Joss Whedon Should Stick to TV Shows
September 30, 2005
It’s not as if Joss Whedon’s much awaited Serenity isn’t interesting or fun to watch. It just doesn’t hang together very well. The dialogue is typical Whedon - brilliant, funny, fresh. And the film panders a great deal to fans of the original Firefly show that FOX ineptly canceled after one fantastic season.
The film has it’s irresistable moments, like the wide-eyed River Tam sitting in a jet propelled land vehicle that has just crashed into the spaceship’s cargo hold, gulping and saying, horrified, “I swallowed a bug.”
And of course there’s that scene between Kaylee and Simon when, beset by the evil, flesh-eating reavers, they pledge that they’ll have passionate sex the minute they get out of this mess. After all, Kaylee hasn’t had anything “twixt my nethers in more than a year that don’t run on batteries.”
Priceless.
Still - Serenity never really convinces you that the bad guys are really bad. They tell you how evil they are, but when they try to show you, there’s something fundementally off about the timing.
There are also a number of nitpicky plot points that don’t work between TV show and film. I can’t really talk about them without ruining the movie for everyone that didn’t hit theaters at midnight for the first showing.
Still, given the sleep I missed out on - I’m not sure this movie was worth it.
B-
hi, i just came over from annie’s cozy shack. loved your comment there, thanks for the bright-side view!
taza
as an aging ex-hippie mama i have to say your new blog could use a bigger font. sorry you have left blogger and hope you find happiness here at typepad!
dude, i gotta say it, i couldn’t disagree more. sharing the love of all things whedon I have to say how brilliant i think this movie is. perhaps it’s from watching the series, but i’m pretty convinced the bad guys are bad (although i like the ambiguity of the “believer”). based on my sister’s immediate lukewarm reaction to it the first time and insane uncontrollable love of it now i think it’s worth a second viewing for you. you know what a big thing it is for me to say this- i think it’s top 5 things things whedon’s ever done (that’s some high company with the musical and dream episodes). it’s the perfect comedy/action/drama/scifi/western. i can’t think of anything better than that. had to get my 2 cents in.
Perhaps I will give it another shot. After all, Joss is a freakin’ genius. The “twixt my nethers” line needs to go down in history.