Big Damn Movie
Jun. 24th, 2005 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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fenchurche and sdwolfpup, I got to see Serenity last night, when I never expected to be able to make it to one of these preview screenings. I didn't have the energy or emotional ability to deal with trying to get tickets, especially after hearing people's war stories about it, but when sdwolfpup hooked me up with fenchurche, who had an extra ticket that she could easily have scalped, my only big worry was whether I would be able to stay awake for the screening. Honestly, the kindness and helpfulness of real fans never ceases to amaze me -- there was a small group of people begging for tickets before the show, and they ended up behind us in line because some woman there had found out that her friends decided at the last minute not to go, and so she offered them tickets at face value, no markup. No matter how cynical you may get about fans and fandom, remember that there are people like sdwolfpup and fenchurche.
Anyway, about the movie. One of the reasons I started this journal was to review shows and movies I liked, since for a brief halcyon time I worked as a movie critic and I never forgot my love of writing that kind of piece. At the time, Firefly was on, but there was no critical discussion of it, and all the LJ writing I found tended toward the "squee!" I wanted more discussion, but then it was gone. So I can't approach the movie just as a squee-y fangirl; I still tend to bring that old critical faculty to movies when I see them, and it's not something I can put down for the most part. Even if I enjoy something, a compartment in my brain is also taking notes about what is working filmically, what isn't, etc. So if that bothers you, then by all means, stay away from the comments in the cut tag. Needless to say, if you're a spoiler scaredy cat, then SCAMPER, KITTENS! RUN! BE FREE!
I find it harder to separate the fangirl compartment from the critic compartment when it comes to Firefly, because I've loved this show so damn much for so long that it's difficult for both brains to make the transition.sdwolfpup reminded me repeatedly that "it's not the TV show" and while I tried to make myself remember that, it was challenging. Because the love I have for the show makes the changes difficult to accept in some respects, most notably the diminishing of the westernness. One of the things that pained me most about the way so many people rejected the show at first was the sneering, demeaning way people talked about the western quality; as someone who grew up in the west, and someone who loves Westerns as a genre, I found this condescending, narrow-minded disregard for what Joss was trying to do with the show really hard to swallow. I loved that he brought back pioneer conventions, that people living on the fringes in space were really throwbacks to people living on the fringes in American western pioneer days. The way he brought out how difficult and painful life at the edge of civilization was; and the lingering pain of people fleeing from places affected more strongly by the Civil War. All of that is really only paid lip service in the film, and the Western quality has been tone down in a play toward a wider audience, something that really just pains me. Even to the extent that Mal no longer wears Cavalry trousers and boots. Playing to a wider audience means playing to the sci-fi crowd, and while I understand the move, for me, it's like another slap in the face to fans of the Western aspect of the show.
Once I got over that, I settled down a little. It was interesting to see the transitional changes to the crew -- everyone seemed a bit thinner, a bit more poofed up (still having trouble with skinny and poofy-haired Jayne), much slicker, as befits a larger budget and new sets. I had to wait through the exposition as dialog (okay, I admit, few people have as much trouble with this as I do, but here it's a necessary evil to recap a show a lot of people haven't seen) until we get to the first really good character set piece, the argument that Mal and Simon have about using River. Regardless of when this was filmed, it feels like the gears really start turning here, and that Joss has settled into the rhythm. I also had to adjust to the retconning of Simon's rescue of River from the Alliance facility, but that was relatively easy to do in the overly long and chatty sequence with the facility guy and the Operative.
The rest of the movie passes pleasantly enough -- the right mix of action to banter, although heavy on the action compared to the series. Emotional risk and consequences abound, as well, which I always thought was the heart of the show; the pacing here is excellent as we get back to the ship and the crew -- especially Mal -- try desperately to figure out a puzzle that has largely already been figured out by the Operative. Visually, the movie benefits from the bigger budget in terms of the outside set pieces; even right away we're treated to that when the ship falls apart. I do love that though they toned down much of my favorite aspects of the show, they kept the hand-held camera visual style of the space flight (though adding in noise, sigh) special effects.
It's always hard to balance introducing a series to people who've never seen it while appeasing fans at the same time; Star Trek took a while before they were able to really hone that quality. Overall I think Joss has done a good job, but there were times I felt disengaged from the experience because I was looking for something more deeply felt by me about the characters. Kaylee is still my little sweetie-pie, Jayne is still my big dumb moron boyfriend, Wash is still my smartass best buddy, and Zoe my uberclam girlfriend. Mal is... Mal, I think, and Inara somehow also the same -- in many respects their characters have altered the least, and they seemed to slip into the roles more seamlessly than others. River and Simon appear the most changed both physically and emotionally, though River of course wins the prize here. I had a lot of issues when I saw the trailer about what I called "Trinity from the Matrix River", but once it's in context, then it becomes less comical than the way it was played in the trailer, and more devastating about who she is. Her declaration on Miranda that she is "okay" feels solid, grounded, and we know that for once, yes she is okay, and she has the capacity to become more okay now. I love River with a deep, abiding love, so how her character was treated felt imperative to my enjoyment of the movie. And maybe the next most changed is Book, but really, he's so inscrutable and his backstory so fascinatingly obscure that it's hard to say for sure.
And this is where I get bogged down, where my fangirl and my critic both start whining and crying: Book's death, and Wash's. One could make a case for the value of Book's death, especially to Mal's change of pace and his willingness to do anything to solve this mystery and get rid of the Alliance on their tail, once and for all. His death ostensibly has meaning, but since he's not on the ship (and I'd like to know why he isn't, I hope we will see that story) and we only see him for brief moments, the depth of the meaning isn't communicated fully, to my eyes. It would be difficult for a non-Firefly audience to really understand the significance of who he is to Mal -- the bright side of Mal's lost beliefs, the glimmer of a reminder of hope in Mal's hopeless existence. And so his death is catalyst, but not significant for the audience.
Without meaning to make a pun, Wash's death is overkill. One of the few things I really dislike about Joss is his "I'm Joss, I have to kill someone" thing -- I like a good death scene and a sacrifice as much as the next really dark person (in fact, possibly more, because I really do love a great cinematic death), but this felt pointless, cruel, and manipulative in the extreme for me. I'd hoped seeing the movie would make sense of this (I knew about it beforehand), but it didn't; in fact, it made me feel worse because his death is treated so utterly cavalierly. If it's really true that Alan Tudyk couldn't sign for future movies, I still think they could have given him an out somehow less pointless than this. And that Joss made it happen through one of my most hated, overused, cheap devices really rankled me -- Wash makes a witty remark, we all laugh and breathe a sigh of relief, and then bam! Ha ha, didn't see that coming, did ya? Of course we can see it coming, and it's a cheap trick. (And the overkill effect is hammered home towards then end, because when Simon is shot and Zoe wounded, we start to wonder if they will also die, since it seems as if everyone's going to get twepped in this movie for no real reason.)
Unfortunately, these deaths really colored the movie for me. I didn't want them to, but they did. It doesn't help that both characters are really important to me. One of the interesting things about Firefly was that I found I loved all the characters equally. That almost never happens to me on ensemble shows, but this one... it transcended everything. Each of them had terrible and wonderful qualities, and I was compelled by all storylines. Losing Book and Wash leaves a huge hole, for me, in the entire narrative structure, and in the heart of the story.
I was glad, speaking of hearts, at the way they handled the Mal and Inara storyline. There's more of a sense of understanding and friendship, despite their difficulties and their separation. They are still emotionally immature when it comes to each other, yet there's more maturity about the characters themselves. I loved Inara's look of comprehension when she sees the Operative -- fantastic bit of acting there. Everyone was up to high standards -- especially, I thought, Adam Baldwin, who is often so easily overlooked because of the type of character he plays. His scene with Zoe toward the end, where he's accepted that they're beaten, was lovely, and he maintains a great balance between cruel hard man and comic relief perfectly. There were so many things to love in the different relationships and levels -- the way Mal and Inara just cannot communicate, the way Kaylee and Simon connect and disconnect, and her pain at losing him, the mistrust Jayne feels for River and Simon yet the way he puts his life on the line if he has to, and his quoting Book when he finally ponies up on the moral question. I still am terribly moved by the tender regard Simon has for River, and the off-key way she relates to him, struggling to figure out what the right thing to do is.
So, much of the fangirl is happy, and yet unhappy, and the critic is happy and unhappy. Joss has made an excellent movie that is still head and shoulders above anything else that's coming out (and I think Universal realizes its mistake in moving the release date back, considering the poor performance of other movies -- I think this could have broken through and had legs enough to last into the summer), and is definitely in league with movies like Batman Begins and Fantastic 4 -- with characters and action and a plot-driven, strong story. But I can't quite get past the de-westernizing and the unnecessarily heavy hand with the deaths, so I am very mixed up about my reactions. I feel like Faye Dunaway being slapped around by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown: "It was great! [slap] It disappointed me! [slap] Great! [slap] Disappointed! Great! Disappointed!"
I guess what that really means is that I will have to go see it again to really formulate an opinion. And again. And maybe again.
And the second best part besides meeting fenchurche and her friends was that there was swag! A small poster, a booklet, and a nice little keychain, which I needed since my puffy Totoro won't fit in my new bag.
fenchurche and sdwolfpup, I got to see Serenity last night, when I never expected to be able to make it to one of these preview screenings. I didn't have the energy or emotional ability to deal with trying to get tickets, especially after hearing people's war stories about it, but when sdwolfpup hooked me up with fenchurche, who had an extra ticket that she could easily have scalped, my only big worry was whether I would be able to stay awake for the screening. Honestly, the kindness and helpfulness of real fans never ceases to amaze me -- there was a small group of people begging for tickets before the show, and they ended up behind us in line because some woman there had found out that her friends decided at the last minute not to go, and so she offered them tickets at face value, no markup. No matter how cynical you may get about fans and fandom, remember that there are people like sdwolfpup and fenchurche.Anyway, about the movie. One of the reasons I started this journal was to review shows and movies I liked, since for a brief halcyon time I worked as a movie critic and I never forgot my love of writing that kind of piece. At the time, Firefly was on, but there was no critical discussion of it, and all the LJ writing I found tended toward the "squee!" I wanted more discussion, but then it was gone. So I can't approach the movie just as a squee-y fangirl; I still tend to bring that old critical faculty to movies when I see them, and it's not something I can put down for the most part. Even if I enjoy something, a compartment in my brain is also taking notes about what is working filmically, what isn't, etc. So if that bothers you, then by all means, stay away from the comments in the cut tag. Needless to say, if you're a spoiler scaredy cat, then SCAMPER, KITTENS! RUN! BE FREE!
I find it harder to separate the fangirl compartment from the critic compartment when it comes to Firefly, because I've loved this show so damn much for so long that it's difficult for both brains to make the transition.
sdwolfpup reminded me repeatedly that "it's not the TV show" and while I tried to make myself remember that, it was challenging. Because the love I have for the show makes the changes difficult to accept in some respects, most notably the diminishing of the westernness. One of the things that pained me most about the way so many people rejected the show at first was the sneering, demeaning way people talked about the western quality; as someone who grew up in the west, and someone who loves Westerns as a genre, I found this condescending, narrow-minded disregard for what Joss was trying to do with the show really hard to swallow. I loved that he brought back pioneer conventions, that people living on the fringes in space were really throwbacks to people living on the fringes in American western pioneer days. The way he brought out how difficult and painful life at the edge of civilization was; and the lingering pain of people fleeing from places affected more strongly by the Civil War. All of that is really only paid lip service in the film, and the Western quality has been tone down in a play toward a wider audience, something that really just pains me. Even to the extent that Mal no longer wears Cavalry trousers and boots. Playing to a wider audience means playing to the sci-fi crowd, and while I understand the move, for me, it's like another slap in the face to fans of the Western aspect of the show.Once I got over that, I settled down a little. It was interesting to see the transitional changes to the crew -- everyone seemed a bit thinner, a bit more poofed up (still having trouble with skinny and poofy-haired Jayne), much slicker, as befits a larger budget and new sets. I had to wait through the exposition as dialog (okay, I admit, few people have as much trouble with this as I do, but here it's a necessary evil to recap a show a lot of people haven't seen) until we get to the first really good character set piece, the argument that Mal and Simon have about using River. Regardless of when this was filmed, it feels like the gears really start turning here, and that Joss has settled into the rhythm. I also had to adjust to the retconning of Simon's rescue of River from the Alliance facility, but that was relatively easy to do in the overly long and chatty sequence with the facility guy and the Operative.
The rest of the movie passes pleasantly enough -- the right mix of action to banter, although heavy on the action compared to the series. Emotional risk and consequences abound, as well, which I always thought was the heart of the show; the pacing here is excellent as we get back to the ship and the crew -- especially Mal -- try desperately to figure out a puzzle that has largely already been figured out by the Operative. Visually, the movie benefits from the bigger budget in terms of the outside set pieces; even right away we're treated to that when the ship falls apart. I do love that though they toned down much of my favorite aspects of the show, they kept the hand-held camera visual style of the space flight (though adding in noise, sigh) special effects.
It's always hard to balance introducing a series to people who've never seen it while appeasing fans at the same time; Star Trek took a while before they were able to really hone that quality. Overall I think Joss has done a good job, but there were times I felt disengaged from the experience because I was looking for something more deeply felt by me about the characters. Kaylee is still my little sweetie-pie, Jayne is still my big dumb moron boyfriend, Wash is still my smartass best buddy, and Zoe my uberclam girlfriend. Mal is... Mal, I think, and Inara somehow also the same -- in many respects their characters have altered the least, and they seemed to slip into the roles more seamlessly than others. River and Simon appear the most changed both physically and emotionally, though River of course wins the prize here. I had a lot of issues when I saw the trailer about what I called "Trinity from the Matrix River", but once it's in context, then it becomes less comical than the way it was played in the trailer, and more devastating about who she is. Her declaration on Miranda that she is "okay" feels solid, grounded, and we know that for once, yes she is okay, and she has the capacity to become more okay now. I love River with a deep, abiding love, so how her character was treated felt imperative to my enjoyment of the movie. And maybe the next most changed is Book, but really, he's so inscrutable and his backstory so fascinatingly obscure that it's hard to say for sure.
And this is where I get bogged down, where my fangirl and my critic both start whining and crying: Book's death, and Wash's. One could make a case for the value of Book's death, especially to Mal's change of pace and his willingness to do anything to solve this mystery and get rid of the Alliance on their tail, once and for all. His death ostensibly has meaning, but since he's not on the ship (and I'd like to know why he isn't, I hope we will see that story) and we only see him for brief moments, the depth of the meaning isn't communicated fully, to my eyes. It would be difficult for a non-Firefly audience to really understand the significance of who he is to Mal -- the bright side of Mal's lost beliefs, the glimmer of a reminder of hope in Mal's hopeless existence. And so his death is catalyst, but not significant for the audience.
Without meaning to make a pun, Wash's death is overkill. One of the few things I really dislike about Joss is his "I'm Joss, I have to kill someone" thing -- I like a good death scene and a sacrifice as much as the next really dark person (in fact, possibly more, because I really do love a great cinematic death), but this felt pointless, cruel, and manipulative in the extreme for me. I'd hoped seeing the movie would make sense of this (I knew about it beforehand), but it didn't; in fact, it made me feel worse because his death is treated so utterly cavalierly. If it's really true that Alan Tudyk couldn't sign for future movies, I still think they could have given him an out somehow less pointless than this. And that Joss made it happen through one of my most hated, overused, cheap devices really rankled me -- Wash makes a witty remark, we all laugh and breathe a sigh of relief, and then bam! Ha ha, didn't see that coming, did ya? Of course we can see it coming, and it's a cheap trick. (And the overkill effect is hammered home towards then end, because when Simon is shot and Zoe wounded, we start to wonder if they will also die, since it seems as if everyone's going to get twepped in this movie for no real reason.)
Unfortunately, these deaths really colored the movie for me. I didn't want them to, but they did. It doesn't help that both characters are really important to me. One of the interesting things about Firefly was that I found I loved all the characters equally. That almost never happens to me on ensemble shows, but this one... it transcended everything. Each of them had terrible and wonderful qualities, and I was compelled by all storylines. Losing Book and Wash leaves a huge hole, for me, in the entire narrative structure, and in the heart of the story.
I was glad, speaking of hearts, at the way they handled the Mal and Inara storyline. There's more of a sense of understanding and friendship, despite their difficulties and their separation. They are still emotionally immature when it comes to each other, yet there's more maturity about the characters themselves. I loved Inara's look of comprehension when she sees the Operative -- fantastic bit of acting there. Everyone was up to high standards -- especially, I thought, Adam Baldwin, who is often so easily overlooked because of the type of character he plays. His scene with Zoe toward the end, where he's accepted that they're beaten, was lovely, and he maintains a great balance between cruel hard man and comic relief perfectly. There were so many things to love in the different relationships and levels -- the way Mal and Inara just cannot communicate, the way Kaylee and Simon connect and disconnect, and her pain at losing him, the mistrust Jayne feels for River and Simon yet the way he puts his life on the line if he has to, and his quoting Book when he finally ponies up on the moral question. I still am terribly moved by the tender regard Simon has for River, and the off-key way she relates to him, struggling to figure out what the right thing to do is.
So, much of the fangirl is happy, and yet unhappy, and the critic is happy and unhappy. Joss has made an excellent movie that is still head and shoulders above anything else that's coming out (and I think Universal realizes its mistake in moving the release date back, considering the poor performance of other movies -- I think this could have broken through and had legs enough to last into the summer), and is definitely in league with movies like Batman Begins and Fantastic 4 -- with characters and action and a plot-driven, strong story. But I can't quite get past the de-westernizing and the unnecessarily heavy hand with the deaths, so I am very mixed up about my reactions. I feel like Faye Dunaway being slapped around by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown: "It was great! [slap] It disappointed me! [slap] Great! [slap] Disappointed! Great! Disappointed!"
I guess what that really means is that I will have to go see it again to really formulate an opinion. And again. And maybe again.
And the second best part besides meeting fenchurche and her friends was that there was swag! A small poster, a booklet, and a nice little keychain, which I needed since my puffy Totoro won't fit in my new bag.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 09:05 pm (UTC)September's so faaaaar!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 09:18 pm (UTC)Only when in atmo. I saw it for the third time last night, and I was paying close attention to that detail. (They've also toned down the more overbearing score used in space from the first couple of times... not that this indicates much, as much of the present score is filler bits from other films, but perhaps a promising indication of which way they're headed.)
Regarding Wash's death... I think it's integral to the film, and that the "it seems as if everyone's going to get twerped in this movie" feeling is essential. It's not for no reason; the 'verse is dangerous, they're on a nearly impossible mission, and having as low a fatality count as the crew did was pretty much miraculous. Wash's death brings home the fact that nobody's safe, that not everybody gets dramatic final words, that, well, it really sucks, and that's life. Yes, it hurts; it's supposed to. But that's basically what Joss does, better than anybody else I can think of.
With that said, I think having more time to chew it over helps a lot, as does seeing it a second time. You're a lot more articulate than I managed the day after I first saw it.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 10:56 pm (UTC)We'll have to agree to disagree about Wash's death. If it wasn't a cheap trick from 5,000 other movies, I might be willing to say differently, but the fact that it is such a cheap device from 5,000 other movies left me feeling like it had no resonance and purpose. If you're going to kill someone off, make it count. I love and adore Joss, but I don't adore him blindly, and I think he has some major faults, this being one of them. I really don't think seeing this even 50 times will change my feeling -- to me it seems as if he and Book are being killed off because there's a feeling no one cares about them much, and that is just... wrong. But that's fangirl talking, not critic girl -- critic girl just hates cheap cinematic tricks. And both girls... they seem to expect way more from Joss, so are easily disappointed if he doesn't deliver, and that of course is their problem, not his.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 11:35 pm (UTC)So yeah, I'm already retconning it in my brain.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 06:07 am (UTC)I think those of us having a hard time with the usefulness of Wash dying are probably in a minority, from what I can tell. But then, I was a Buffy fan (the character), so maybe I'm not a good judge of these things. no apologies!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-24 10:09 pm (UTC)And I heartily agree about how the Mal/Inara relationship was handled. And how they both felt perfectly themselves. I actually felt that Mal was even more Mal-like, if possible.
Clearly this movie needs re-watching.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 12:14 am (UTC)Glad you got to go see it.
And I'm damn jealous. Time moves fast, but ...
no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 01:35 am (UTC)And Wash really humanised the crew, IMHO.
I'm really unhappy. Even though I enjoyed ninja-River and the fight between the Alliance guy and Mal, the rest of the movie was coloured by my shock and unhappiness.
The other thing that bothered me is when I was leaving after the movie and still crying, everyone was, like, "Well, that's Joss," and "What did you expect? It's Joss."
That's no excuse.
Re: fans - again, I agree. A guy sold me a ticket at face value and then when I emailed him at the last minute on Thursday to see if he had one left for my son, he emailed me back and said, yeah, someone who'd asked for a ticket hadn't gotten back to him, so I was able to take my son at the last minute too. The Ohio Browncoats had put together a little goodie bag with stickers, magnets, and a couple of plastic dinosaurs, and someone else came through and gave us all Serenity bracelets. Really nice people. Almost made up for Wash.
Not quite, though.
I don't know if I can handle seeing it again. I can't articulate how utterly shocked and numb and upset I was. Man.
Like you, I was starting to think that this would be THE wrap-up and they'd ALL be dead by the end for a while there.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 06:13 am (UTC)I'm so glad that you had a good ticket experience, too. I feel really blessed -- I mean, i got to write my little mixed emotion review only because of the kindness of fellow fans. I'm definitely very aware of how privileged I am right now.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 02:29 am (UTC)I'm with you in that it doesn't exactly bother me to have someone killed off, but it does bother me if it's pointless. I guess I'll just have to reserve judgment until after I've seen it for myself.
I also missed the meta part of the fandom. There was some really high quality fic (and some dreck...isn't there always?), but not much in the way of discussion. And I never really thought about it before, but what you said about liking all the cast members and that being unusual in an ensemble cast really rings true. Of course I have my favorites (I'm extremely partial to Mal) and those on the not-really-so-far end (Inara), but I actually thought that the series and cast were so tightly wrapped that each was essential for the extreme complexity of the cast. Like a big old jigsaw puzzle where the pieces keep changing shape ever so slightly.
Obviously it's time to dig out my DVD set and watch it again. Then of course I'll have to gorge on fic then twiddle my thumbs for a month and a half waiting for the movie to come out so I can do it again.
Sigh!
I'm going to have to re-schedule that sleep for a couple of weeks from now.
Hmmm, must get Firefly icons in preparation.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-25 06:15 am (UTC)Oh!!!! So envious!
Date: 2005-06-25 03:58 am (UTC)