of the word, meaning that he's out for himself, deeply flawed, borderline sociopathic but cares a lot about the people around him. The character can, and has, been compared to Han Solo in the days before Greedo shot first. Fillion is a force of raw charisma, and from the second he's on screen you know who he is, what he's about and you are firmly on his side. His performance is a master class in being unbelievably cool.
As a brief side note, I'd just like to say that I too find it weird that I love everyone with the surname Reynolds, and I advise you to just roll with it.
Every member of the cast gives it their all, with all of the enthusiasm that only getting one shot can bring. Through a sharp script the characters are economically introduced and maintained, and even though the cast list is larger than most you won't forget anyone you see.
Need proof? Try replacing the actors playing the characters. It's extremely hard to see anyone else in their shoes and if you can replace Fillion with someone better, you should probably celebrate by turning water into wine and parting the Red Sea.
[HEADING=2]"It's worse than you know."[/HEADING]
[HEADING=1]"It usually is."[/HEADING][HEADING=3]This ain't dialogue. This is banter.[/HEADING]
The main problem with transferring a show from the small to the silver screen is the same as it is with any adaptation: it's almost impossible to get right.
Despite the way it gets to us, the format is almost completely different. TV shows can afford a slower build up, and can flesh out the characters more.
But if there is one area where a movie will always, without fail, trump a series it's that of scale. The explosions, set pieces and effects must be better in theatres or it won't inspire the insipid masses to get out of their trailers and waddle on down to the cinema. If there is any point that Serenity falls down, this is it.
Now Whedon managed to get the Firefly film greenlit, this is true, but if you said that the new company providing the funding thought that they had any chance of making money from it then you would be a liar and you would go to hell. You see you can whine and moan about movie executives all you like
(I do, it's a lot of fun) but at the end of the day they need to make money.
Moolah, dosh, wonga, dough, wallet stuffings. If they don't make money, they can't make more films, or eat. So when it came to writing a cheque for a failed TV show to be turned into a film, they had to think clearly and gave the film a scant $30m.
As a result the film lacks the digital wizardry of, say, Avatar, and the whole affair is kept low-key until about the third act, but it doesn't take that as an excuse to do nothing. The entire piece is brimming with natural, flowing dialogue and wit that is seldom seen in the genre (prequel Star Wars Trilogy, I'm looking at you) and is every bit as exciting as the gigantic space battle that inevitably comes crashing down around you. Although Whedon's previous experience on TV has taught him how to stretch a budget, and by no means are you going to be watching talking heads for two thirds of the film. Stuff happens.
The thing is that you won't get a lot of that stuff unless you do your homework. Whedon does his best to accommodate the johnny-come-latelys, but the problem with condensing fourteen hours of back story into a four minute introduction is that it can't be done.
Don't get me wrong, you won't be completely lost if you go in blind but you will only get the full gravity and weight of what's going on if you watch the series first. In a language you joypad monkeys will understand, it's akin to the relationship between Mass Effect and its sequel [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.182033-Pimppeter2-and-Domble-present-The-Knuckleduster-Mass-Effect-2]. Although, having said all this, some veterans (including myself) will be still left scratching their heads as to where Shepherd Book (Ron Glass) has gone, why the Blue Sun Corporation has been forgotten and what the hell is a "Mr Universe" (David Krumholtz), and why should I care? I'm sure all of this is explained in the comic books somewhere along the line but I don't feel like reading them, and neither will a lot of people.
But these are extremely small foibles. In this film you'll find dark romance, boundless friendship and a unique set of people manning a unique ship. The film is at its best when it's taking the rhetoric of other franchises and turning them completely on their head. Whereas I'm sure that Captain Picard would solve the issue of someone holding his friend hostage by sitting down and having a long and well-reasoned debate, Captains Reynolds will more than happily shoot people until everything starts makes sense again.
You needn't look any further than the ship that shares the film's title to see the differences it has with other SciFi flicks. The whole thing looks trashy, customised and lived in rather than a mass produced warship or a few corridors erected in someone's garage, and the characters actually feel human, rather than a couple of inoffensive haircuts poured into Starfleet uniforms and left to wander around being extra nice to everyone.
But it's far from being a purely character driven piece. Whedon had a lot of loose ends to tie from the series, and does so with considerable aplomb, and more importantly in a way that doesn't feel rushed. Sure, it may be the case that he took seven seasons' worth of revelations, wrapped them around a hammer and hit you with them, but if you watched the series the sudden explanation of almost everything will feel good. The story twists and turns so much that, again, it's hard for the newcomer to keep up, but the film does it so stylishly that it'll hold your attention all by itself, and it's very rare that you'll become lost in a sea of military jargon and Chinese swearing.
As a final thought, has anybody ever wondered why almost all of Joss Whedon's ideas focus around the theme of little girls beating up big, burly men? Let's just accept for a minute that Whedon is the geeky Tarantino (who is, in turn, the gangster Kevin Smith), and we all know that he has that peculiar foot fetish thing in all of his movies...
Look, I'm just saying, that's all.
[HEADING=2]"Are you willing to die for your beliefs?"[/HEADING]
[HEADING=1]"I am... But it's not exactly plan A."[/HEADING][HEADING=3]I could throw a rock and find a quoteable line in this movie.[/HEADING]
The Verdict? A thoroughly entertaining romp through the future, and what it lacks in grandeur it makes up for in heart.
The fact is that this film was made on a shoestring budget by people who do something extremely rare in the movie industry; they care.
Everyone knows that this film was a once-in-a-lifetime thing and gave it their absolute all. As a result we have an energetic, fun affair that everyone can enjoy.
It may be the case that you have a TV show to watch in order fully appreciate it, but if you are a fan of the genre then Firefly can only enrich your life, so it's hardly a bad thing.
In short, this film is a success despite, and probably because, of one simple fact:
It didn't run like clockwork.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Can't sleep? Me either.
Film: Frost/Nixon [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.187906-Caffeine-Frost-Nixon] / Kick-Ass [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.185181-Caffeine-Kick-Ass#5608635] / The Hurt Locker [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.183962-Caffeine-The-Hurt-Locker#5524103] / Pretty Woman [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.183238-Caffeine-Pretty-Woman] / The Haunting in Connecticut [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.181389-Caffeine-The-Haunting-in-Connecticut] / The Watchmen [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.180241-Caffeine-The-Watchmen-and-a-few-words-on-the-art-of-Adaptation] / The Men Who Stare at Goats [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.170886-Caffeine-The-Men-Who-Stare-at-Goats-25th-Review] / In the Loop [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.165442] / Moon [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.162973] / Pulp Fiction [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.156647] / Night Watch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.154980] / X-Men Origins: Wolverine [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.153507] / The Departed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.149527] / Star Trek 2009 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.149058#3470961] / A review of Love Happens (Without seeing it first) [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148846#3460365] / Inglourious Basterds [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147977#3420043] / Fight Club Essay [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147655#3403751] / District 9 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147097#3373011] / The Crow 4: Wicked Prayer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.137348#3089948]
Game: Final Fantasy VIII retrospective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.185358-Caffeine-Final-Fantasy-VIII] / Modern Warfare II, and the making of Caffeine [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.161600] / Final Fantasy Double Feature [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158465] / Resident Evil 4 Retrospective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148447#3440710] / Mass Effect [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145571#3296970] / Final Fantasy: Dissidea [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.144913#3266704] / Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.140353#3149506] / Far Cry 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139317#3129015] / Street Fighter IV [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.136868#3079685]
Other: The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z double feature [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.169416] / A Review of Society, via Call of Duty 4 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.151891] / A review of My Cat [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146281#3332788]
The Knuckleduster : Mass Effect 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.182033-Pimppeter2-and-Domble-present-The-Knuckleduster-Mass-Effect-2]
