Since George Lucas stepped away from his throne in 1983, many have tried to come and replicate the success of the Holy Trinity of science fiction films. Most attempts were thwarted before they even began. The Wachowskis made a noble effort with The Matrix in 1999 yet they fell victim to CGI extravagance and to their own over inflated views on the landscape they created producing sequels that were nothing more than exercises in "hey look at what we can do with a PC and 100 million dollars at our disposal." Even Lucas tried to reclaim what was rightfully his and alas he too was more interested in the technology than the storytelling creating 3 criminally stilted, wooden prequels that only tarnished the films that almost everyone holds dear.
Enter Joss Whedon. What Whedon has done is eerily similar to what Lucas did in '77 taking a cast of relative unknowns, the most famous being Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket and Pirate Steve from Dodgeball, and creating a compelling, exciting space western. Serenity is what Star Wars would have been if the focus was on Han rather than that pansy-a$$, Luke. What is more exciting is that what Lucas lacks, Whedon has in spades. Having cut his teeth on television series and script doctoring, most notably Toy Story, the dialog is crisp, witty, never forced, and almost Mamet-esquire in its pacing and originality. The language used recalls a nod to the old west without veering towards the ridiculous and without falling trap to invented "space dialog." Whedon, too, finds a rhythm with his actors and since they are relative unknowns, the audience has no trouble letting them become the characters they portray. While it is not completely fair to continually draw comparisons to Star Wars and Lucas, it is evident Whedon is a fan.
From the Serenity website {ed note: no need to rework what has already been written}: Serenity centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family - squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal. When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl.
The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself.
Having never seen a minute of the television show from which the movie originated, I am unsure of how much of a back story or character history I am missing however watching the film, I never felt left out of an inside joke or nods to the hard-core fandom. The story isn't weighted down with trying to establish an environment or character origins. The characters are richly drawn without being obvious clichés and the story begins and ends without the false promise of useless, unnecessary sequels.
In the world where box office numbers are king, it cannot yet be told what the future holds for the Serenity universe. Whedon takes on Wonder Woman next and that will be, most likely, what will cause people to start referring to his name as a precursor to the titles of his films. That said, it would be a shame if this were the only film we have that scrapes the surface of the Alliance and shows us only a single voyage of the Captain Malcolm Reynolds and crew of the Serenity. The landscape is far too rich and the possible stories are seemingly endless. And if future stories are told, lets just hope that Joss is not so much a fan of Lucas that he becomes like him and destroys everything that made him great.
Serenity gets an A- (A minus.)
Enter Joss Whedon. What Whedon has done is eerily similar to what Lucas did in '77 taking a cast of relative unknowns, the most famous being Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket and Pirate Steve from Dodgeball, and creating a compelling, exciting space western. Serenity is what Star Wars would have been if the focus was on Han rather than that pansy-a$$, Luke. What is more exciting is that what Lucas lacks, Whedon has in spades. Having cut his teeth on television series and script doctoring, most notably Toy Story, the dialog is crisp, witty, never forced, and almost Mamet-esquire in its pacing and originality. The language used recalls a nod to the old west without veering towards the ridiculous and without falling trap to invented "space dialog." Whedon, too, finds a rhythm with his actors and since they are relative unknowns, the audience has no trouble letting them become the characters they portray. While it is not completely fair to continually draw comparisons to Star Wars and Lucas, it is evident Whedon is a fan.
From the Serenity website {ed note: no need to rework what has already been written}: Serenity centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family - squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal. When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl.
The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself.
Having never seen a minute of the television show from which the movie originated, I am unsure of how much of a back story or character history I am missing however watching the film, I never felt left out of an inside joke or nods to the hard-core fandom. The story isn't weighted down with trying to establish an environment or character origins. The characters are richly drawn without being obvious clichés and the story begins and ends without the false promise of useless, unnecessary sequels.
In the world where box office numbers are king, it cannot yet be told what the future holds for the Serenity universe. Whedon takes on Wonder Woman next and that will be, most likely, what will cause people to start referring to his name as a precursor to the titles of his films. That said, it would be a shame if this were the only film we have that scrapes the surface of the Alliance and shows us only a single voyage of the Captain Malcolm Reynolds and crew of the Serenity. The landscape is far too rich and the possible stories are seemingly endless. And if future stories are told, lets just hope that Joss is not so much a fan of Lucas that he becomes like him and destroys everything that made him great.
Serenity gets an A- (A minus.)