Serenity

Introduction

It isn't often that you get to experience a movie in two completely different ways, but with Serenity I have managed just that. I first saw this film, about a year after its release, and I was pleasantly surprised at an intelligent action sci-fi film with rounded characters and a dry wit. I enjoyed it a lot, considering it one of the best releases of that year, but the thing is, I had never seen Firefly. I came to this movie cold, uncertain of the universe, lacking the back-story, and wound up taking it at face value. I have recently, and finally invested in the Firefly series, and having watched and reviewed that, what better time than now to revisit the spin-off movie, Serenity?

Firefly was a monumental cock-up. Twentieth Century Fox in effect sabotaged their own show, interfering (as studios are apt to) with production, but also showed the episodes of an arc based show out of order, in the wrong aspect ratio, constantly pre-empted episodes, and missed some out completely before prematurely pulling the plug. As always though, sci-fi fans know a good thing when they see one, and appreciation for the show grew when the DVD boxsets were released. That same zeal that reprieved Star Trek for a third season, that got a mini-series conclusion for Farscape made, went to work on the Fox Network, and managed… nothing really. But it did beget a feature film from Universal. You could say that the change in studio was a case of once-bitten, twice shy, but I tend to think it was just for the cool opening sequence, with the Universal globe morphing into the real Earth.


In the Firefly universe, humanity left Earth when it was no longer able to support life, and they found a solar system replete with worlds and moons to terraform. The Alliance (formed from US and Chinese societies) ruled the 'civilised' inner worlds, while the outer worlds remained independent. Naturally there was a war, and Mal was on the losing side of the Independents. After the war, Mal and Zoë, his lieutenant and sole fellow survivor of the Battle of Serenity Valley, bought a battered spaceship and started living the independent life, steering clear of the Alliance at the centre, and the cannibalistic Reavers at the edge of known space, trying to earn enough to keep their stomachs filled. At the start of Firefly, Mal and the crew of Serenity took aboard a couple of fugitives, Simon and River Tam. They were fleeing the Alliance after Doctor Tam liberated his sister from an experimental facility where they were altering her brain. Life for the crew of Serenity grew increasingly complicated thereafter, as the Alliance kept trying to get their science experiment back, and as River regained her sanity, she began to display some remarkable psychic abilities.


We catch up with the crew of the Serenity some six months down the line. Things are getting tougher as they keep trying to stay ahead of the Alliance. Mal decides that it's time for River to start earning her keep, and takes her on a payroll heist. Her brother isn't too keen on this, especially as the plan goes awry when the Reavers attack the settlement. A difference of opinion leads to the siblings leaving at the next port. The Alliance's need to recover River Tam intensifies, and an Operative takes command of the hunt. Skilled, dedicated, and an utter true believer, the Operative is a threat on a scale that Mal has never faced before, and methods he can't comprehend are brought into play. That becomes apparent at a bar where Mal and his crew are looking to collect on the heist. River walks in, takes a look at an advert playing on a screen, speaks just one word, and then unleashes a wave of violence that scythes through the bar's clientele. It's only the arrival of her brother that calms her back down. The Alliance have awakened her programming, and that's just the start of the havoc that they wreak on the crew of Serenity. If he wants to survive, Mal will have to finally unlock the secrets hidden in River's mind, and the only clue he has is that single word she spoke, "Miranda".

Picture

Had HD-DVD survived, Serenity would have been its killer-app, in much the same way that The Matrix was for DVD, but that wasn't to be. It was however before the time that the big hi-def marketing push began, and people didn't start suspecting studios of deliberately degrading DVD quality just to make their Blu-rays look all the better. Serenity on DVD is amazing, and given that the original film was produced both on film and digitally for cinemas with digital projectors, you'd be right in expecting the image to be pristine. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is astounding, detail levels are high, colour reproduction is brilliant, and there are no issues with grain, or compression artefacts. This is probably the very limit of the DVD format, and only by pressing your nose to the screen will you find the slightest hint of aliasing. With CGI, anything is possible, and it's worth noting that while the world of Serenity may be colourful, vivid, and visually imaginative, the story always comes first.

Sound

All that you get on the DVD is a DD 5.1 English soundtrack, and that's perfectly satisfactory. The surround is effective, vibrant and expressive, filling the soundstage with the action, the ambience and the sheer lushness of this future world. One thing I liked about Firefly, and that is carried through to the film, is the silence of space. It's a realism of sorts, that conveys a sense of isolation and vastness that works well with the story, although this movie does break that rule at points, and you can't fault that decision when you see the spectacle that its attached to. The dialogue is clear throughout, and it's great dialogue too, but should you require them, HOH English subtitles are supplied, although they can't be selected on the fly.

Extras

You wouldn't sneeze blancmange would you? Yup, one of those wretched anti-piracy trailers, and it's unskippable…

The disc has some impressive animated menus, and an Easter Egg to locate.

The Feature Commentary with writer/director Joss Whedon is surprisingly dry. It's a nice making of track, a bit technical at times, but it is scene specific and has a lot of information worth taking in. It's lacking in the humour and anecdotes, which I've come to expect from Whedon commentaries. The disc is also lacking in a cast commentary, for which you'll have to look at a BD release or the Region 1 Collector's Edition. The commentary on this disc is subtitled, but you'll have to select the subtitles from the audio menu before selecting the commentary from the extras menu to see them.

There are deleted scenes, 9 of them running to 15 minutes, and you can view them with an optional commentary from Joss Whedon. There are also 6 minutes of Outtakes, which for once are actually funny.


Future History: The Story of Earth That Was lasts 4½ minutes and looks at the history of the television show that preceded this film.

What's In A Firefly is the 6½-minute look at the effects used in the film, with particular emphasis on the mule skiff chase sequence.

Re-Lighting the Firefly lasts 10 minutes, and the cast and crew speak about the interim between the show's cancellation and the movie being green lit.

Joss Whedon supplies a 4-minute introduction to the movie, actually it's an introduction to a rough-cut that was screened for fans, but it's well worth watching, and funny.


A Filmmaker's Journey is the most substantial featurette at 20 minutes, and is the usual making of bit. It's still pretty interesting though, with the cast and the crew following the process from script to the rolling of the cameras.

Conclusion

This really is a tale of two reviews, one that I should have written back in 2006 when I first saw this film, and the one that I'm going to write now. Serenity blew me away when I first saw it. It was the best sci-fi of 2005, and the film that Revenge of the Sith could only dream of being. For one thing, it was about characters and story before the effects, and it really thrilled me to be watching an intelligent action sci-fi on film again after years of lacklustre eye-candy efforts that really just catered for that summer blockbuster demographic.


It filled in the back-story efficiently, quickly introduced a cast of quirky individuals, and dove straight into a fast-paced action adventure without any pause for breath. It showed us a compelling future world, humanity inhabiting a whole system of terraformed planets, with a society a curious blending of US and China. One of the worlds was a neon lit, underclass metropolis that reminded me strongly of the Los Angeles of Blade Runner, but it also managed to show a whole variety of other worlds as well in its 2 hour runtime. The story was one of governments, dark conspiracies and terrifying secrets, all revolving around one apparently addle-pated slip of a girl who begins displaying some remarkable abilities. It's all about the little guy, stuck in the middle of all this, turning around and sticking two fingers up at the establishment, just the sort of thing that you want in an action movie. The little guy, Mal Reynolds was an irreverent, somewhat dark, and sarcastic man, who approached everything with the contempt it was due, but who also turned out to have a steel backbone when pushed. His crew were just as quirky, and it was great fun following them on the quest that led them from the inner worlds to the edges of known space, and saw them pitted against the cannibalistic Reavers.


I also adored the antagonist. The Operative was one of the most striking villains to appear on screen, simply because he was so nice. Not nice in the killing and ruthless steamrollering kind of way, but nice because he was the hero of his own movie. He believed completely and wholeheartedly in what he was doing, and his actions were never motivated by malice or any base emotion. He was doing what was right in his own warped way, and you could almost see his point of view, that the Alliance was bringing peace to humanity, and should a few branches be pruned along the way, then so be it. The fact that he readily accepted that he was one of those branches almost made him endearing.

So great characters, great story, snappy dialogue, well directed and fast paced, what could be wrong with that?


Except this time, I watched the film just after I had seen the Firefly series for the first time. I actually felt a little disappointed. Knowing the back-story and the characters, I found that the burst of exposition at the start of the film actually felt a little clumsy. Also, what had happened to the characters? Mal was all of a sudden embittered and introspective again, just as in the pilot episode, and the happy go lucky, playful character had been toned down. I also felt a little hard done by with other characters, there wasn't enough Jayne, definitely not enough Inara, and Wash and Zoë also seemed more supporting characters rather than part of an ensemble. It annoyed me that we never did find out the secrets that lay behind Shepherd Book. I was also wondering why, when you had wonderful established characters like Adelai Niska, and Badger, they didn't return, and instead we had new characters like Mingo and Fanty, although I guess Mr Universe was essential to the plot.


I also couldn't help comparing The Operative to Jubal Early, the villain of the final episode, Objects In Space. Jubal Early was just as soft spoken, but a more psychopathic meaty nastiness of a villain. He truly sent a chill down your spine, even when he was being reassuring, and to be honest, he was a more colourful and entertaining villain. But then again, Chiwitel Ejiofor absolutely nails the Operative, delivering a nuanced performance that goes beyond the character. He's absolutely mesmerising on screen, and I find that whereas Jubal Early is a fascinating kind of mean, The Operative is layered and interesting.


So there we have it. Serenity is an excellent sci-fi action movie, great characters, story, the works. If you've never seen Firefly before, then pounce on this, as it's complete within its runtime, and no prior knowledge is required. 10/10. But… if you have seen Firefly, then it doesn't quite fit the bill. It's still just as well made, well acted and entertaining, but you can't help comparing it to the series, and when all is said and done, the fans didn't just want a movie, they wanted another series. Actually, another 5 or 6 series… 9/10