“I am a leaf on the wind.”
Holy.
That movie was so intense it was like a punch to the guy afterwards. It was definitely not just a two hour long episode of Firefly. It had a lot of the humor fans of the series love (especially all the times the main character, Captain Malcolm Reynolds – no relation to the puppy blender – starts to get dramatic and then deflates the scene with a humorous line), but the humor was just short breathers from the plot of the movie which had the crew of Serenity looking about as hopeless as possible. It’s their one ship with no guns versus the entire Alliance government with its battleships and unlimited resources.
For the uninitiated, mankind has spread out from Earth to terraform other planets. Some, the central planets, became huge advanced civilizations. Others remained backwater planets. Eventually the Alliance was formed to unite all the planets – whether they wanted it or not – which led to war, the scrappy rebels known as the “Browncoats” fighting for independence from the Alliance.
And they lost.
Captain Reynolds (known as “Mal” to most of the crew) was on the losing side of that war — which, at the beginning of the movie, had been over for a number of years – and captains a ship where they take any job they can, legal or illegal, to keep on going and being free, something that has become harder as the Alliance continues to grow.
Furthering Mal’s problem, a while back (that would be the pilot of the T.V. series – which, incidentally, FOX didn’t air first) he picked up two stragglers: a doctor used to only living on civilized planets and his sister, River, who a brilliant schizophrenic who apparently was some Alliance government experiment. At the beginning of the movie, the Alliance becomes determined to do anything to get her for reasons that eventually become quite clear.
The cast, as I knew coming into this, was phenomenal. Of course, it’s too large for all to get equal time, and most of the focus of the movie was with the Captain himself. The bad guy, The Operative, while not quite as menacing personally as the trailers mad him seem, made for a very effective villain, evil enough to push the main characters into danger that would otherwise be unbelievable for them to take up (by the end, everyone has a chip on his or her shoulder).
The special effects were very special, and at times it almost seemed to be aiming to look like a summer blockbuster. In the end, though, it stayed true to being a very character driven action/drama/sci-fi movie. It even had a central theme – beliefs – which sounds kinda cheesy but plays out well. Honestly, I can’t remember a better movie going experience in a long time (SarahK kept suddenly blurting out, “That was so good!” about fifty times on our way back from Orlando – a long with quoting many of the memorable lines), and, since The Operative knew martial arts and carried a sword, I’ll declare him a ninja (a prerequisite for the coveted five star rating).
So, yes, I give this movie five out of five stars and order everyone to see it this weekend. SarahK and I will see it again Friday at our local theatre, where, hopefully, it will be shown on the digital projector (cigarette burns are so distracting to me ever since I’ve seen the movie Fight Club). Monday, there will be a spoiler discussion and vote for best line from the move (so many to choose from!).
Oh, and I’ll give one minor spoiler (and there is more than you’d think to spoil): the theme song from Firefly only appears as a guitar solo at the end of the credits.
For the view of someone who had never seen the series, here’s Glenn Reynolds’ thoughts (and, apparently, he’s now a convert – I’ve converted four people to Firefly fans, myself) and links to more blogger reviews.
Also, I met three other bloggers at the screening. One couple, Rachel and Jim, and a guy named Duane. They’ll probably have reviews up soon, but, in the meantime, make sure to check them out since none of them seem to have heard of SarahK or me, so it’ll be funny to hit them with a big traffic surge.
One last thing, there was only one preview for this screening – the trailer for Doom. As long time FPS player, the FPS sequences of the trailer made me giddy (and got a big reaction from the crowd). I want to fight demons with a chainsaw!
Hmm if you stretch the defininiton to make the the villian out to be a ninja.
You could also stretch the definition of the good guys to be pirates!
You could also stretch the definition of the good guys to be pirates!
Yeah, but then you’re Robert Urich in Ice Pirates, the prequel to Firefly.
I am just happy that Firefly’s on SciFi right now. I haven’t seen all the episodes and I’m loving life right now. Last night I saw the one with one of the best lines I’ve seen quoted from the series.
“If somebody tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back.”
Them’s words to live by.
Can’t wait until the weekend.
Ikkonoishi,
Arguably, they are pirates… but they lean more towards comboy like outlaws.
you had pretty much the same reaction that i did. you can read my review here.
Shiny!
If the reason we had no new Superego yesterday was so that you could see Firefly, then you are forgiven. EVERYONE needs to watch the series and the movie.
Some, the central planets, became huge advanced civilizations (Republican plantets I would guess). Others remained backwater planets (Democrat planets, I would surmise).
Can’t wait til this weekend to see it!
It’s a shame the theme song only appears as a guitar solo, I really like the full song.
I enjoyed in the movie where Kaylee and Simon have a little convo, which prompts her to say, “The hell with this, I wanna live!” Its an amusing little setup…
jimmyb:
You’ve got it precisely backwards – the “civilized” planets want to control all aspects of everyone’s lives in order to usher in a “perfect” universe, while the backwater planets are far more individualistic, far more “libertarian” in their outlook.
And yes, this figures VERY prominently in the movie itself.
I can’t trackback to you Frank J. My review should pop up though if you click my name.
I didn’t watch Firefly when it originally came out. But I have recently become hooked on the series after watching it on SciFi. I have to admit, I am quite sorry to see that it has been cancelled, because I want to see new episodes. My wife, who can’t stand all of the other SciFi series I watch (SG-1, Atlantis, Battle Star Galactica) actually likes Firefly. So now I will go see the movie, and probably be even more hooked. I saw on a few websites that the creater/writer/director says that it will not return to the small screen. I only hope that that is not true and that the movie is successful enough that a station will pick it up? Any rumors about that?
The word in the browncoat ‘verse is that all nine of the main crew members are already signed to do three movies, if the first movie makes some money. So I echo Frank J.’s order, everyone must go see and bring someone, so that there will be the next two movies!! If you do not bring someone, you are ordered to see it twice on opening weekend!
“The word in the browncoat ‘verse is that all nine of the main crew members are already signed to do three movies”
All nine, huh? Hmmm….
I’ve heard all nine as well, though obviously some will have less screen time than others. Of course, you hear a lot of nonsense, so it could be that not all nine have signed.
BTW, saw the movie in the previews, and the Premiere last night, and I’ll be there Friday, and probably Saturday and Sunday too, and the next weekend…
Do you think I enjoyed it? 🙂
I just posted a link to this at Fireflyfans.net …They are mostly liberal hippy types but maybe some goodness will rub off on them while they are here.
We’re not ALL hippies. Liberty ranks high though.
Hey! I said mostly!
My wife and the bloggers I came with to the screening just sat there till the credits ended, still thinking about that damn movie! Guess I’ll be in line again this weekend for another showing.