If you're a browncoat, I'm preaching to the converted. It lives up to the series. Go and watch it so they make more.
If you have no idea what that was about, don't worry. Serenity is, the first film directed by Buffy and Angel creator, Joss Whedon. It's based on his superb- and prematurely cancelled- Firefly series, which I and a lot of other people consdier to be his best work. However, you really don't need to have seen the series to enjoy it- it does a superb job of introducing the universe and characters if you've never met them before.
It involves spaceships, action, detailed plot, a superb and well-though-out universe, and, quite frankly, the best script, acting and aton sequences you're likely to see all year. Every line is great. Every character is great. The chases, fights, space battles... all the sort of thing that fat, lazy films like Star Wars fail to achieve any more.
The plot is also superb, riveting, emotionally charged and never cliched.
Basically, although I've yet to see Corpse Bride or Mirroramsk, there's a pretty good chance this will be the best film you'll see all year.
Watch.
Jeez, you took long enough to post this we went to see it about 2 weeks ago.
I agree to most of this, it was good, it lived up to the series, jayne was amusing etc. but it's by far not perfect. but yeah, go see it, it's a good film
I was waiting for the theatrical release date rather than the preview.
Fair enough, also I would like to note, Joss Whedon has been added to my list of directors who did not look like I thought they would, he joins such directors as Quentin Tarentino.
So Serenity IS the much fables Firefly film?
The Docto Who forum I occasionaly frequent has been abuzz about the possibility of a firefly film for some time, and I've been wondering where it was exactly...
If this IS it, i've a reason to go watch it.
Serenity officially came out on Friday, not two weeks ago. Two weeks ago was a selective release.
*works at a theatre* :p
I watched the Fire Fly series and though it was okay. I plan on watching this movie eventually, but I don't think too soon. I'm glad it's apparently good.
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Serenity officially came out on Friday, not two weeks ago. Two weeks ago was a selective release.
Yup, guess who got to see said selective release ^__^
Admittedly I'm a biased Browncoat, but Serenity is the best movie I've seen all year. It blows other big sci-fi flicks - Star Wars, War of the Worlds, etc. - right out of the water. I'm gonna go see it for the fourth time sometime this week.
I'm the only person I know who didn't like Serenity. I felt that all the best lines were already in the trailer and the preview on the sci-fi channel. I thought the villain was something of a let-down.. oh gee, he's a heartless killer who acts methodically and rationally. Wow, I've never seen that before...
I really like Firefly, which I've seen half the eps for. If haven't seen Firefly, I highly recommend you do. It has strong, human-centered writing that's rare in sci-fi series, characters you actually care about, creative art design and beautiful music. b
However, be warned that the movie is a lot different from the series. The series is a sci-fi Western, complete with gun fights, train robbery, vigilante justice, and a rough-and-tumble sense of wonder. The movie is darker, creepier, bloodier, and more claustrophobic- as a matter of fact, it's more like a sci-fi survival horror movie, with a lot of the cliches: secret government research labs, sounds in the dark, horrible screams over the phone, shakey cameras in cramped metal corridors as creatures pound against the doors, a washed-out blue and grey color palette, and of course, creepy, lanky-haired girls that appear suddenly when you turn around and whisper all the time. Whereas in the series, you see how the rag-tag crew makes a life for itself and how they all stick together, in the movie, they argue non-stop to create a tense and suspenseful mood (again, a staple of survival-horror), and none of the characters get much development. I don't really appreciate the change, but that's my opinion... it doesn't make it a bad film, I just don't like it.
For your information, Troop...
Whedon always wanted to make some thing, such as Malcome Reynolds, himself, darker. The reason the series brightened up in things like inter-crew behaviour is because Fopx requested it did, along with Mal becoming more "heroic". With the film, Whedon was able to go back to some of the darker ideas he'd had...
Do you have to understand FireFly in order to watch this film? I never caught the series because I'm an idiot like that despite already being a big fan of Joss' other works in Buffy and Angel (and it's clever writings).
~Neo
I had never heard of Firefly at all until this film crept up, but it's now generating such positive reviews that I want to see it - as long as it's okay to go in without any previous knowledge of the characters or setting, which from the sound of it, it is. The clip I saw looked a bit Red Dwarf/Alieny in that instead of being glamorous and high-tech everything's dilapidated and falling apart, so it does seem like the very opposite of the sterile Star Wars prequels. Jonathan Ross thinks so anyway!
I believe that's the reason the film is called serenity and not firefly, joss whedon didn't wanna alienate people who hadn't seen the series
I think it's interesting that the series called Firefly, complete with the charred letter logo, has a warmer color scheme, while the film called "Serenity" has a color scheme of neutral and colder colors, mostly, white, blue and grey. I wonder if the naming reflecting the color palette was intentional
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Apparently, me getting into the screening is dependent on my regurgitating a much of marketing hype on my website. Once I've done this and notified them, they will let me know if I've gotten in.
.. from Grumpy Gamer, which Nick linked to.
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* You MUST include the film's synopsis on your blog (synopsis below) and you MUST link your blog to the SERENITY website (which has the trailer and production notes) http://www.serenitymovie.com and featured artwork. After you have screened the film, please discuss it on your blog. Please provide us the links to all of your blog posts on SERENITY at @gracehillmedia.com
I think this blogger is getting worked up over nothing. I don't consider it it "selling out" to be required to link to the site and provide a synopsis. They're inviting you to a free preview screening, which in itself is very generous. If a studio were to invite a newspaper journalist to a screening, they'd be obligated to write an article about it for better or worse, don't you think? Just because bloggers are independent journalists doesn't relieve them of that obligation. No one says they have to write a good review.
--
Tangentially,
You know what is really bugging me after Serenity came out? People who say, "Shema>?"
I know this is Chinese for "What?" and people in Serenity have been saying it, but it's wrong. In Chinese we don't use incomplete sentence fragments. "Shema" is the word for "what" as in "What is that?" but you can't just use it as a one-word sentence.
-___-
That's why, if you recall, the pirated Hong Kong version of Revenge of the Sith was so funny when Anakin yelled, "NO!!" "Shema?" makes as much sense as saying, "That is not!!!" in English. "That is not" what?
I know y'all like sci-fi, but stop butchering my language! 😛
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Do you have to understand FireFly in order to watch this film?
Nope. It makes an effort to introduce things... in fact, does so better than the series pilot did.
I'd never watched Firefly, but my friend who did dragged me along to go watch Serenity. It does kick tail, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
But I loved it...
And I dont have a lot of time, but I want to say something VERY quotable...
"This bizarre mix between Star Wars and 28 days later takes everything that's best about the 2 genres and comes out hotter than our own sun... And it's got some good comedy moments in it to."
Nope. It makes an effort to introduce things... in fact, does so better than the series pilot did.
Wonderful. I'll try and watch the movie as soon as possible.
~Neo
I saw it yesterday, 'twas awesome. I only saw an episode or two of firefly so I'd a good idea what I was in for but wasn't hooked. This movie well surpassed my expectations.
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See. Serenity. Now.
Meh.
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SERENITY NOW!
Better. 
