Negative Serenity Review

POSTED BY: AnthonyT
UPDATED: Monday, May 9, 2005 23:58
VIEWED: 11237
PAGE 1 of 4

1 2 3 4 NEXT PAGE

ANTHONYT

Friday, May 6, 2005 1:50 AM

Has anyone seen this?

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-10004005/reviews.php?

It seems like an ill conceived review to me, but I find myself wondering how the non-fans will react to the film. Will we see more of these?

Will such unenlightened reviews hurt our BDM?

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

ANTHONYT

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:00 AM

Here's a copy/paste of the review:

Serenity is set to open in September and is based on a short-lived science fiction show called Firefly. The cast is all unknown actors, and considering the director had only done television productions up until now, I was a bit skeptical. There’s a certain tolerance on television with this genre, and movies are vastly different in structure – all you have to do is look at most of the Saturday Night Live movie spin-offs to understand the danger at stake in translation.

The film started off very much like The Chronicles of Riddick (C). The caliber of the special effects were out of a video game, the story setup was reminiscent to anything on the Sci-Fi Channel, and the acting was over the top. I thought this was simply going to be a very mediocre flick, but by the end of the first act it had hit me that I hadn’t seen a movie this bad in a long time.

Set 500 years in the future, the movie is about a crew on a ship named Serenity who pick up two people on their course who are running away from the Alliance. Together, they try and stay alive, and in the process they help the girl they picked up find a planet named Miranda.

This was a very awkward experience. I didn’t know anything about its premise beforehand, and I still didn’t know much by the end of the movie. The film heavily relies on fans of the show who are already accustomed to the story. Any movie should tell a general audience what they need to know without relying on any previous knowledge, and this feature fails in that first step.

If you took the sci-fi element of The Adventures of Pluto Nash, mixed it with the outrageousness of Steel, and added in the really bad dialogue from Paycheck, Serenity would be the result. The movie is set so far into the future that you’d want to see what the surroundings look like, and yet you can barely get a glimpse of anything. There’ll be a quick shot of civilization and then we immediately fade away to a specific room (almost in the fashion of Star Wars), which is presumably to hide the caliber of the special effects. And the sets look like a sound stage, which makes it hard to believe most of the situations.

The layout is so geared for television that it’s hard to believe anything that is going on. The way the characters talk comes off like a sci-fi series replete with “cute” one-liners and confused facial expressions, and characters saying and asking the obvious. The girl searching for planet Miranda picks fights in bars when they arrive on land, pulls unheard-of fight moves, and knocks anyone down – she is nearly invincible, and masters the art of a monotonous facial expression (think Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever). When she speaks, which is rare, she usually just says “Miranda,” suggesting that it’s where she wants to go. The depth of her character is about in line with everyone else in the story.

A lot of the dialogue is so stiff and staged, and the movie plays as if we should know who these characters are – the only thing missing is an introductory "Previously on Serenity..." narration. I found many of the scenes confusing considering I didn't always know what was going on, and that was the result of poor storytelling. And possibly the highlight of the show for me (in terms of noting the depth of creativity) was discovering that there’s actually a character named Mr. Universe (think about that for a second). He runs a universe and is referred to on a radar screen for guidance. You would think a plot point like that is right out of a Mel Brooks movie, and it’s hard not to laugh.

This movie might just demand a certain tolerance that I just don’t have. The director created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and that’s a show I’ve never been able to endure (and my complaints are similar). Television in general can be very subjective; some programs are entertaining to some people and ridiculous to others. A lot of television is there for mindless entertainment, and is programmed so that viewers can have it on in the background so you don’t have to watch with your full attentio

RKLENSETH

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:13 AM

This review has been making its rounds on the boards. This Lee guy is a wantabee critic and movie reviewer. If you go to his site and read his reviews he doesn't really rate movies very well. I think someone on another board pointed out that he has given D's and C's to critically acclaimed movies. So don't take this guy seriously. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

JADEHAND

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:27 AM

Yeah this guy sounds a lot like Lawence Toppman a guy that reviews movies in my local paper, Charlotte Observer. The general view is if he doesn't like it, it's likely pretty good. I mean I think way back in '77 he gave Star Wars 1 star! It's a shame people waste movie reviewer positions on people like this. I doubt this will hurt the hype. These guys "can't stop the signal."

Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live

MSCKAREN

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:33 AM

Well, what can you expect from a site called "rotten tomatoes"...?

There have been a couple less-than-stellar reviews at IMDB as well but they are notorious for bad reviews, too.

Are there still people out there who pay attention to amateur reviews? Well, I read them for occasional entertainment value and spoilers (like this one) but I don't let them stop me from seeing something that looks interesting to me personally...

The trailer on it's own has bumped up DVD sales which means more BDFs. Don't worry - this cranky guy isn't going to "ground" Serenity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Appears they've canceled the show and we're still here. What does that make us?"
"Big damn junkies, Sir!"
"Ain't we just."

JAPPAR2001

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:36 AM

LOL This review Hilarious it plays upon every worry and insecurty of fans and the production team. I've seen the Movie and it is possible not to be biased being a fan of firefly. There is nothing wrong with the SFX at all. They are amazing. Why do negative reviews always go on about made for SCi Fi Channel Special or whatever. Are we talking Galactica or Emanuelle 3000? I love Galactica how so why do they use it as a criticism. If you want to see a bad Film which matches this review check out the trailer for sound of thunder. Did anyone see Hitchikers Guide. The sets and special effects are much better than that in Serenity. As for dialogue well its not for everyone. I do agree that you'd enjoy the movie more if you had seen the series though. I don't agree that it wouldn't make sense without seeing the series.

JAPPAR2001

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:40 AM

Also whats wrong with TV? It used to be a great TV show. Why is TV regarded as a lesser format than cinema by this guy? Its different sure but TV isn't beneath cinema. I don't get that. Anyone who thinks like that is a closed minded ass who obviously knows bollocks all about the industry.

ZOIC

Friday, May 6, 2005 2:49 AM

This guy sounds like your garden variaty Joss Whedon hater. Someone that dosn't get the iteligence and wit in Joss Whedon's writing.

How about this review from another Firefly virgin.

Quote:

Serenity
By TimeLord

Hey Clint,
I was lucky enough to be taken to a galaxy, far, far, away this week......nope, not "Sith", I was one of the few lucky ones who caught a test screening of "Serenity" in Sydney. I know you're a big fan of the show (and anything else Joss Whedon!), so thought you'd like the verdict.

Now, first things first, I'm not a "Firefly" fan - and until after I went to the screening, I hadn't seen the series. The movie actually inspired me to go and hire out the DVD box set AFTER I watched it.

The print reminded me of when I saw 'Men In Black' earlier, some of the special effects had yet to be put into the film and the music was probably just a temporary replacement, but overall, this is near as good as finished, so it's worth a review, right?

So is it like "Firefly"? After now watching the series, I'll tell you - well, yes, it is - besides a couple of little differences. Kaylee looks a little different (thinner?), and so do a couple of the other characters (it has been a while since the show I guess) but mainly it's it's the change of focus from cheeky humour to lots of action with the occasional quip - usually supplied by comic relief, Jayne (Adam Baldwin). But mostly, it's like a full-blown episode of the show with bigger sets, bigger stunts, bigger plot....much in the same way the "Star Trek" movies differed from the TV episodes.

The movie started without any kind of title sequence - strange? - but the audience still seem very hyped, a couple even clapped, and then laughed at themselves.

It kicks straight into proceedings, but unfortunately there's no explanation to what we have missed between the last episode (12?) of the show and the first scene of the movie. I guess they're trying to kick it off afresh, so people like me don't need to know what's happened before - because well really didn't have to. It's pretty self-contained.

The star of the movie, and the lead character is River Tam (Summer Glau) whose still on the run and now wanted by a bounty hunter (this chap's very sinsiter! he's a great actor too!). It looks like the end of the road for River there for a while, but everyone bands together and brings on the fight. There's so much more we didn't know about River that we now find out - she's full of surprises - and just wait till you see what she does at the end of the film. It's amazing! - - too reveal much more would be to spoil one of this year's most surprisingly-fantastic movies!

As I said, it's much more action oriented (there's a long-ish star wars like space battle in ships) than it is funny (which some of the TV episodes were) but mostly, it's about all these characters - they're so well written and detailed and that. Whilst Summer is the new fave, Mal is equally as cool - he's like Indiana Jones in space, full of smart arse comments and the wall anyone has to get through if they want to take on his crew/get to anyone of them. But don't despair, there's still three of four big belly laughs! Jayne could star in his own spin-off I think!

My friend said he saw the trailer and it reminded him of "Supernova", that crappy science fiction thing from years ago, he's so wrong....and I so hope I can get him to change his mind and drag him along to it when it opens...This is the 'Star Wars' movie we've been waiting for. Watch Joss Whedon kick George Lucas's ass with a film that's as good, if not better, than the original "Star Wars".

Two Fat Thumbs Up!

Or this one

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=20068

Quote:

Hey Harry,

Just returned home from a test screening of "Serenity" in Thousand Oaks, California. I was invited to attend by a friend, who simply told me that he had passes to get to a sneak preview of a science-fiction, action/adventure movie coming out later this year. There was no other information given, so I ass

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME