Serenity reviews -- *spoilers*
POSTED BY: canttakesky
UPDATED: Thursday, September 29, 2005 18:44
VIEWED: 3601
PAGE 1 of 1
The reviews are coming out. Some shiny, some not so much. Here are a few I found. If you find more, please post to this thread. Thanks.
Most of these reviews have some level of spoilerage.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/serenityn.php
2.5 out of 5 stars
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/12/050019.php
[loved it]
http://www.thezreview.co.uk/reviews/s/serenity.htm
4 out of 5 stars
http://comingsoon.net/news/reviewsnews.php?id=11129
8 out of 10
http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2005/08/richard_reviews_serenity.
html
[liked it]
http://www.entertainment-geekly.com/web/general/apr2005/serenity
["Serenity is what Star Wars should be."]
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/Article.php?a=693
[D+ -- this guy hated it -- you can register to help vote]
http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/reviews/article_9843.php/Movie_Re
view_Serenity
4.5 out of 5 stars
http://home.comcast.net/~fosteronfilm/revsf.htm#serenity
3 out of 4
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050926/REV
IEWS/50926004/1023
[Roger Ebert's review will come on release date.]
Can't Take My Gorram Sky 
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The caption under River's pic on Ebert's site is a testament to the consequence of failing to research.
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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I didn't even notice that caption. How bizarre! But today I find that they changed it, so it says River instead of Serenity.
Quote:
Dancing on the ceiling: The less-than-serene River (Summer Glau) finds she's not in Sunnydale anymore (if she ever was), in Joss Whedon's feature film, based on his TV series "Firefly."
Here is EW's review finally.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/movie/0,6115,1110760_1_0_,00.html
Grade: B
Can't Take My Gorram Sky
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This was posted to Rotten Tomatoes website... its whats not listed on the serenity page:
A wide collection of SERENITY reviews not posted at "rottentomatoes":
Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman -
This is the type of filmmaking that knows how to keep us entertained from first frame to the last. It's a fantastically layered film, with a dense structure, but it's not overloaded with mythological significance, nor does it try to pound us into submission with an inflated sense of its own importance. The plot is tightly constructed, but there's enough room for the actors to manoeuvre and let us get to know their characters. And the script is smart and funny, which keep the atmosphere light when it needs to be, but ensures that dramatic and emotional moments are pretty toothsome, too.
url: http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/...m?id=1831122005
John Millar, Mail on Sunday -
Sci-fi adventure Serenity rides through space's final frontier with such gusto, style and wit that you wish that its director and writer Joss Whedon had been holding the reins of Star Wars:Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. It's an epic film, which reminds us how George Lucas's most recent release could have turned out if he hadn't sacrificed plot and character for special effects.
url: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/...424484#26424484
Andy McKeague, Monsters and Critics -
The action is breathtaking; Whedon brings out an Action Queen in Glau, playing the melancholy River, an extraordinary fighting machine with lethal accuracy. She is one of the movies many bright stars, showing more range of emotion than she could on the show. After the credits roll one cannot forget the edge of the seat space battle, which can rival anything in those later 'Star Wars' eye candy episodes, and the last half hour is so much fun, pain, sadness, excitement and more all rolled into one interstellar package.
url: http://movies.monstersandcritics.co...Review_Serenity
Adam Whyte, the Z review -
If you thought that the new Star Wars trilogy was bogged down by joyless, dull dialogue and a general lack of excitement, you may find that Serenity is just what you’re looking for. Joss Whedon has the same sort of determined ambition as the young George Lucas. Serenity cares about its characters and puts them in exciting and imaginative situations. It’s a lot of fun.
url: http://www.thezreview.co.uk/reviews/s/serenity.htm
Richard Brunton, the Movie Blog -
That is indeed the key to this movie, Whedon's writing, it's superb. The dialogue is sharp, witty, quickfire and sarcasm filled. He's also got a great understanding of how to pull the audience's strings. Tension, suspense and impending danger often twist around in a shocking or explosive moment delivering a good deal of the entertainment value. He's without a doubt a great writer and director and he shows it here, he's a great entertainer.
url: http://www.themovieblog.com/archive...s_serenity.html
Steve Head, Filmforce IGN -
Leaving the theater I wasn't thinking anything less than Serenity is a terrific movie. It's a thing of goodness. Great characters. Extremely funny. Ultra-cool action. (Particularly the scene in which River (Summer Glau) flips it mental and trashes a bar full of thugs Bruce Lee-style. Hooray for the art of choreographed fighting!)
url: http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/650/650080p1.html
Garth Franklin, Dark Horizons -
At times it does soar, especially when it returns to the more offbeat elements of the show, but this new direction is not Whedon's forte and it shows. His work helming is solid but nothing special and there's a definite sense of a television background with the way scenes are handled (ie. repetitive tight dark interiors, the odd exterior shot in a redressed national park). Pacing veers wildly, much of the action feels tacked on rather than being integrated into the story, and there's the predictable albeit smart end of second act twist. For all its little movements away from the Trek-ian formula it, "Serenity" - much like the early e
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There continues to be more positive buzz than bad, and Rottentomatoes continues to place Serenity in the Fresh category. I can only hope this trend continues when the massive influx of reviews comes out on Friday.
We need a 30 million opening to assure that the film makes a fair profit. We need a 40 million opener to assure the film of a sequel (assuming that box office approximately halves itself from week to week) so that the film will earn the necessary 80 million mark claimed to be the magic number needed to turn this into a trilogy.
If we make that 40 million opener, I am certain that Universal will grant Joss the 100 million he will need to make movies 2 and 3 at the same time. (Giving each movie a relative budget of 50 million, 25% more than the existing picture.)
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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I'm sorry Anthony T, but your numbers are so off that I feel forced to reply.
Specifically Universal has said we may need to make $80 million overall for there to be a sequel. That's worldwide gross, including the UK and Australia. Since serenity is only showing at 2,200+ screens not 3,000+ as Fightplan and Corpse Bridge did last weekend, I think that $15-25 million is a much more likely outcome.
More importantly, we don't "need" $30-50 million to get a sequel. How long the movie lasts is much more important than it's opening weekend. The real question is what the 2nd and 3rd weekend grosses are like. $20+$15+$12+$10 would be a wonderful scenario.
So don't get your hopes too high for the opening weekend. We all love Serenity but it's important to be realistic.
The movie websites are predictiong $15 million this weekend, so that's why I just wanted to correct your over-optimistic $30-40 million estimate.
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Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
There continues to be more positive buzz than bad, and Rottentomatoes continues to place Serenity in the Fresh category. I can only hope this trend continues when the massive influx of reviews comes out on Friday.
We need a 30 million opening to assure that the film makes a fair profit. We need a 40 million opener to assure the film of a sequel (assuming that box office approximately halves itself from week to week) so that the film will earn the necessary 80 million mark claimed to be the magic number needed to turn this into a trilogy.
If we make that 40 million opener, I am certain that Universal will grant Joss the 100 million he will need to make movies 2 and 3 at the same time. (Giving each movie a relative budget of 50 million, 25% more than the existing picture.)
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
A 40 million opening at the end of September would be insanity. They'd give Joss his own golden thrown I'm pretty sure.
The 80 million mark is worldwide. We just need about 40 million in the states after it's whole run. From what I hear the international market usually comes in at about the same as the US boxoffice. So, don't worry about a 40 million opening weekend.
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