Serenity

I’ll say this for Joss Whedon -- the guy knows how to close. I wasn’t even a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I watched the finale, but watching the passionate and appropriate conclusion of the show sent me back to the beginning to watch the whole tale. And while Angel’s finale was not as well-received as Buffy’s, I found it superior in its own way. There’s something admirable about a group of people going to war with a foe that will always return, going to battle knowing that for one night they can deal evil a serious blow, even if its means they‘ll die in the process.. Plus, Angel’s last line (Whedon is my idol in regards to dialogue) was so perfect it brought tears to my eyes.

If we look at Serenity as the final act to the short-lived Whedon series Firefly, it follows in Whedon’s tradition of tremendous finales. Fans are going to appreciate the chance to visit these characters again and see the hanging threads of their prematurely cancelled program tied up. But what of the rest of humanity -- those not familiar with Firefly? What will they think of the film? Can any layman jump in and have a good time with Captain Malcolm Reynolds and crew?

I can’t really answer that question, because I am a passionate devotee of the show. And after seeing the film, I feel how I suspected I would feel when I headed to the theater this morning: I miss the show. That’s not a knock on the movie, necessarily, but the medium. The plot of Serenity tells in two hours what Whedon probably would have taken two seasons of television to tell. Whedon makes good use of time when he has lots of it. In a way I think he and I have similar storytelling faults. We write big stories. Cutting them down is like killing our children. I can’t imagine the agony he suffered scripting Serenity. Cutting down nearly thirty hours of television plotting down to two? I don’t envy that.

I can’t talk about this film without getting rather spoiler heavy, so I’m going to give my abbreviated recommendation here before getting into the guts of the film. I highly recommend the film for fans of the series. For people contemplating heading to the theater cold, without any knowledge of the Firefly series, I would say don’t. While I appreciate Whedon trying to open Serenity to a wider audience, it’s a lose-lose situation. Whedon has to pull back to let the broader audience in, and in turn the audience does not get a full sense of what us Browncoats are so passionate about. So don’t see the film. Watch the show. If the show rubs you the right way, you’ll watch all fourteen episodes and be stoked to see the film. If the show doesn’t tickle your fancy, the movie won’t convert you.

Speaking of conversion, as Serenity’s release approached it became clear that there were two groups of Firefly boosters trying to pull people into theaters. The first group, the group of which I am a proud member, are the Whedon fans. I love this guy’s imagination, I envy his dialogue, and I miss his presence on weekly television. The other group which I abhor are the Whedonites -- think Trekkies crossed with Jerry Falwell. These people will beat you over the head with Firefly and if you don’t like it, well you’re stupid and wrong. That’s not me. Now, I’ve done my share of Serenity promotion, but I’ve had very selfish reasons. I want to see the story continue. I want this film to put up a monster number this weekend, but not because I feel the show needs mass affirmation. I just want the chance to visit this cast once every few years in a new adventure. Granted, I think people who give Firefly a shot will enjoy it, but I could really care less as long as Serenity gets its ten bucks in the coffer.

And that poses the big question for fans: what do they want out of this film? Do they want millions of conversions? Do they want Serenity to become the next Matrix or Star Wars? I’ll be the first to say that’s not going to happen. This film doesn’t have mass appeal written all over it. When its hero is described as “Han Solo if he had taken his reward and run,“ it’s not going to be your typical ride. It takes a certain sensibility to “get” Whedon’s genre work, and Serenity is very, very Whedon. Perhaps because of his TV roots, or perhaps its simply the writer he is, Whedon does stuff in Serenity that we don’t see in most mainstream action/adventure fare of late. Who knows how that will fly with laymen? Again, I can’t say. But for those laymen, I’d still point them towards the best episodes of the television show (Ariel, Out of Gas, or even Our Dear Mrs. Reynolds) to see what this franchise is really all about.

So, did I love this movie? Eh, not quite, but I’m certain I eventually will. Firefly did not immediately endear itself to me. It took me a few episodes to fall into the groove of the show, but when I did I was hooked. And now, watching those first episodes again, I don’t know how I wasn’t immediately smitten. Whedon’s storytelling is so dense with relationships and story that it’s hard to get everything first time around. Only upon multiple viewings can you appreciate everything that is going on. Serenity had the same sort of development for me. It took me a few ticks to find the groove, but once I did it was a great ride. And I can only assume the next time I watch it, I’ll be able to absorb much more.

The other thing that caught me off-guard was how much the transition from television to film would effect Whedon’s storytelling. And this is why I would tell people to watch the show, rather than going into the film a ‘verse virgin. The television show got an entire hour (actually three) to introduce its impressive ensemble to the audience. The film gets about ten minutes, and in those ten minutes every character has to turn their persona volume up so that its understood who everybody is. Wash is very Wash -- silly even in great peril. Jayne is very Jayne -- dim and macho arguing over whether he can take grenades on a job. Kaylee is very Kaylee -- bright, optimistic, and lively. You get the idea. About the only person who doesn’t seem to be “trying too hard” in this sequence is thankfully, Malcolm Reynolds, who leads us in a long-take through Serenity’s innards, getting us acquainted with the ship just as we are acquainted with its crew. Any writer will tell you that exposition is the most painful thing to deal with, and Whedon does the best he can here, but I would have much rather jumped right into the action and let people figure out the rest.

Regardless, once the introductions are taken care of, Whedon gets his ship rolling right off the bat. A standard robbery goes wrong when Reavers, savages who have gone mad on the edge of space, appear to rape and pillage the town where Mal and his crew are… well, pillaging. The Reavers were very much a mystery through the series so to see them appear so early in the film (in broad daylight, no less) was a bit of a shock. The pacing of big moments like that, which took weeks during the show’s run, was the first difficulty I had with the film. There are quite a few major revelations piled so quickly on top of one another that there is hardly any time to absorb them, to understand the magnitude of what has just been revealed. As interesting as it was to see River Tam fall into a trance before wiping out a barful of people, including some of her shipmates, we quickly move on to the next major plot point. Had this been revealed on the television show, there could have been weeks of episodes dealing with River’s sudden threat to the crew of Serenity. There was a lot of story to tell there, but this is film and we only have two hours to tell our tale.

As much as time effected the pacing of the plot, it effected the characters to a much larger degree. Firefly was very much an ensemble show featuring nine fully-realized, complex characters with an intricate web of interpersonal relationships. Everybody on that show meant something to everybody else, but here we get only the basic overtones. Kaylee’s adoration of Simon. Mal’s unspoken love for Inara. Jayne’s slightly mutinous feelings towards Mal. We don’t have time for those little moments like River “fixing” Book’s Bible or Inara braiding Kaylee’s hair (seriously, that was a great scene). We can’t flush out these characters. There’s no time.

And that’s the main reason I don’t want people to see this movie if they haven’t seen the show. They just won’t appreciate what they’re seeing. When River first goes nuts in the bar, they won’t understand how shocking it is when she goes after Jayne and pulls a gun on Mal. They won’t understand what a twist the Reavers origin is. It won’t truly hit them when people die.

That’s right. If you’re still reading and haven’t seen the show or the film yet, this would be a good time to stop. We’re gonna get pretty thick into spoilers here. You’ve been warned.

Joss Whedon has never been shy about killing major characters off. In the last season of Angel, he killed off three. One of the best episodes of Buffy involved the death of Buffy’s mother. This is tricky business as a writer, killing characters we’ve grown to love. Yet, Whedon has been consistent in his execution over the years. The deaths are always powerful and never gratuitous. But the deaths in Serenity are not as successful as the ones in Whedon’s past, because for the uninitiated audience they’re going to feel abrupt and more than a little cold.

When I first learned that a major cast member would die in the film, I immediately thought it would be Shephard Book. Sure enough, Book dies defending a distant outpost where he apparently retired in between the show and the film. Book’s role in the film is little more than a cameo, and even though his brief appearance speaks volumes of his philosophically contentious relationship with Mal he doesn’t have enough screen time to warrant much empathy. In fact, the empathy is more likely going to be for Mal, who is traumatized a great deal by the loss. That’s unfortunate that such a consistently surprising presence on the show would be lost this way.

The other death in the film will probably be the big watercooler topic for Firefly fans. After piloting Serenity through a mind-boggling gauntlet of Alliance and Reaver ships, Alan Tudyk’s Wash is impaled on a spike launched from a pursuing Reaver vessel. I can’t properly articulate how shocking this moment was. How it came out of nowhere, in a moment of relative quiet. How it could happen to such a beloved character. I’d imagine some people are going to be pissed, but to a large degree I understand it. In fact, I don’t think the climax of this film would have been nearly the thrill it was if not for our dinosaur loving pilot’s unfortunate demise.

Whereas many writers know how to build mystery and intrigue, few know how to pack a punch with their resolutions. I stopped reading Stephen King because I realized, for all of his mastery of build-up, his conclusions are ass. Whedon had built himself quite a mystery with Firefly and I’m pleased to say his conclusion doesn’t disappoint. Every surprise in this film comes from a place I did not suspect. The secret River carries does not disappoint, and from the moment it is revealed the film hits a gear that only Batman Begins approached in the past year. The end of this film is phenomenal.

No writer can be tongue-in-cheek and wet-your-seat terrifying in the same breath like Whedon. More importantly, nobody can change gears so seamlessly. His writing by its very nature keeps you on your toes; he can do so many things well, predicting where he’ll go next is impossible. This is the writer who did an entire episode of Buffy as a Broadway musical and turned his vampire with a soul, Angel, into a puppet for an episode (then proceeded to have said puppet ripped to shreds by a werewolf). The guy’s imagination is staggering. I mentioned his witty dialogue, and Whedon is renowned for the savy pop culture references and surprising humor he brings to shows with extremely dark themes. Yet when Whedon throws the gauntlet down, it becomes very clear that great things are at stake.

Buffy was an extremely funny show, but look at its final few episodes and there is very little funny about them. Buffy had seen her fair share of apocalypses before her seventh and final season, and sometimes these end-of-the-world deals start to get a little old hat. So Whedon raised the stakes. In one of the most shocking moments I’ve ever seen on television, a supernaturally powerful priest (played by Firefly’s Nathan Fillion) presses his thumb into fan favorite Xander Harris’ eye. Very much the heart of Buffy’s team, we had a naïve belief that his sense of humor made him invincible. That one moment of simple, blunt violence changed everything. Suddenly, nobody was safe.

That’s what Wash’s death did for the climax of Serenity. It was that one blunt act of violence on a beloved character that removed any sense of security for us as viewers. As the Reavers backed Serenity’s crew into a corner, I was certain the body count would not stop at two. Then the crew begin to take hits, and not graceful pretty movie wounds (see Scarlett Johansson in The Island) but nasty, mortal wounds: a sword through the stomach, a poison round in the neck, a bullet in the chest. Battling against mindless savages, that’s how things should be. It felt real. It felt honest. It was terrifying. I loved seeing Malcolm Reynolds walking out of his battle with the Operative with his face pummeled and blood vessels broken in his eye. The battle was hell for its participants and they looked like it on the other side. I struggle to think of another film that gave its heros such an ass-whooping. It made the last twenty minutes of the film quite harrowing for everyone in the theater, and all because of one carefully chosen death.

The only objection to Wash’s killing is we never really get a chance to mourn for him. In the middle of the battle, there was no time for it. It was very cold, and we fans would probably ask for something better for our plucky pilot. Yet, it makes sense. Even Zoe’s stoicism made sense to a point -- she’s a soldier and they were in the midst of a war. Nevertheless, something was missing for Wash at the end of the film, and that’s unfortunate. Perhaps it was another time issue. I don’t know. Still, that doesn’t take away from what Wash’s death did for the intensity of that final sequence.

I want to see more of this crew, but its clear I’m not going to get as much as I would like. There was a time I hoped that this movie would be a break-out for many of its performers, but then I realized that’s not really what I want. However much I think these actors deserve great roles in the future, I don’t want them to vacate Serenity. Adam Baldwin is always going to be Jayne. Jewel Staite is always going to be Kaylee. And Nathan Fillion, you have leading man charm, but you were born to play Captain Malcolm Reynolds. I believe an actor is never as great as their breakout role, and this cast is terrific as the crew of Serenity. So why not stay at your best?

That being said I really don’t care to see them on film again, where their story is truncated and their relationships shallow. It’s wishful thinking, but I’d love to see them reappear on television (ala Family Guy) on FX or Sci-Fi. Film’s fine for sci-fi archetypes and grand mythologies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. But Firefly is different from them in that there are no grand quests, no great meaning. It’s about people -- regular, blue-collar folk -- making their way through life as best they can. The appeal is in getting to know them, living and growing with them. I love these characters and their stories. It’d be a shame to only see them every three or four years.

Final Grade for Serenity: B+