Firefly Reborn! (Serenity (DVD))

Name: SWSt

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Product:	Serenity (DVD)
Date:	24/11/06 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, interesting, entertaining, superb villain

Disadvantages: Didn't do that well at the box office

(film only review)

Introduction
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The down on their luck crew of the spaceship Serenity have to try and find money by any means. They also need to avoid the Alliance, who are trying to assassinate the sister of the ship’s doctor. What exactly does River Tam know and why will the Alliance stop at nothing to silence her?

The Cast
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I know it might not be to the taste of some people, but I’m going to spend quite a bit of time on the cast, as it’s one of the key things that makes this film so enjoyable. The cast is made up of individual, believable characters. Each have their own motives for staying on board Serenity and this leads to clashes. Essentially, it’s like watching a “family” who happen to live on board a spaceship. It’s a fun study in how living closely together can be a good thing, but can also lead to conflict.

Captain of the Serenity is Nathan Fillion as Mal - often unfairly described as a “cut-price Han Solo”. True, he has the same character arc as Solo – an essentially “good” character who, nevertheless, is slightly shady and prepared to do whatever it takes to stay alive. However, he is also a very strong character in his own right. Brave and quick thinking, he is played with brilliant timing by Fillion who really nails the character, forcing you to like him, even whilst wanting to bang his head against a brick wall for being so pig headed!

Summer Glau is superb as the young, but unstable River Tam, a young girl with psychic powers, brainwashed to be an assassin by The Alliance. Bringing both a sense of dangerousness and vulnerability to the character, Glau possesses both good acting skills, great comic delivery (“I think I swallowed a bug!”) and a sense of grace and poise (she is a former ballerina) which makes her character’s fighting abilities seem utterly plausible.

The other absolute stand-out is Chiwetel Ejiofor, as The Operative. It’s long been a Hollywood cliché that if you want a great villain, you employ a Brit, and Ejifor shows why. Ice cold, obsessed and a religious fanatic, Ejifor is truly chilling as the single minded Operative, determined to let nothing or no-one stand in the way of his quest. What really makes the character so strong, though, is that Ejifor also brings a human side in, showing a self-awareness and vulnerability that allows us to have some sympathy for what should be a totally abhorrent character.

Then, there are two fun characters - relatively minor roles - but who eat up the scenes they are in. First up, is Jewel Staite as “bimbo” engineer Kaylee. Kaylee adds a mischievous sense of fun to proceedings. This is backed up by weapons obsessed and slightly dim Jayne, played with real glee by Adam Baldwin. Whilst these two characters are here to add a bit of fun, they are also integral to the Serenity “family”.

If there’s a criticism about the cast, it’s not that the other crew members are unsuitable (generally speaking, they are fine), it’s that the plot doesn’t give them a great deal to do. Gina Torres is reasonable as brave and loyal Zoe, in one of the more underwritten parts and Alan Tudyk gives a great, understated performance as pilot Wash. Sean Maher follows up the rear as Dr Simon Tam, in a thankless role which leaves him little to do.

The Film
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What you’ve probably gathered by now is that this is not a typical addition to the science fiction genre, and this is precisely what makes it work so well. It borrows many different things from many different areas (westerns, science fiction, US history), yet still manages to retain a slightly fresh and different feel to it. This is partly due to Joss Whedon’s sparky, clever script, which manages to pull all these disparate influences together, without ever feeling strained or contrived.

There are some serious elements and clever writing behind the apparent Star Wars-lite exterior. For example, The Operative’s obsessive religious conviction resonates particularly strongly in post September 11th society. Serenity can be watched and enjoyed on many different levels.

True, the basic plot is nothing to write home about and the secret, which the Alliance are so keen to keep hidden is a bit underwhelming. However, this doesn’t really matter. With this film, it’s the fun you have getting there, rather than the destination itself that matters.

And fun you have aplenty. Filled with sharp humour, great one-liners and impressive action sequences, it’s rarely anything less than interesting. Certainly, there are the odd bits that drag slightly. For example, when Mal goes off to meet The Shepherd (a kind of hippy, new age guru), it perhaps takes itself a little too seriously and treads slightly too close to The Matrix’s Architect territory for comfort. However, whereas such scenes in The Matrix sequels were long, drawn out and often pointless, here the scenes are at least fairly short and there to allow for plot development later on.

Speaking of The Matrix, the film also takes a leaf out of that film’s books with some superb fight sequences featuring River Tam. Massive fights against overwhelming odds provide real excitement and action. I suppose we’d expect nothing less from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s just a shame, then, that it’s here that Whedon makes his one directorial mis-step. Generally, the fights scenes are gritty and realistic (within the limits set by the film), so it’s a shame that Whedon feels the need to spoil things slightly with the occasional slo-mo shot. Having established a great atmosphere which pulls the audience in, it just acts as a reminder that you’re really watching a film.

As you may already know, Serenity was based on Joss Whedon’s cancelled US TV Show, Firefly. However at no time does the film betray those origins, sitting comfortably alongside other celluloid science fiction efforts. Importantly, you don’t need to have seen Firefly to enjoy this (I haven’t). Whilst I am sure that there are elements of the film which fans will get more out of, you certainly never feel that you’ve come in half way through and are struggling to catch up. The plot, setting, characters and film as a whole all stand on their own merits.

The special effects are also impressive given the (relatively) low budget. A couple of times, they look a little bit obviously CGI, but then so did some of the shots in Peter Jackson’s King Kong – and look how big a budget that had!

Conclusion
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Serenity is one of those surprising films. For those of us who had never seen Firefly, it came out of nowhere and easily forced its way into my Top Ten films of 2005. Funny, entertaining, interesting and clever, it’s a shame it didn’t get seen by more people. Perhaps this was because non-Firefly fans thought they wouldn’t get it, or maybe it was because the title Serenity told people nothing of what the film was about? Either way, if you were one of the ones who missed out, now’s your chance to catch up with it on DVD. You won’t regret it!

Basic Information
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Serenity
2005
D irector: Joss Whedon
Running Time: approx 119 minutes
Certificate: 15

Trivia
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The phrase, that Simon uses to put River to sleep is apparently Russian and literally means "this is for hens to laugh" (meaning something is stupid or ridiculous)

Summary: If you missed out, watch it now!