Serenity Now
Movie theaters have gone extinct in Hyde Park. Certainly with a sizable (albeit anti-social) student body, the neighborhood could support a small indie film house. Instead, the remains of old cineplexes abound, their husks appropriated by liquor stores. Ecological naivete.
Without any other discernible way to see Serenity, I grabbed a couple of acquaintances with wheels and headed downtown, paying ungodly amounts for parking in the process. These two didn't strike me as the type to enjoy a space western; they spent a disconcerting amount of time in front of the Elizabethtown and Chicken Little posters. Nevertheless, I figured they were a good barometer of how the movie played to the uninitiated.
[I should say first that I liked Firefly. I never saw it on TV, and I certainly wasn't clamoring for more after watching the series on DVD. But, I enjoyed its clever story-arcs which always twisted in messy directions and the charming - if slightly wooden - characters and their unmistakable relationships.]
Honestly, I can't imagine who Joss Whedon was planning to satisfy with this motion picture. Nor can I imagine that Universal was thrilled with the box office results. After three weeks, Serenity has barely managed to earn over 20 million.
My acquaintances were certainly not thrilled having to spend 9.75 for the film. They understood the broader themes, cultural hegemony and the like. All the same, they found the movie to be crass and, well, chintzy. The tone of the film is certainly hard to register rapidly.
I walked away entertained but disappointed. The motion picture format did not play to the shows strengths at all. Their world is so insular that strapping it to a plot of such consequence and scope was ill-matched. I am going to sound like a broken record here so I may as well cut and paste: But with the rush to reveal [River's origin], [Joss Whedon] damaged the slow-burn momentum that made the show so enjoyable. Charming character interactions [were] nowhere to be seen. Remember when [Character 1] and [Character 2] were [doing that thing] together?
Speaking of which, what was with the death of [Character 1] and [Character 2]? I have heard rumors, with all due respect to Derrida, that there were reasons outside of the text for these decisions. Still, as a fan I was none too happy with the choices.
I guess there is always hope with Elizabethtown and Chicken Little.
And, of course, Doom.
Without any other discernible way to see Serenity, I grabbed a couple of acquaintances with wheels and headed downtown, paying ungodly amounts for parking in the process. These two didn't strike me as the type to enjoy a space western; they spent a disconcerting amount of time in front of the Elizabethtown and Chicken Little posters. Nevertheless, I figured they were a good barometer of how the movie played to the uninitiated.
[I should say first that I liked Firefly. I never saw it on TV, and I certainly wasn't clamoring for more after watching the series on DVD. But, I enjoyed its clever story-arcs which always twisted in messy directions and the charming - if slightly wooden - characters and their unmistakable relationships.]
Honestly, I can't imagine who Joss Whedon was planning to satisfy with this motion picture. Nor can I imagine that Universal was thrilled with the box office results. After three weeks, Serenity has barely managed to earn over 20 million.
My acquaintances were certainly not thrilled having to spend 9.75 for the film. They understood the broader themes, cultural hegemony and the like. All the same, they found the movie to be crass and, well, chintzy. The tone of the film is certainly hard to register rapidly.
I walked away entertained but disappointed. The motion picture format did not play to the shows strengths at all. Their world is so insular that strapping it to a plot of such consequence and scope was ill-matched. I am going to sound like a broken record here so I may as well cut and paste: But with the rush to reveal [River's origin], [Joss Whedon] damaged the slow-burn momentum that made the show so enjoyable. Charming character interactions [were] nowhere to be seen. Remember when [Character 1] and [Character 2] were [doing that thing] together?
Speaking of which, what was with the death of [Character 1] and [Character 2]? I have heard rumors, with all due respect to Derrida, that there were reasons outside of the text for these decisions. Still, as a fan I was none too happy with the choices.
I guess there is always hope with Elizabethtown and Chicken Little.
And, of course, Doom.
posted by d l wright at 10/17/2005 12:13:00 PM
1 Comments:
What can I say, I think you should have loved it. But maybe that says a lot about why Serenity is tanking at the box office.
I would have liked a little more interaction between the characters... but it couldn't fit. Film is such a fundamentally different medium than TV that it could never have delivered that (so I didn't expect it to).
Eh... at least you (and two friends) each paid $9.75 for the cause. That puts us $29.25 closer to a sequel.
Also, I didn't mind Shepherd dying (I thought it was quite effective and it has been foreshadowed on the show since the first time Mal said "you'll have to tell me about how you know all this stuff one day"). But Wash... yeah, again foreshadowed on the show (and when Tudyk started getting big roles in blockbuster films like Dodgeball and I, Robot). Wash has always been my favorite character.
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