Serenity... ***SPOILER HEAVY***

[Funt Solo]

...got 4 stars in Empire this month.

Whoop!

[archangel 1]

is'nt that the official sequel to "firefly" or as i like to call it "Bonanza in space"
everytime i saw firefly they were always on a frontier world which had little or no sci-fi tech on it(or did i miss something)
what i want to know is is there any sci-fi to this film or is it a glorified 2 parter made into a movie?
me i'm waiting for "nightwatch" and am reccommending that all the boarders go and see nightwatch and the 2 sequels!
:D

[The Amstor Computer]

Trailer looks funky, but...

...I fucking loathed Buffy after the second or third season, and really didn't like Firefly.

Is there any point in me watching this movie?

[Funt Solo]

archangel:  it is the film (sort of sequel) to the short-lived Firefly series.  There is sci-fi in the movie (and the series, part of the time) but the review rightly describes it as a "complex mix of Western, sci-fi, thriller and comedy".

As for it being a glorified two-parter, the review indicates that for the first half it does seem close to an extended episode of a TV series but then cuts loose around the halfway point (in which the slow pacing of the first half bears fruit).

Amstor, I'm not sure if it's for you (from what you've said) but here's the summary from Empire:

"If you're a novice, this is a plucky introduction to Whedon's world and the most fun sci-fi of the year.  If you're a devotee, this is the magnificent return you've been praying for."

[The Amstor Computer]

Fate --

Cheers. I think it may be one to watch on rental, but I'll keep an ear open and see what friends say about it.

[Conexus]

Archangel, were's your pictures?

[Leigh S]

But all the Star Wars prequels got 5 stars.... ISTR they gave AOTC 50 stars or something....

Methinks a good Empire review isnt necessarily the glowing endorsement it could be, especially when they seem to be easily swayed into giving extra Geek points to films.

[Funt Solo]

I can't disagree with your opinion of Empire magazine, Watcher.  I too am often dismayed by what seems to be a swing in the direction of fawning support of the films that have the most money to splash around.

However, Empire (for me) still has a history of generally good and impartial reviewing behind it.

As for Serenity, I loved the Firefly series, so I'm as biased as all hell about the movie.

You're wrong about the Star Wars prequels all getting 5 stars.  It actually went 4/5/4.

The rating system is odd, as 1 to 4 stars is the range of quality.  (Poor through excellent, IIRC.)  5 stars is reserved as "unmissable" - a cinema event which you, the punter, must attend for (if not the high quality of the movie) more esoteric reasons.  Independance Day and Jurassic Park are examples of 5-star event movies that don't say much for quality dialogue or depth of subject matter.

I don't feel much like supporting Empire this month, though.  They've included a Star Wars supplment which refers to the original trilogy as "the second trilogy" and makes out that the two are somehow connected.  Years ago I realised that Lucas has absolutely no idea what the original trilogy is about.

[Dan Kelly]

Glad to see it got a good review.  Looking forward to this a lot.

Amstor, Play.Com have the complete firefly for about ?25 at the moment if you want to play catch-up.  In fact mine should arrive today...

Dan

[Quirkafleeg]

Joss Whedon interview in today's Guardian...

Link: http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1585184,00.html" target="_blank">'Everyone thought I was out of my mind'

[Buddy]

I've never heard of Firefly before this and the few clips from the film I've seen look really crap, like a TV movie, but it's been getting good reviews so it may be worth a watch when it hits TV in about 2 years or so. I'll wait 'till then.

[Funt Solo]

I've just seen it.  This post contains no spoilers.

Uhm...sometimes I wish I could remove all knowledge of something (in this case, the Firefly series) from my brain so I can get a fresh perspective when watching something in a new medium.

As a Firefly fan, it annoyed me as much as I enjoyed it.  The big screen is not necessary.

[Megadeth]

Hmmmmm...

I saw it last night with a bunch of other Firefly fans and not one of us came away disappointed with it.

I can't actually think of even one thing i didn't like about it.

Care to give some more insight into your thoughts?

[Funt Solo]

S P O I L E R S

What was it meant to be?  A bookend to the series, or a jumping off point for more movies?  It seemed to be trying to be both at the same time.  On the one hand, major characters are offed for no particular resonance (except for people who watched the series) and the fledgling romance of the doctor and the mechanic is brought to fruition.  That points to an ending.  The open-ended climax suggest that more is on the way.

In the series, I got the sense that the crew were small fish in a big pond.  In the movie, they're crucial to galaxy-altering events.

Mal's relationship with the preacher has totally changed.  Mal never really respected his opinion in the series and treated him with some amount of disregard and suspicion, but in the movie the preacher is his moral compass.

Also, it's not clear whether anything at all has been achieved by the sacrifices made.

Wasn't River, standing there, post-combat, blood dripping from her Klingon-bladed weaponry, just a bit Buffy?

Don't get me wrong - there was tons about it that I did enjoy.  Everything I didn't mention, I suppose.

[Eric Plumrose]

On the strength of this thread I may just chance it, despite the trailer being full of all that sub-ironic dialogue that made Buffy so fucking unwatchable.