movie thoughts: Serenity
Sep. 30th, 2005 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wisdomeagleSpoilers for Serenity, and parts of it assume you've read the comics.
I wrote these reactions about half an hour after seeing the movie and just typed it up... it's less coherent than I thought. Very initial thoughts/emotions. OTP-biased, some positive thoughts, some not so positive, if your squee is liable to be harshed, don't read, etc.
Big Damn Movie:
I read comics #3 before movie -- totally fell for "it's Book!" ruse. Am sucker. But: movie -- yes, very violent. Too violent? Too... plotty? Explosions plus production values were totally gorgeous. It's still all about River's feet. Felt like the complexity of the ball of yarn was sacrificed for Big Damn Plot -- and the otps, which, um. We know I'm not a canon!shipper, minus of course Wash/Zoe. Wash bit it. I am in no way surprised. But.
Zoe. God, Zoe. When she proved the Honorable Stoicism ran to the core, I totally ate it up. God, that's my girl! Er, my real girl, Kaylee, was love, though totally (and necessarily) backgrounded. But excellent moments -- love the "what? a trap? huh?" innocence -- and God, she's such a Mal/Inara shipper! Parallels with Willow's Buffy/Angel shippage -- and the "you mean, as in, sex?" Perfect counterpoint to Simon's totally out-of-nowhere interest in Kaylee. And oh yeah, the canon!vibrator. Else she's doing Serenity in a literal sense... but yeah.
I feel 'sif, plotwise, the BDM was comprehensible to outsiders? But characterise... you would just know the names. Hardly nothin' reminded me I cared for these characters. Didn't cry at either death. Um. Problems with the ensemble, I felt, and giving everyone something to do. Inara especially felt out of place. Except the "nothing's what it seems -- and that's not incense." *grin* Which was played well.
I felt... stylistically, this was all soft twists. Of course they're one step ahead of the bad guys. At no point did I gasp or go oh -- laughed some (like at the incense) -- maybe gasped at Wash being impaled -- but yes.
Simon and Mal were totally compelling as antagonists/in your face. Totally compelling. Simon's very pretty and... oh God, the CSI! The CSI! They are totally, head-over-heels crazy for each other. "You always kept me safe -- my turn." And, um, she watched them frell. Yeah. The stroking, the comfort after River went batshit... oh God, who else was totally like, "just frelling kills already!"? Just me, then?
Kaylee helping clean out Inara's shuttle is love. And recording her. And "Kaylee misses you." OTP=canon.
There were plenty of moments when I felt their interconnectedness -- Mal carrying River, just gorgeous. Mal+Book, both scenes --really moving. Kaylee's reaction to Wash's death, Kaylee and Jayne discussing Reavers. Jayne's list of reasons he'd kill someone is also love! And Mal+Zoe were awesome.
"You want to run the ship?" "Yes." "... Well, you can't."
Mal was truly awesome. In every conceivable way. He kicked ass, he battled to the core, he held fast he was snarky and wry and steadfast.
River was gorgeous -- it's all about River's feet -- now Joss's need for a teenage superheroine becomes apparent. And love, but... amazon!River does not impress. Prefer the "War Stories" River or "Objects in Space." River like that is truly SCARY in a way whirling kicking dervish is not.
Honestly, feeling like Inara served no useful purpose... her leaving was the unraveling of the ball of yarn, and their interactions... it was downhill from there.
Thematically:
-The defiling of Serenity to make her a Reaver vessel was profane in a great way. Feel Kaylee and Mal's pain at doing that to their ship. This is the point, for Mal. This is something he loves more than Serenity herself, and there's exactly no earthly object he loves more. But freedom. Information. Knowledge. Very... explicit. I thought the themes of freedom/choice/making people better by science/tech/mind control vsthe freedom to choose... the connection between River and the Reavers and OMG why did I never notice the sound-alike till just now? Wow. Totally creepy stuff. Totally. Honestly thought she'd burst out all Reaver-like any minute. Mal fears this too. But love is what keeps the ship together, what holds River's brain intact. Simon's love, Mal's, Kaylee's. Her love for them. Humanity. Mal invests everything in the belief that she's human, worth saving. Belief. Book's right -- and heavy-handed or not, that is love. Mmm...
Also, connecting Serenity to River -- "Objects in Space," River is the ship. The ship becomes a Reaver ship externally, but inside is pure. River=Serenity.
This falls somewhere between BtVS's hard realism humanism self-reliance and AtS's dark fatalism. Mal ultimately stands alone, but his faith is not in himself but in River, in his crew. Buffy's is in herself, Angel's in TPTB. Mal is my favorite Jossian hero.
"Sex with robots in more common than you think." O_o Warren Mears in space! And his name is Mr. Universe. O_o That was clearly crack.
... really feeling the lack of TV's arc based character based continuity. Did any of them evolve past OiS? Simon sexed Kaylee, which totally came from nowhere, and said he's stop prioritizing River above sexing Kaylee, but really has he? He'd kill Kaylee in an instant to save River. I guess Inara decided a life of crime and potentially fatal stabwounds would be fun. Book went and died. River's still crazy and psychic. Kaylee's still an innocent; Wash flew steady. I guess the final canon on that is that he's calm as fuck in a storm... I feel like Zoe and Mal went deepest in the BDM, but even they... Mal had something to fight for, something to make him not rudderless. And he fought for it. And he won. But... now what? Mal will -- will Mal ever make peace over the war? Is this Mal at peace? Because he went and busted a big ol' planet-sized hole in the Alliance?
The ending: Zoe's dress omfg. She looked amazing. God. Um... the Alliance control weakening felt really damned convenient and unjossily hopeful. And yeah. I miss the rustic feel of the show. Yes. There we go:
What happened to the Western-in-space, Joss? To horses and dialect and grubby grab-what-you-can etc? This must be what people mean about the difference in the tone/mood/feel/style from FF-->S, isn't it? Because this in no way felt Western? Yeah. I felt a lot like Joss was going, "Yeah, this thing? Will look pretty." And it did. I just... looked like and felt like sci-fi more than Firefly did.
Still part of the same canon, though.
I wrote these reactions about half an hour after seeing the movie and just typed it up... it's less coherent than I thought. Very initial thoughts/emotions. OTP-biased, some positive thoughts, some not so positive, if your squee is liable to be harshed, don't read, etc.
Big Damn Movie:
I read comics #3 before movie -- totally fell for "it's Book!" ruse. Am sucker. But: movie -- yes, very violent. Too violent? Too... plotty? Explosions plus production values were totally gorgeous. It's still all about River's feet. Felt like the complexity of the ball of yarn was sacrificed for Big Damn Plot -- and the otps, which, um. We know I'm not a canon!shipper, minus of course Wash/Zoe. Wash bit it. I am in no way surprised. But.
Zoe. God, Zoe. When she proved the Honorable Stoicism ran to the core, I totally ate it up. God, that's my girl! Er, my real girl, Kaylee, was love, though totally (and necessarily) backgrounded. But excellent moments -- love the "what? a trap? huh?" innocence -- and God, she's such a Mal/Inara shipper! Parallels with Willow's Buffy/Angel shippage -- and the "you mean, as in, sex?" Perfect counterpoint to Simon's totally out-of-nowhere interest in Kaylee. And oh yeah, the canon!vibrator. Else she's doing Serenity in a literal sense... but yeah.
I feel 'sif, plotwise, the BDM was comprehensible to outsiders? But characterise... you would just know the names. Hardly nothin' reminded me I cared for these characters. Didn't cry at either death. Um. Problems with the ensemble, I felt, and giving everyone something to do. Inara especially felt out of place. Except the "nothing's what it seems -- and that's not incense." *grin* Which was played well.
I felt... stylistically, this was all soft twists. Of course they're one step ahead of the bad guys. At no point did I gasp or go oh -- laughed some (like at the incense) -- maybe gasped at Wash being impaled -- but yes.
Simon and Mal were totally compelling as antagonists/in your face. Totally compelling. Simon's very pretty and... oh God, the CSI! The CSI! They are totally, head-over-heels crazy for each other. "You always kept me safe -- my turn." And, um, she watched them frell. Yeah. The stroking, the comfort after River went batshit... oh God, who else was totally like, "just frelling kills already!"? Just me, then?
Kaylee helping clean out Inara's shuttle is love. And recording her. And "Kaylee misses you." OTP=canon.
There were plenty of moments when I felt their interconnectedness -- Mal carrying River, just gorgeous. Mal+Book, both scenes --really moving. Kaylee's reaction to Wash's death, Kaylee and Jayne discussing Reavers. Jayne's list of reasons he'd kill someone is also love! And Mal+Zoe were awesome.
"You want to run the ship?" "Yes." "... Well, you can't."
Mal was truly awesome. In every conceivable way. He kicked ass, he battled to the core, he held fast he was snarky and wry and steadfast.
River was gorgeous -- it's all about River's feet -- now Joss's need for a teenage superheroine becomes apparent. And love, but... amazon!River does not impress. Prefer the "War Stories" River or "Objects in Space." River like that is truly SCARY in a way whirling kicking dervish is not.
Honestly, feeling like Inara served no useful purpose... her leaving was the unraveling of the ball of yarn, and their interactions... it was downhill from there.
Thematically:
-The defiling of Serenity to make her a Reaver vessel was profane in a great way. Feel Kaylee and Mal's pain at doing that to their ship. This is the point, for Mal. This is something he loves more than Serenity herself, and there's exactly no earthly object he loves more. But freedom. Information. Knowledge. Very... explicit. I thought the themes of freedom/choice/making people better by science/tech/mind control vsthe freedom to choose... the connection between River and the Reavers and OMG why did I never notice the sound-alike till just now? Wow. Totally creepy stuff. Totally. Honestly thought she'd burst out all Reaver-like any minute. Mal fears this too. But love is what keeps the ship together, what holds River's brain intact. Simon's love, Mal's, Kaylee's. Her love for them. Humanity. Mal invests everything in the belief that she's human, worth saving. Belief. Book's right -- and heavy-handed or not, that is love. Mmm...
Also, connecting Serenity to River -- "Objects in Space," River is the ship. The ship becomes a Reaver ship externally, but inside is pure. River=Serenity.
This falls somewhere between BtVS's hard realism humanism self-reliance and AtS's dark fatalism. Mal ultimately stands alone, but his faith is not in himself but in River, in his crew. Buffy's is in herself, Angel's in TPTB. Mal is my favorite Jossian hero.
"Sex with robots in more common than you think." O_o Warren Mears in space! And his name is Mr. Universe. O_o That was clearly crack.
... really feeling the lack of TV's arc based character based continuity. Did any of them evolve past OiS? Simon sexed Kaylee, which totally came from nowhere, and said he's stop prioritizing River above sexing Kaylee, but really has he? He'd kill Kaylee in an instant to save River. I guess Inara decided a life of crime and potentially fatal stabwounds would be fun. Book went and died. River's still crazy and psychic. Kaylee's still an innocent; Wash flew steady. I guess the final canon on that is that he's calm as fuck in a storm... I feel like Zoe and Mal went deepest in the BDM, but even they... Mal had something to fight for, something to make him not rudderless. And he fought for it. And he won. But... now what? Mal will -- will Mal ever make peace over the war? Is this Mal at peace? Because he went and busted a big ol' planet-sized hole in the Alliance?
The ending: Zoe's dress omfg. She looked amazing. God. Um... the Alliance control weakening felt really damned convenient and unjossily hopeful. And yeah. I miss the rustic feel of the show. Yes. There we go:
What happened to the Western-in-space, Joss? To horses and dialect and grubby grab-what-you-can etc? This must be what people mean about the difference in the tone/mood/feel/style from FF-->S, isn't it? Because this in no way felt Western? Yeah. I felt a lot like Joss was going, "Yeah, this thing? Will look pretty." And it did. I just... looked like and felt like sci-fi more than Firefly did.
Still part of the same canon, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-01 12:22 am (UTC)Well, Mal really can't make peace over the war now, can he? I mean he restarted the war--the whole "the Alliance control weakening felt really damned convenient and unjossily hopeful" thing. As to whether he'll want to rejoin the war or continue being a space!pirate, well, your guess is as good as mine. But I suppose it wasn't really the point.
I agree with you on almost everything. Serenity was as engaging a piece of cinema as I've ever seen, but it was a very different beast than Firefly was. I love both of them for what they are, and wish I had more of both.
Will post own thoughts soon. Very soon.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-01 12:26 am (UTC)And yes, Simon/River makes this weirdly very good case for incest. I just don't understand it. It's not like I want them to be together sexually... it's just PLAYED like she's a childhood sweetheart instead of a sister. And neither of them seem like they could be involved with anyone else really at this point because they love each other MORE. So, yeah. The Simon/Kaylee falls really flat with me, and makes me dislike them both. *frowns*
BUT OMG, THE MOVIE WAS PRETTY AND THERE WERE EXPLOSIONS AND I LIKE THOSE. And I also like Jayne. YAY JAYNE. And I really like Mal completely now! And and and yay movie.
*looks at icon* omg, Lyta and River should hang out.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-01 08:29 pm (UTC)Yay! *cling*
THERE WERE EXPLOSIONS AND I LIKE THOSE
Exactly. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-02 02:15 am (UTC)And this thing with Simon? Purely a novel replacement for the battery operated thing 'twixt her nethers. She'll get over it at about the same time that Inara realizes the reason why she's so infatuated with Mal is because she's intrigued by the confusion he generates and she hates not being able to figure out a puzzle because she's a Companion and they're supposed to be able to manipulate people and when she finally figures out it all out she'll decide that Kaylee is way better and....
*takes deep breath*
...then there's sex. Whew.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-01 01:44 am (UTC)I think I need to see it again to grasp everything. To me, noticably missing (RE: the lack of western themes) was the music. Sure it was there, but none of it was as reminiscent of Firefly's west. I was hoping Firefly's theme song would somehow be incorporated.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-01 04:37 am (UTC)Ditto. Took the words right out of my mouth. That's exactly where I'm at right now. I loved it, the BDM blew me away, but I'm not reconciled. Either I need to see it a few more times (yay!) or I have to accept that Serenity is a separate canon from the TV series. (Book! Wash! His plastic dinosaurs! *sob*)
I vaguely remember some of the music had an Asian/Eastern sound to it, but I'll have to listen again to be sure. I really enjoyed the music, but you're right, I miss the theme.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-01 05:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-02 02:20 am (UTC)However, the explosions-caused-by-Inara? So in love with that. The whole "I'm a Companion. I'm suave. Sophisticated. Trained in ancient arts of love and grace. Therefore, I have nice smelling explosive incense on hand, and I shoot arrows which blow up. Then I have tea." thing made me want to cling and squeel and then embarass myself with pleas for sexual gratification.
Frankly, if I had never seen the Firefly episodes, I would have found the movie flashy and pretty, but not shiny. It builds fairly decently on the series, though, and I think there's enough there to make some people want to watch the series, just to get what the hell is going on.
And the deaths? Did not happen. I have decided. *is in denial*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-04 01:31 am (UTC)But Serenity doesn't run on batteries. *sniffles* So almost canon...
(More comments, to be reserved for phone call.)