Saw it today.
Excellent.
But I'm curious to know how well it will work for people who haven't seen the series. There are a number of lines in the movie that are particularly meaningful only because I know everything about the characters. They'd be either a little or a lot flatter if I didn't own the DVD's of season one.
On the flip side, one of the things I like about Joss Whedon's work is his ability to put things in his stories that take me completely by surprise. Plenty of that in the movie, and I'm glad I avoided all the reviews on various blogs. Frankly, I wish I could've avoided seeing all the previews, too. Having heard the words beforehand took the edge off some of the best lines.
Damned irritating, that.
Ah well, I'm still happy.
This one doesn't.
It's all shiny. Start to finish.
And at the finish... the audience applauded. Don't see THAT very often.
By the way, make sure you stick through the entire credits because the Firefly theme song is the last thing they play.
1
I haven't seen the series and the blog reviews I'm seeing are like yours... very good but not giving anything away. One thing I've always hated about trailers is that they seem to take all the best bits of the movie (sometimes the only things worth watching) and put them all out there... So, I avoid trailers whenever possible. Glad to hear you liked it though.
Posted by: Teresa at September 30, 2005 07:26 PM (qm5ss)
2
I cannot wait to see the movie! I bought the series on DVD out of boredom one weekend. And didn't get off the couch until I finished watching the whole kit and kaboodle! Unfortunately I have to wait to see Serenity when it comes out on DVD as I leave for Korea on Sunday.
Posted by: Irishpixie at September 30, 2005 09:05 PM (u6TMp)
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I love how in the third 'scene', right about where you'd expect the official opening of the movie to begin - you know, a gloried special effects shot - paired up with the theme song and credits...
and instead Mr. Whedon breaks the reverence of traditional movie openings and lets loose the buffer panel.
I knew from then on that this was going to be a fun ride. That and I kept wondering who if anyone would survive this movie.
Posted by: gamongrel at September 30, 2005 10:40 PM (whxln)
4
Just saw it, loved it, but I'm going to violently kick Joss Whedon in the dick if I ever meet him in person and I'm sure you goram know why.
Fuck!!
Posted by: Graumagus at September 30, 2005 10:45 PM (+MqAR)
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I'm with Grau on this one. I just got back from the film (and a bar visit afterwards)and there were a few surprises there that were a bit dissappointing... however well portrayed.
I contend that when Serenity was "Dressed Out" was one of the coolest scenes ever. Completely unnexpected, yet totally satisfying.
I hope that Joss does more with this universe.
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at September 30, 2005 11:16 PM (aPsUA)
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The CSM and I were going to wait until the DVD came out because we can't stand going to the theater, but hell's bells -- I'm off to Fandango this morning for our tickets this afternoon. I'll just have to kill any rugrat that ruins it for me.
Posted by: Jo at October 01, 2005 04:53 AM (TDzJM)
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I found an unexpected side benefit of this movie as well.
By reading the reviews off Yahoo I now have a list of movie reviewers I can completely ignore in the future.
The vast majority of reviewers gave it very high ratings, but a few of the reviews seem like they were written by people who either didn't even see the film or who are on the payroll of Universal Picture's competition (Kyle Smith of the New York Post and Claudia Puig of USA today obviously wouldn't know a good film if it bit them in the ass).
Posted by: Graumagus at October 01, 2005 10:20 AM (UYR/w)
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I liked it a lot and I never watched the series. But yeah, I was a litle dissapointed that all of the best lines were in the trailer.
and Grau,
I don't trust movie reviewers anyway at anytime. Not after 21 Grams and Open Water and Bowling for Columbine.
Posted by: Chuck at October 01, 2005 06:29 PM (JXgKx)
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Not ALL of the best lines...
I was not greatly impressed with the review at IMDB today.
t'were griping about the 'Creole' they speak. 500 years into the future and you don't expect the gorram language to change? The educated folk - Tam, River, Inara, Book even Wash - spoke perfect modern English. The rest were more working folk and not likely formally educated. What do you expect?
And in some folk's defense, it's not a traditional movie with lots of glory shots for transitions between scenes. Instead of cutting plot and dialogue, they chose to focus on the story and the people. Too much of hollywood ignores plot and people for special effects and glorious cinematography.
Liked it just as much tonight. So did the 100 or so people who watched it with me this afternoon.
Posted by: gamongrel at October 01, 2005 07:16 PM (kn7Jd)
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I saw the movie. I've seen it twice: once at the preview and once with friends. One friend was a fan, the other friend had never seen the show. They both enjoyed it.
What lines do you believe only fans of the show would understand?
Posted by: oregano at October 02, 2005 09:40 AM (I3nGF)
11
Oregano - Not necessarily that ONLY fans would understand, but it's a whole lot better if you're completely familiar with the frustrated relationship between Kaylee & Simon.
Not to mention between Mal & Inara.
Shepherd Book's character is only barely developed.
Ditto Inara
And outside of being horny, there's not much to tell you who Kaylee is.
Also helps to know that the last time Kaylee tried to fire a gun, she froze up & couldn't pull the trigger. Puts some extra zing in the part where she puts on her Rambo face.
Finally, unless you've seen the series, you won't understand the plastic dinosaurs on Wash's control panel.
From what I've heard, this doesn't keep anyone from enjoying the movie, I'm just saying there's a payoff to be had from watching the series first.
Posted by: Harvey at October 02, 2005 10:18 AM (ubhj8)
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Darn. We left as soon as they started rolling the credits. That was probably the best part. I wasn't very happy with it. I think if I had never seen the series I would have liked it.
Posted by: Lynn S at October 02, 2005 11:46 AM (/oT2u)
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FWIW, I went with 2 other people, one of whom had never seen a single episode. He loved it.
I'm usually excessively critical about movies that I should like(i.e, I griped a bit about the first LOTR movie because I had just finished re-reading the book), so I was expecting to be disappointed. But I was happy to be disappointed in my expectations. The movie was better than I imagined. Very, very shiny film. Much like Kaylee, by the way.
Posted by: physics geek at October 02, 2005 10:23 PM (Xvrs7)
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Lynn - what didn't you like?
Other than offing Wash & Book, I thought the movie did a good job of keeping the feel of the series.
Although now that I think about it, that's not really out of character for the show :-)
Posted by: Harvey at October 03, 2005 07:16 AM (ubhj8)
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My wife hasn't seen more then an episode of firefly and she loved it.
Posted by: Contagion at October 03, 2005 07:17 AM (Q5WxB)
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I guess it was mostly the two deaths. I was enjoying it up until that point but even as I was enjoying it I kept thinking, "this isn't right." Mostly it
was right I guess but it didn't
feel quite right. I posted my review this morning. Sorry to be such a sourpuss.
Posted by: Lynn S at October 03, 2005 01:41 PM (2oRRW)
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