I have a rather unique view point on Serenity. You see, I work at a movie theater as a projectionist. Normally, my theater would not have gotten Serenity because our company owns two theaters in the area and movies are split between the theaters. My theaters is the "art" theater. However, we are also the ones who show open caption prints. When the open caption print of Serenity came, I had no clue what it was other than a sci-fi movie. Now as a rule I like sci-fi, but with the Star Wars pre-trilogy I've gotten somewhat of a skeptical toward it lately.
So during one of my shifts, I took a few minutes out to watch this movie. What I saw was actually fairly good. I found the dialogue to be witty and funny and the action fairly well done. So this in mind, I decided to sit down and watch the entire film before we lost the print (our theater only usually holds open caption prints for two days). When I did, I was blow away. Whedon's dialogue in Serenity is exactly what Star Wars was missing. In recent Star Wars movies, dialogue was always there just to fill in gaps between fight scenes and to explain just what the hell was going on. In Serenity, the characters talk just to talk. This adds a whole new depth to the character development that I have been greatly wanting from sci-fi for a long time.
The movie is an absolute roller coaster ride of emotions. One minute you're laugh your butt off, the next you're on the verge of crying, the next you're tight with tension. The development of characters and their interaction with each other was way above par and simply overloaded the expectation I had going in.
So after I had seen Serenity and found out that it was the continuation a canceled TV series, I made it was point to find out more. Now I had never heard of Firefly before Serenity came out, but luckily I had a few friends that had, and even owned the DVD set. I borrowed it from them and watched the series with my mother and father. Now it's one thing for me to sit down and watch 12 episodes of a TV series in a row. I can have my lazy days. However, where my PARENTS sit down and watch those 12 episode with me, you know it has to be good! Actually the only thing that stopped us from watching all 15 in one day was the fact that I had accidentally left the last DVD at my friends' house! Well, needless to say I was utterly and totally taken by this cult TV series.
I resolved to go back and see the movie again (this time knowing the back story) and made sure to bring a friend. Again, even though I knew what was coming, I loved the movie. The characters progress and grew and the storyline of Firefly was advanced. This is what is driving me crazy about Lost right now: the story line is not advancing. Serenity clearly and definitely moved the storyline forward, and I am dying for more! As a side note (oh and *SPOILER*) I was not every sad when Wash died, but once I had seen Firefly, I was horrified that they killed such as wonderful character off!
So during one of my shifts, I took a few minutes out to watch this movie. What I saw was actually fairly good. I found the dialogue to be witty and funny and the action fairly well done. So this in mind, I decided to sit down and watch the entire film before we lost the print (our theater only usually holds open caption prints for two days). When I did, I was blow away. Whedon's dialogue in Serenity is exactly what Star Wars was missing. In recent Star Wars movies, dialogue was always there just to fill in gaps between fight scenes and to explain just what the hell was going on. In Serenity, the characters talk just to talk. This adds a whole new depth to the character development that I have been greatly wanting from sci-fi for a long time.
The movie is an absolute roller coaster ride of emotions. One minute you're laugh your butt off, the next you're on the verge of crying, the next you're tight with tension. The development of characters and their interaction with each other was way above par and simply overloaded the expectation I had going in.
So after I had seen Serenity and found out that it was the continuation a canceled TV series, I made it was point to find out more. Now I had never heard of Firefly before Serenity came out, but luckily I had a few friends that had, and even owned the DVD set. I borrowed it from them and watched the series with my mother and father. Now it's one thing for me to sit down and watch 12 episodes of a TV series in a row. I can have my lazy days. However, where my PARENTS sit down and watch those 12 episode with me, you know it has to be good! Actually the only thing that stopped us from watching all 15 in one day was the fact that I had accidentally left the last DVD at my friends' house! Well, needless to say I was utterly and totally taken by this cult TV series.
I resolved to go back and see the movie again (this time knowing the back story) and made sure to bring a friend. Again, even though I knew what was coming, I loved the movie. The characters progress and grew and the storyline of Firefly was advanced. This is what is driving me crazy about Lost right now: the story line is not advancing. Serenity clearly and definitely moved the storyline forward, and I am dying for more! As a side note (oh and *SPOILER*) I was not every sad when Wash died, but once I had seen Firefly, I was horrified that they killed such as wonderful character off!