The Laughing Wolf

Serenity: The Review

The short review: Go See It.

The longer review: If you like Westerns, action, or Science Fiction movies, it is all of them at once and well worth seeing. If you like strong characters, especially female characters, go see it. If you like good cinematography and music scores, go see it.

Serenity is the same odd combination of Western and Science Fiction as the original series. Instead of horses, the cast mounts a spaceship steed and flies off to the next town, bad guys hangout, etc. It is in some ways an action film, with the action being almost non-stop and all the better for some of the best coming from the female characters.

The cinematography is good. In all too many television-to-big-screen efforts, the visuals remain with the small screen. That is not the case here, with well done photography and rich cinematography that only had too very brief moments of non-big-screen. I could have wished for a little bit better on parts of a major fight scene, but that is in part simply because I was trying to follow one person and wanted to see them very clearly at every microsecond. The two jarring moments are mere seconds, one small-screen cut in the first part of the movie, and one non-big screen moment (not sure what to call it, not necessarily small-screen, just not big-screen) in the latter half.

The musical score is chosen well, with the Western motif getting a strong start and providing a shock moment at the very start of the movie. After that initial deliberate shock, the music worked so perfectly with the visuals that I never had a "boggle" moment caused by it. In fact, I want to play the soundtrack alone to be able to pay more attention to it.

Now for what you have been wondering about, the acting. In a short word, very well done. While some performers were stronger than others, there was not a bit of bad acting from anyone, major or minor, in the movie. The major characters were very well done, with the characters being "real" to the audience. There are many things I would like to call out, but I only have time right now to commend Ron Glass for a very good performance, that also opens up a wonderful backstory to Joss and company for the next movie. Or maybe the one after that, given the way Joss's mind works.

The story itself is very well done, and while it helps to have seen the television series, it is not required. Many of the smaller details and points are better appreciated with the backstory, but still provide a rich and complex tapestry to be enjoyed by new audiences. Then again, given his history with Buffy, I expected no less from Joss. If anything, I expected even a bit more, but only time and more movies/shows will tell if I got it or not. My only complaint about the story is that a couple of parts did feel a bit rushed, and I would be interested to see if any deleted scenes fill in a few gaps.

There is more, but I am time limited right now and can't get into all the detail that I'd like. I won't give any spoilers, save to say that Joss appears to have been reading some John Ringo, but that made the story much more real -- better even -- than if it had been typical Hollywood. When the awards start coming around, this is a movie that should be in serious contention for some of them. I say go see it, and decide for yourself, and I may go back again too.

LW

Posted by wolf1 at September 28, 2005 03:14 PM | TrackBack