Thursday, October 20, 2005

Serenity

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Well last night I finally got to see Serenity - it was FAN-blinking-tastic !! Absolutely awesome - the Great God Joss at his best...

I couldn't believe they killed off Wash - I loved that character so much... Loved his "I'm a leaf on the wind, watch me soar" line - and then he was dead moments later... ! Talk about a shock !

Loved the way they resolved River's story - and blinking heck was her fighting awesome !! I've read several interviews with Summer Glau (who plays River), where she's talked about them training and teaching her to do her own fights, and having seen it, I've got to say, she's one hell of a young lady ! Awesomely agile, graceful, amazing ! You could see clearly that she is a trained dancer - particularly during the Dance of Death she did with the Reavers, but also before that when they were in the Maidenhead Bar. I know Buffy's been described as moving in a Dance of Death in some of the novels I've read, but I don't think Sarah Michelle Gellar was ever as graceful as Summer was playing River...

I truly thought no one was going to get out of there alive once the Reavers attacked... So I was pleased as punch that they mostly did !!

Now, just call me Oliver, 'cos I'm gonna cry "Please Sir, I want some MORE, MORE, MORE... !"

Favourite lines from the movie:

The Operative: Do you know what your sin is?
Mal: Hell, I'm a fan of all seven... but right now, I'm gonna have to go with wrath.
---
Mal: Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.
---
Simon: Am I talking to Miranda now?
[River gives him a look]
Simon: No, never mind.
---
The Operative: Are you willing to die for your beliefs?
Mal: I am...
[Mal Fires]
Mal: 'Course, that ain't plan A.
---
Mal: Do you want to run this ship?
Jayne: Yes!
Mal: [caught off guard] Well... you can't...
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Mal: [Over the ship's intercom] This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight... turbulence and then explode.
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Mal: I'm risking my crew on the theory that you're a real person. If you're not, you might as well shoot me now...
[River cocks the gun she is pointing at Mal]
Mal: [stammering] Ooooor, we can talk some more...
---
Mal: [shouting down into the vault] We're coming down to empty the vault now!
Vault Guard: [calling back up] You'll have to give me your authorization password!
[Jayne fires a burst from his automatic rifle]
Vault Guard: ...Okay!
---
Mal: The leg is good. It will bleed plenty and we avoid any necessary organs.
Vault Guard: I was thinking more of a graze.
Mal: Well, you don't want to make it look like you just gave up.
Vault Guard: Oh, I get that.
---
The Operative: I want to resolve this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed.
Mal: Good.
[pulls a gun and shoots the Operative in the chest, knocking him into the wall, grabs Inara and gets ready to leave]
The Operative: [grabs Mal from behind] I am, however, wearing full body armour. I am not a moron!
---
Simon: [to River] If there's any fighting, you fall down or run away.
[pauses to look at the rest of the crew]
Simon: It's okay to leave them to die.
---
Mal: It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is? Well I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.
River: I do, but I like to hear you say it.
Mal: Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home.
---
Wash: This is gonna get pretty interesting.
Mal: Define "interesting".
Wash: [deadpan] Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?


I don't think I can quote my favourite of all of Kaylee's lines though - it's not quite decent !! :-D

Biggest disappointment (and it's not a huge one) - they didn't use the Firefly theme song anywhere in the film...

I loved the way Mal referred to River as "little Albatross" in his closing speech to her - the Operative had referred to the fact that an Albatross is bad luck and claimed that was what River was, but Mal had pointed out that an Albatross wasn't bad luck until someone killed one (hence his line about having read a poem)... I think the fact that he nicknamed her "little Albatross" was both a vindication of the fact that she wasn't bad luck and an acceptance of her as part of his crew: he had commented a lot earlier in the film that although Simon, her brother, had earned his place by being the Ship's Doctor, River had done nothing to be a part of the crew.

4 comments:

Camille said...

OK, just saw this movie today. Oh my, it was such fun. I do not know when I have enjoyed a movie so much.

I have never watched Firefly (a friend has promised to lend us the DVDs) so I had no idea what to expect. My husband and youngest saw the movie last weekend and wanted to see it again today.

When the first joke came, I was totally hooked.

"Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?"
I was also devastated when Wash died. I loved his "I'm a leaf on the wind."

I loved Zoe's line at the end about the "ship" and of course herself.

"She's pretty torn up but she'll fly true.

Being an old "Barney Miller" TV show fan, I loved seeing Ron Glass as Shepherd Book.

This movied was terrific. I hope it does well enough to earn a sequel.

Michele said...

Yes: 'Define "interesting".' "Oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die?" said totally deadpan... Brilliant and so typical of Joss...

I was chatting with someone else from Child Lit who's seen the film and she asked if I agreed with the view that had been expressed that Wash's death (in particular) was gratuitous or somehow cheap... I absolutely don't ! Although I was horrified at Wash's death, especially coming after that marvellous flying, it was exactly right that at least one person should have died during their "escapade" - it would have been a cheap trick if they'd all survived; taking on both Reavers and the Alliance as they did - head to head - demanded at least one death, and I don't think either death was cheap - there had to be consequences to Mal's determination to stand up to the Alliance, even if what he was doing was right, because you don't take on someone as almighty powerful as the Alliance without there being consequences. And it's not as if it was only Haven that the Operative had attacked - all their usual safe haunts were destroyed. And Book's death was what Mal needed to persuade him finally, that whatever was in River's head was important enough to fight not run... Wash's death was deeply ironic - something that Joss is good at - after his line "I am leaf, watch me soar", to be impaled by an almighty bar of - whatever it was, metal or wood (probably metal) - was cruel, but there had to be some injury from that landing...

Camille said...

I have got to watch Firefly now.

I don't think Joss's death was a cheap trick at all. I agree completely with you. It was shocking (good editing there) but set up the "last stand" and what they were willing to sacrifice very well.

Michele said...

Surely you mean Wash's death - not Joss' ?! (You did mean Wash, didn't you ?!)

Yes you really must see Firefly - it's excellent and typically character-driven... For fans of the Great God Joss, there's the added pleasure of spotting former alumni of BtVS and Angel, particularly Jonathan Woodward, who appears in one of the last Firefly episodes (as Tracey in "The Message") and was the vampire Holden (Webs) Webster whom Buffy fights in season 7's "Conversations with Dead People", and Fred's assistant, Knox, in much of Angel's season 5 (such actors are known in certain circles as Joss' hatricks !) In case you're interested, the other 3 actors are Jeff Ricketts, Andy Umberger and Carlos Jacott.