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It's taken me a while to work out quite what I thought about Serenity. I mean, basically, I really really liked it, as a huge fan of Firefly, but pinning down how has been difficult.
For a start, lots of stuff made me wrunkle my nose. Mal's braces, for starters (which I pointed out to Vincennes, natch!). I liked that a lot of the costume/production design was making no effort to look futuristic. I found Mal's future-braces, not to mention the asymmetric padding on his jacket and clips instead of buttons on his shirt all a little annoying. Similarly, the approach to technology throughout: Firefly succeeded in taking you unawares by just how futuristic everything was. Just after you thought things couldn't get any clunkier, suddenly there'd be something like the holographic pool balls, or the digital-paper. The memorycard of Inara felt like that; the flat-panels in the control room were in some ways too shiny, and in others, just not shiny enough.
(Similarly, the Alliance ships. Where were the floating cities like the Dortmunder? I found them all a bit sleek and made-in-Japan. The Reaver ships were great, though).
In the end, I could criticise odds and ends, though, but I went to the cinema to spend an evening with my friends - which really, for me, is what the crew are in a way - and that's what I got.
Oh, wait, except some of them died.
Now, Book's death was probably coming anyhow. I like, as mentioned upthread, that we never found out what his background was; I also like that he found somewhere to settle, somewhere to be - which is what he was really looking for all along. Think that worked nicely.
But Wash. Poor Wash. Poor Wash, because, well, if you hadn't seen Firefly you'd just think they killed off the funny-guy, but if you had... christ, that really hurt.
Wash's characterisation wasn't nearly as strong in the film as the series, and that made his death in some ways underwhelming. They tried to play up the Zoe/Wash relationship (they called each other 'baby' more than they ever did in Firefly) but I'm not sure it worked as well as they hoped. In the end, I found it pretty difficult - if only because it's so grim, so sudden, and immediately has to be passed over. Poor Zoe.
The film also retcons a little - part of the point of Wash is that he's the only one who can fly Serenity, and he can fly it damn well; Mal's flying ability extends to holding the wheel still, really. I don't like the idea of River suddenly being a talented pilot as well as everything else. In Serenity, Wash seems a little more expendable than he clearly was in Firefly.
Also, one thing I picked up on later that was interesting; Mr Universe is Wash's contact. Not Mal's. Not Jayne's. He's specifically one of Wash's mates, which makes perfect sense, really. Thought that was a nice touch.
Still, the dinosaurs are still on the dashboard. That made me smile. I'm finding it strange just how cut up I am by how they killed him off - especially given I was spoiled for it anywhere. It still hurt. And I'm not sure I could have taken it without being spoiled.
Weakest characterisation of all, though: Inara. I mean, I realised at the end that in Serenity, no-one explains what her fucking job is. It's even possible to think she's some kind of deportment teacher. I mean, da fug? This pissed me off a lot, especially as she's semi-crucial to parts.
By contrast, I was quite pleased that they really made something of Jayne, and showed him to be more than a doofus. I also liked the fact he kept his grenades in the beer cooler...
Hell, I liked it. I really enjoyed myself, and it matched ups with downs. I just found it annoying that everything that jarred with me was something I missed from Firefly. |
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