Serenity Article/Review UK (MINOR SPOILERS) by Jillfox22

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Serenity Article/Review UK (MINOR SPOILERS)

POSTED BY: JILLFOX22
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 13:44
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Monday, September 19, 2005 7:12 AM

MINOR SPOILERS BELOW
For those who don’t get The Mail On Sunday Newspaper.

Opening up the Mail On Sundays Night & Day magazine I came across a pleasant surprise, a 3 page Serenity spread right at the front of the magazine. Following is an article/review on Serenity.

By John Miller

Sci-fi adventure Serenity rides through space’s final frontier with such gusto, style and wit that you wish that its director and writer Joss Whedon had been holding the reins of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. It’s an epic film which reminds us how George Lucas’s most recent release could have turned out if he hadn’t sacrificed plot and character for special effects.

The action is set 500 years in the future, after war has left the galaxy under the rule of the Alliance. The crew of Firefly-class spaceship Serenity were on the losing side, and are now ranging through the solar system like outlaw renegades doing what’s necessary to survive. This usually means relieving the Alliance of some of their wealth.

The film is gloriously inspired by the heroics of the Western. So instead of stun guns or lightsabres, Serenity’s crew have handguns in holsters, rifles and, at one point, resort to bow and arrow to dispatch their foes.

‘The Western has a great influence on me’, admits Whedon, who also created the hit show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ‘All those amazing stories of American frontier life fascinate me’.

A sequence in Serenity sets the tone when there’s a bank robbery that makes reference to the gritty ruthlessness of The Wild Bunch, with the tongue-in-cheek roguery of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Then, classic Wild West memories of a stagecoach being pursued by marauding Indians are re-awakened by a space shuttle chase… only this time the hostiles are Reavers, humans that have become ravenous cannibals. Later on, there’s a wagon-circling sequence as Serenity’s heavily outnumbered crew make a desperate stand against the Reavers.

Serenity is the rebirth of Firefly, a TV series that was swatted from the schedules. US network bosses seemed incapable of understanding where Whedon was heading with the show, and when Firefly was axed only 11 of 14 episodes had been screened.

Nevertheless, Serenity was the hottest ticket at this years Edinburgh International Film Festival – hundreds of pounds were being offered for gala preview tickets – suggesting that TV executives got it badly wrong.

It could be that they did not want to boldly go into a science-fiction film that is also an alien-free zone (there are no little green men in Serenity). In fact, the film benefits greatly from the absence of aliens, because instead of dreaming up the bizarre, it concentrates on fleshing out characters and making us care about them.

A prime example is Captain Malcolm Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillion), the skipper of Serenity. Reynolds is a reluctant hero in the mould of Han Solo in Star Wars (played by Harrison Ford), and Fillion tackles the edgy dialogue like a man who knows that this might be his big chance of stardom. ‘What I do is not so much homage to Harrison Ford as it is copying him exactly,’ says Fillion.

One of the most fascinating characters on the ship is telepath River Tam (Summer Glau), who the Alliance had planned to manipulate for their own use. Initially, she appears to be a futuristic version of a flower child, but then she clicks into gear and, utilising her powers to become an awesome killing machine – and Sci-Fi’s most thrilling action girl since Daryl Hannah’s acrobatic Pris in Blade Runner. The fight sequence when River attacks a group of Reavers with a sword and axe is stunning. ‘I worked really hard for months on the stunts,’ says Glau. ‘I was a vegetarian at the start of shooting, but by the end of this film I was eating steak.’

While the original cast from Firefly return in the movie, there’s a significant addition – London-born Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things), a scene- stealer as The Operative, an ice-cold assassin who has been ordered to recover River – and who doesn’t hesitate as he orders entire communities to be wiped out.

All these elements – a tight, witty script, rip-roaring action, interesting characters and a chilling villain – make Serenity a winner.

Few ideas get a second chance, but this is that welcome exception, one that deserves to power its way towards a lucrative and entertaining franchise.

I think he liked it:-)

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Monday, September 19, 2005 12:23 PM

DEBBIEBUK

Thanks for posting this - wouldn't normally have seen the MoS :-)

Debbie

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Monday, September 19, 2005 12:49 PM

NEEDY

The road to Hel is paved with good intentions

Thanks so much for posting this! I really need to start buying the Mail on Sunday.

I sure hope more reviews like this spring up, it all serves to spread the word of Serenity (if its a positive review that is)

Needy. Male Companion a.k.a. First Boy Whore of Destiny

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Monday, September 19, 2005 1:46 PM

CHARLIETHEBLOODY

brilliant, thanks, I know someone who works for the sunday express so hopefully she'll have got this or be able to steal me a copy.

not usually a fan of the mail, but I guess they can't be all bad...

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 1:43 AM

JILLFOX22

I thought it was just great to see such a main-stream paper pushing are BDM:-)

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 3:48 AM

DIETCOKE

Wow. What a great review! Now if we could just get some of that here in the US.

NY/NJ Browncoats: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/firefly_nyc

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 1:44 PM

NERVOUSPETE

But... but... I'm supposed to *hate* the Mail on Sunday. They usually stand for so much of what I oppose, especially their Review section - they're always calling for comedians I like (Chris Morris mainly) to be banned!

But now it looks as if I'll have to spare it my wrath and give it a brisk nod of respect next summery morning when passing in the street.

I hereby transfer all my official hate onto the excerable Daily Express.

By the way, I just saw an advance screening of the film tonight in Wales. Packed auditorium, most people seemed to like it - some sniffling in the audience - one fool didn't like it. He thought Zoe was a cliche character designed to appeal to a demographic. Buffoon. But it was amazing. And shattering. And I feel as if I'm going to choke up again so...

Tinkerty Tonk!

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

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