Patrick Sun
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1999
- Messages
- 39,666
Sigh...
I don't understand one thing, if River was on Miranda in the beginning (the flashback with the kiddie class) how could the other tyke talk about Reavers if they hadn't really been created yet? Is there something I'm missing with the timeline.
It was made clear that the scientist had brought members of the government into the room to see River, hence the Operative knew it was imperative to eliminate River since she could "absorb" secrets like Miranda from those officials.
He let River and the others go in the end because he no longer "believed"...
just assumed by this time Joss fans would have seen all
So should this movie appeal to a general audience, or do you have to join the cult first?
Not having seen Firefly, I liked this movie a lot. The interweaving of the quick intro of the universe with the classroom was clever. This of course was nested in the intro of River/Simon, nested in the intro of The Operative.
A lot of the jokes felt like "TV writing" -- which is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of them were quite funny, but they did stand out. They just don't do that in movies, but maybe they should.
The "continuous shot" at the beginning also raised its hand with that one cut when the camera follows Mal turning right down the hallway, then whips back to the left to follow whoever that was. Somewhat unnatural.
I am aware of Joss's penchant for killing off characters, so I was really not surprised about Wash. At that moment, I did think he was gonna die. Went with the "leaf" bit once too many.
The "continuous shot" at the beginning also raised its hand with that one cut when the camera follows Mal turning right down the hallway, then whips back to the left to follow whoever that was. Somewhat unnatural.
Yeah, and today of course computers can stitch together two (or more) takes fairly easily, even without whips. But even if actors and crew no longer have to do these extra-long shots perfectly anymore, they are still great fun. It is reminscent, I expect, of being carried on one's parents shoulders!
A lot of the jokes felt like "TV writing" -- which is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of them were quite funny, but they did stand out. They just don't do that in movies, but maybe they should.
Say wha'?
Say wha'?
The "tv writing" thing has been expressed by a few. I think it's that kind of sureal sitcom humor Whedon uses a lot. Really its just another way he blends genre and style together IMO, but it isn't for everyone. I like it in his shows but would have prefered a little less in this movie. Still loved the hell out of Serenity though.
Having seen the series, I had all the doom and gloom I needed to fear the Reavers, but I was concerned that they were pretty two-dimensional villains when only viewed within the film. If I hadn't been familiar with the material this would probably have been one of my major criticisms of the film, but I've never been a big fan of the zombie movie genre to begin with.
I agree with this criticism to an extent, but one thing that really sets the Reavers apart from most zombies in films is that we never really see them up close. We only get flashes which makes them that more scary. Considering the build-up in the series, this was probably about the best you could do and have it come close to living up to the myth of them.