Reaver Madness!
Wow! Better than I expected! A VERY refreshing change from recent sci-fi movies.
And happily, the trailers weren't spoilers after all, they were mainly misdirection! (Come on, that was Earth in the trailers, I swear!) Everything the trailers truly gave away was in the movie's first 60 seconds anyway.
When I saw the fleets facing off in the trailers, I totally expected some kind of new rebellion in the movie--not very original, and not true to Mal's "live on the outside edge" style. I'm so much happier with what really happened.
Now I'm bumping Firefly to the top of my Netflix queue
atszyman said:
For awhile I thought they were going to take out the entire crew at the end and kill any chance for a sequel.
No kidding. Hand it to Joss Whedon--again and again he has made me BELIEVE there is no hope for the protagonists! I cringed to see Serenity smashed to pieces, and then when Wash died... all bets were off. I was ready to believe that most if not all of the characters were going to die.
atszyman said:
...they don't have enough time to really develop characters as much as would be allowed with a continuing series.
Very true. We who watched Firefly KNOW what's between Mal and Inara, and between Kaylee and Simon, and between the Shepherd and everyone else. But without that depth (which no movie could have, not for every character) the movie is still really good. I'd have no hesitation recommending it to non-Firefly-fans.
comictimes said:
Haven't see the show, so I can't exactly comment on the movie's truthfulness to it, but just as a movie, it was AWESOME.
Good to hear an "outsider's" view! And I can comment on the movie's truthfulness to the show: 100%. If you liked Serenity, run out and watch the hours of fun that came before it. Nothing from the show was contradicted or changed to make the movie. Even the ship itself is essentially identical. The story fits nicely after the conclusion of the show, with a little flashbacking for explanation. But not redundant flashbacking: it tells bits of the backstory that we never got to see on Firefly.
Mr. Anderson said:
why are all the text and graphics in Chinese/Japanese/Korean ... And with all that cultural influence, where are all the Chinese/Japanese/Koreans?
The ruling superpower is the Inglo-Sino Alliance (named from the languages I guess, not the nations). We don't know exactly how this all came about, but the phrase "Earth-That-Was" tells us it wasn't pretty.
Everyone in the new society--from the wealthy to the poor--is bilingual, regardless of racial background. One of the premises of the show. They often slip into Chinese at stressful moments--handy for swearing on TV. (unless your children speak Chinese!) Along with that, Chinese cultural influences are prominent--along with many others. And in the commentary of the DVDs, they explain how one thing they did intentionally was to give Asian-sounding surnames to many characters no matter what their actual background. The obvious example: Simon and River Tam.
Bottom line--the future is a strange place, and we're not exactly sure how that cultural combination came to be. But it's an interesting vision--especially when merged with the frontier/western theme.
Misc. comments:
* The "downtime" in the show--playing games in the hold, fixing some nasty canned space rations in the kitchen, etc.--was missing. The movie was all action. That was a fine choice for the movie, just something I noticed. You didn't have as much of a sense of Serenity as a "home" unless you watched Firefly.
* Music: not yet another contemporary rock score like the trailers used (much as I like Kasabian). Instead, they used a lot of the same Western/Chinese hybrid style as the show's music. Excellent.
* I would have liked to see Jubal Early return, but the Operative was fun in his own way.
* I like the new Mule
* Book dead??? Wash .... dead.... ??? That's Joss Whedon for you. He keeps you nervous because you know he WILL kill anyone, with OR without dramatic buildup. Wash got basically the same death as Tara. Ouch. But both deaths serve a purpose. I know Wash's death heightened the feeling of hopeless doom a lot.
* Did they ever mention what Inara actually does? Or is that not PG-13?
* Will we ever get to solve the mystery of the Shepherd's past now?
* So River's a Slayer?
That's OK, it's a fun character to have on board.
* Reaver Madness! What a great thing to do with the Reaver concept. I never really thought the Reavers would have any deep plot significance--just a mindless peril to be avoided. Now I'm thinking Joss may have planned more for the Reavers all along. And dressing Serenity up as a Reaver ship? How cool (and disturbing) is that?
I like that the Reavers were never seen directly on Firefly--and hardly seen in the movie. Makes them even scarier. And what made the scary on the show was that EVERYONE was afraid of them--even people who were'nt sure they were real. Mention "Reavers" and NOBODY thinks "stand and fight." You just run. Then, in the movie... watch the Operative's face when he sees the Reavers arrive. That's right--no matter who you are, you're afraid of Reavers.
