Serenity
Last night, my good woman and I popped along to the Limerick 'premier' of Serenity, Joss Whedon's debut as a big (silver) screen director. Oddly, considering Limerick's reputation for glitz and glamour, there were no celebs (major or minor) in attendance. I did see someone who bore a passing resemblance to Dean Stockwell…but I'm sure it was merely a coincidence. Still, a healthy (and very appreciative) crowd of local fanboys/girls were present in the (surprisingly impressive) surrounds of the newly-refurbished Omniplex.
Having seen all 14 episodes of the (sadly defunct) TV series on which the film is based (Firefly), and being the proud owners of every season of Buffy and Angel on DVD, we were (admittedly) attending as enthusiasts, albeit ones with open and reasonably objective minds. For all that, I wasn't (truth be told) expecting all that much, as I found it hard to see how a show that depended so much on slow-burning character development and interaction could succeed as a 2 hour, mainstream movie.
Well…not only did it succeed, but it succeeded with such exuberant aplomb that there was nothing but broad smiles and deep satisfaction all round when the credits rolled. The tricky task of bringing neophytes up to speed with Firefly/Serenity's impressive cast of characters, was accomplished fairly quickly (and with the minimum of fuss). A typically Whedonesque 'One-er' introduces us to Capt. Malcolm Reynolds (delightfully played by Nathan Fillion) as he walks the length of his small ship, bumping into each member of the Serenity 'family' as he goes. Relationships are hinted at, characters are briefly fleshed out, and the ship itself is given the opportunity to feel like a real space, all within the span of a 2 minute (or so) long tracking shot.
What satisfies most about Serenity, is its refreshingly gritty and human take on a possible future. And though it's a future being captured, there is something decidedly 'old-fashioned', about what Whedon is trying to achieve…and I mean that (very much) as a compliment. Like the good people over at Pixar, who he did screenplay work for on Toy Story (1995), Whedon's strengths lie in fashioning well-told tales that are full of wit, warmth, and (key word this) charm. The usual, dreary Hollywood recipe for 'charm' (and we've all seen it a million times), is 600 spoons of sentiment and a hefty dollop of cliché. The end result (of course) is often a 'mass produced', sugar-laced confection that leaves us nauseous and begging for some soothing, home-made chicken soup (or, at least, the cinematic equivalent). Serenity, however, rarely feels anything less than 'hand-made', with a director and cast for whom this is (obviously) far more than just another gig.
Visually too, the film (largely) manages to avoid the alienating FX excesses of much recent Sci-fi. While the increasingly antiseptic world of the Star Wars series, called to mind the bland, shiny attractiveness of a show-room apartment, Serenity (the ship and the film) feels delightfully lived in: a home rather than merely a house. Even the CGI manages to suggest a crude, patched together quality that perfectly suits the tale of a motley crew scraping together a living on the edge of a galaxy where the banal 'good life' is ruthlessly maintained.
Finally, where Whedon's 'old-fashioned' talents and tendencies serve him best is with his handling of the ship's sizeable ensemble. There's a scene, late on, where the crew are trapped in a confined space: under siege, low on ammo, and facing impossible odds. The feel of that scene made me think of everything from Romero's Dawn of the Dead to Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, and back to (the film that inspired Carpenter) Hawks' Rio Bravo.
Comparing Whedon and Howard Hawks may seem to be over-doing it a tad, but in a certain (modest) sense, Whedon can legitimately claim to be an inheritor of Hawks' prodigious talent for creating realistic (and engaging) "group dynamics". Hawks' gift was in capturing the curious ambivalence of long-term friendships and relationships: they are, on one hand, like comfortable (and reliable) old shoes, while on the other, sources of occasional irritation. Despite the ambivalence however, such relationships are sustained (cheesy as it may sound) by plain old love and respect…something that always shone through in Hawks' films, despite the squabbling and bickering.
So to call Whedon (and Serenity) 'Hawksian' is about the biggest compliment this fan can offer, but it may be one I'm justified in offering…
October 7, 2005
3 responses to Serenity
Shooting Greedo First: Captain Malcolm Reynolds and a contemporary hermeneutics of Han.
As a keen fan of the space opera and intrigued by the odd half episode of Firefly I managed to catch a couple of years back, I spent the late afternoon at a screening of serenity and was surprised by just how much I liked it [not a buffy fan I'm afraid]. Very authentically sci-fi with satisfying and undistracting references to blade runner, star wars etc. and a distinguished set of themes evoking Huxley, Orwell and, I reckon, Iain M. Banks’ Culture. Definitely a bit of Stephen King in there too. I’ve been waiting to see something like this for a long time, which is why i was so annoyed Firefly wasn’t repeated at my convenience on the telly.
Nice to see Serenity displays the admirable qualities of the buffy thing [deft plotting, integrity of "verse", superb set design] and none of [what are for me] its horrors [not referring to the emissions of the hell mouth in that].
The film has a great “all bets are off” sensibility too, which makes a great change from the predictibility of the scripts Lucas keeps in that weird neck pouch of his. Actually, Michael Mann should have his nose rubbed in the last half hour of this flick before being forced to ritually destroy and reshoot the the final act of Collateral. Lucas should be fed to the reivers.
I see a lot of reviews are positioning Serenity as fare for geeks and sci-fi heads only, but I forced two reluctant parties to accompany me to this film, about which they knew absolutely nothing and had never heard, and both emerged raving about its excellence.
PS, speaking of Mann, I didn’t see mention [not to say there was none] of 1983′s The Keep in the IMDB debate on classic horror of the last number of years. It’s something different and cool.
It’s tough work following TV shows week by week, as you know yourself, but that’s where the joys of DVD come in.
Even those who actually managed to watch the show when it first aired in the US, had to contend with Fox switching episode orders to the point where certain things made little sense.
Though the DVD release is definitely the best way to enjoy the series, you find you’re just getting into it (in a big way) when you realise you’ve just watched the 14th episode and that is that. There’s no more.
Despite the critical applause the film has got, I don’t think it’s doing that great in terms of its takings thus far. Still, it’s early days…and if it does actually do well commercially, it’ll be interesting to see what the upshot will be: A revival of the show? The beginning of a film ‘franchise’?
Your mention of Han is, of course, quite apt…for Mal Reynolds is (fairly clearly) a more ‘growed-up’ version of Mr. Solo.
It all goes back to that word I’m overusing: charm. Lucas was lucky enough to have unearthed a tremendously likeable actor/hero in Harrison Ford for the original Star Wars movies (as the Indy Jones series went on to prove).
Ford’s gift was in investing the ‘hero’ with a sort of bumbling, vulnerability. The Mal Reynolds character has this in spades too, and really the whole film/series constantly pulls the rug out from underneath itself whenever it threatens to get too macho or gung-ho.