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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Translating a cult TV show
to the big screen is often tricky business. Even
with a heavyweight director like Robert Wise "Star
Trek: The Motion Picture" did well at the box
office critically the film became the Titanic with
its long ponderous shots of V'Ger and the long
lingering affectionate gaze at the Enterprise. Few
TV properties truly make the jump to the big
screen well so I was surprised and elated that
"Serenity" Joss Whedon's ("Buffy The Vampire
Slayer," "Angel") film extension of his TV show
"Firefly" actually was very good. Fans of the show
turned out in droves and critically it was a
success but the theater seats were empty for most
of its showings. That's too bad because Whedon
does a nice job of giving a backstory to non-fans
and still manages to capture the flavor of the TV
show.
Set centuries in the future after Earth has become
uninhabitable after an accident, the transport
vessel Serenity commanded by Mal Reynolds (Nathan
Fillion who comes the closest to channeling the
spirit of Han Solo since Harrison Ford) is
smuggling more than contraband—they're carrying a
River Tam (Summer Glau) who has been altered by
the government to become a brilliant killing
machine and they want her back. Her brother Simon
(Sean Maher) fakes his way into the facility where
she's being kept and rescues her he spirits her
off in the Serenity. The Alliance sends a nasty
operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who will stop at
nothing to obtain River including murdering anyone
who stands in his way not just because of what she
can do but also because of what she knows about
illicit experiments the Alliance has been
conducting since its formation. Mal bonded with
Zoe (Gina Torres), her husband and pilot of the
Serenity Walsh (Alan Tudyk), engineer Kaylee
(Jewel Straite) and Jayne (Adam Baldwin) during
the Brown Coat War for independence (Whedon was
inspired to create the backstory for "Firefly"
from the conflict during the Civil War and other
incidents in U.S. history) Unfortunately, the
pursuit of the Alliance puts the crew of Serenity
at odds with River and Simon and they begin to
wear out their welcome.
Featuring a stellar cast, "Serenity" is a rarity
in that it makes the transition to the big screen
effortlessly and Whedon manages to clue in those
who didn't follow the series with a breathtaking
opening sequence that illustrates things fans were
told had occurred during the first season but
never saw. I suppose "Firefly" fans can satisfy
themselves with the fact that they got their
movie, which essentially crams the story arc
Whedon had planned for the second season into a
two-hour feature film. Sadly, the film stiffed at
the box office despite a terrific campaign by
Universal to attract both the hardcore Brown coat
audience (so called because of the colors Mal's
troops wore during the Civil War with the
Alliance). It's unlikely we'll see another
"Firefly" TV show or movie. Since Whedon wraps
things up but also leaves the door open the film
manages to work both ways for fans by providing
closure to one of the main story points of the
first season and opening up possibilities (which
no doubt will continue in novels and comic books)
for further adventures. "Serenity" manages to be
that rare thing in science fiction films: a
kick-ass adventure with some thought behind it.
While some of the plot points that are revealed in
"Serenity" are a bit predictable the film manages
to combine the best elements of space opera and
science fiction to create valentine for fans of
the show.
"Serenity" looks extremely good on this DVD with
the original theatrical presentation of the film
well represented. The colors are vivid and bright
where appropriate and the clarity of the image
exceedingly good. The one area that this transfer
could improve is to eliminate the edge enhancement
that appears in some of the high contrast sequence
action sequences shot for the film. The 5.1 Dolby
Digital presentation of the film nicely captures
the active soundtrack from the theatrical exhibit
of the film. Dialogue comes across crisp and clear
while action sequences don't have the compressed
muddy sound that I've seen in some recent
releases.
While the film looks and sounds very good, the
extras leave a lot to be desired which makes me
suspect Universal will be re-releasing this in a
double dip edition later next year. I don't have
news but I suspect the sales of this set will
determine if an enhanced edition comes out next
year (or perhaps Universal is holding that for the
Blu-Ray edition that is no doubt in preparation
for next year). We get three featurettes on the
series the best of which "Future History: The
Story of Earth That Was" clocks in at around 5
minutes. Whedon talks to the camera here
explaining how he came up with the concept for the
show. "What's in a Firefly" focuses on the optical
effects with Whedon and members of the visual
effects team discussing how they conceived some of
the best visual sequences. "Relighting the
Firefly" is the longest of the three at about 10
minutes and covers the resurrection of the show
from the graveyard of cancelled TV shows. [CAUTION
THERE IS A SPOILER AHEAD ABOUT THE CONCLUSION OF
THE FILM. SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU
HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM.] While each featurette is
of solid quality Universal should and could have
done a separately disc of extras covering
everything from what made it into the movie that
was planned for the non-existent second season to
Whedon's controversial decision to eliminate some
of the major cast members for this film.
Whedon's chatty commentary definitely ranks as the
highlight of the extras included for me. The
discussion of his thought process behind the
film's plot and how he tied in various points from
the series was refreshingly frank and fascinating
to listen to. Whedon's impish sense of humor also
gets a nice airing in his discussion on making the
film.
While the fact that this is truly the end of the
"Firefly" saga will be a bitter pill for fans to
swallow, Whedon delivers a truly stunning
valentine with "Serenity" channeling the major
plot points for a planned second season that never
materialized. The image quality and transfer of
"Serenity" is quite good but the extras a bit
disappointing particularly compared to many lesser
films that receive a DVD release. Whedon's
commentary remains a highlight of this set.
Definitely worth buying if you're a fan of the
series although I'd suggest non-fans who haven't
seen the TV show might want to rent some of the
first season DVD boxed set to get a sense of the
flavor of the show before buying. |
