To read the rest, click the link. Remember, spoilers abound!I know of a few people who think that Simon was acting out of character in the opening, and I honestly don’t think so. Yes, he seems more confident than he did in the series, but I think that’s mainly because he had a specific goal to accomplish. The Operative made a point in showing how his determination, inspired by love, was dangerous. I can buy Simon being more a badass and less of a whiner this one time. The fact that Simon finds out that the government is training her to be some sort of psychic spy at this point doesn’t seem unbelievable. In “Ariel” he learned that they had cut into her brain; he still could have easily been hiding his knowledge about her other abilities.
As for this scene being discontinuous with Simon’s previous explanation, I really don’t see that. I don’t think he ever explicitly stated how they got her out, I remember his monologue, and it seemed like he spent alot of money and found the right people who could eventually help her, nothing more than that. I’ll watch the scene again soon to see if I’m wrong or not, but even if he did say that someone else got her out, he could easily have been lying. Remember that at the beginning of the series he really didn’t know how much he could trust Mal and the crew. By mentioning that someone else saved her, he wouldn’t have to explain about what he learned by posing as an Alliance official.
The introduction of the Operative was spot on. In a few minutes we learned quickly what sort of man we’d be dealing with, it’s as if Joss had embodied all of the ideals of the Alliance in one man. If there’s one thing to complain about in this film, it certainly isn’t the villain.
The film did change Mal somewhat, but I think that’s primarily because Inara left. Although they didn’t always see eye-to-eye, Inara was a sort of anchor for Mal. She kept him sane, and woudln’t hesitate to tell him when he was wrong. Since both she and Book were gone, there really wasn’t anyone else on the ship to criticize him. He would have listened to Zoe, but then she probably isn’t the best person to tell him when he’s being an ass. Mal’s immorality in the film honestly didn’t seem entirely different from the Mal we know on a bad day in the series. Without Inara around, of course he would regress somewhat, Mal simply isn’t as strong as he leads on. With the Battle of Serenity Valley he lost his faith in god, and in humanity too I would assume. Inara, in her typical romantic interest fashion, gave him a reason to live again. Without her, Mal is just making everyone else miserable as well.
With River’s newfound abilities, I would expect Mal to demand help from River, especially if it helps keep the rest of his crew safe and helps earn a buck. River also seemed like she wanted to help him, after being a complete burden on the series, I could see why. Simon was the only one complaining, and that’s simply because he’s being the overprotective big brother. Mal seemed to make the point that River, like everyone else in his crew, needed to earn their keep. I didn’t see his attitude in any way different from the Mal of the series. If anything, the jerk in this situation was Simon. River can’t be his tortured little sister forever, after all.
Speaking of River, I found the unlocking of her mad skillz to make a certain amount of sense. We only saw River use firearms well on “War Stories”, and honestly she didn’t even seem to understand what she was doing at the time. It seemed to be one of those mental spasms she’s always had, except this time it manifested itself in physical violence. I did find the “secret keyword” to unlock her abilities kind of hokie, but it’s somewhat ingenious if you think about it. What better way to find a secret weapon on the run? Give it a signal in one of the most popular forms of entertainment, and then simply follow the destruction.
I was honestly surprised at how well I took the Reavers technical explanation. A midochlorian situation, this is not. The Reaver’s in the series had always been folklore. Although we saw evidence of their destruction, we never really did get to see what they looked like, except for that poor fellow in “Bushwhacked”. I’m sure that we would have eventually seen an actual Reaver in the series, but even then I don’t think that Joss would have been able to make it that much different from the film. I don’t think he had another plotline in mind for them. Unless he wanted to have them constantly lurking in the background, there was simply nowhere else to take them except as an Alliance experiment.
The disappointment some may have with the Reavers I attribute to the awesome power of folklore. When we heard tales of what they were capable of in the series without actually seeing them, this allowed for our imaginations to run wild with horror. The problem with this though, is that Joss built them up too well. No matter how he explained them, we were bound to be disappointed that they didn’t match the exact notion of our imagined Reavers. While we can pin the creation of the Reaver’s down to a chemical, I see it more as Alliance meddling as the direct cause. It’s what River had mentioned at the beginning of the film; no one likes to be meddled, and it’s interesting what this “I know what’s good for you” attitude tells us about the Alliance.
The two big character deaths in the film, especially Wash, were handled pretty well. Book was never that great of a character, and Whedon did a good job of subtly explaining his previous relationship with the Alliance shortly before he bites it. He says to Mal, “I wasn’t born a preacher”, which makes us realize that people don’t usually go out and choose to become a preacher. They’re either born into it and raised all religious-like, or they do it because they have suddenly found God. I am most certain that Book was a sinister man when he worked for the Alliance, and he most likely had the sort of turn around that the Operative did at the end of Serenity. I wouldn’t even be surprised if it turned out that Book was an Operative himself, his combat skills didn’t point to him ever being a desk jockey.
Wash’s death was probably one of the most effective I’ve ever seen on-screen. “I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar” This is how we’ll always remember Wash, going down when he was at his peak, piloting through an impossible maze while being chased by Reavers. Yes his death was shocking, but it wasn’t just shock value. Thinking back on how I felt in the theater, and how the audience reacted to his death, it definitely served a purpose. The collective GASP right after he went down may go down as one of my all-time favorite theater moments. His death prepared us for the finale. After all, if Wash can die, anyone is fair game. There were many moments during the finale where I thought Joss was just going to say fuck it and kill everyone off. The finale would not have been as gripping if Wash hadn’t died. We simply would have been too secure as an audience. I also love how his death was incredibly similar to Trinity’s in Matrix Revolutions, except done so much better. Instead of having a 5 minute monologue, prolonging the inevitable, he was killed in an instant. This is perhaps the toughest portion of the film for me. A character I loved is gone forever, but atleast “it was a good death…”
So in the end I loved the film, but of course as a fan I have my irks. I wish they had gotten Greg Edmunson, the composer from the series, to do the score for this film. The new guy, who I don’t even feel like referencing right now, created a score that was part Firefly and part typical movie score. I think this was a concession Whedon had to make for Universal. The film’s score isn’t bad by any means, but it’s just not as memorable as the old Firefly score. While the Firefly score had its rough points as well, those rough edges felt like they matched the gritty nature of the series.
I’m also somewhat annoyed that they dropped much of the Western nature of the series in favor of more generic sci-fi tripe. The material is better than this. Again, I think this is one of those things they had to do to get the film made. As far as I remember, Universal didn’t want this thing resembling a Western at all, as that may confuse the audience not familiar with the show. The film doesn’t suffer too much for this, but I really wished more thought was put into some of the new worlds. The place where River had the barfight was particularly blah The first shot of the place was so “Blade Runner” that it sickened me, Whedon can do more than this, I’m sure.
Wrapping up, as a fan I really don’t have much to complain about with this film. Yes, some changes had to be made, but I think in the end I can live with them. I can’t wait for the DVD, which will hopefully have a longer cut of the film and all sorts of goodies. As of right now the film still isn’t doing all that well in theaters, I knew things looked bad when Flightplan beat it on its opening weekend. Hopefully Serenity won’t be the last Firefly live-action property that we get.