Serenity: Immunity Mal
POSTED BY: AnthonyT
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 00:26
VIEWED: 3947
PAGE 2 of 3
Hello,
Nothing in the scene with Mal required the weapon to penetrate something. So if we accept penetration issues as an established weakness...
It still explains nothing at all that transpires during the climax.
--Anthony
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Quote:
"Jubal Early tries to use the same kidney shot on Mal to incapacitate him, only for Mal to unexpectedly fight back."
Well, I'll have to re-watch that. I suppose it would be a small comfort. Of course, it doesn't fix the bad storytelling angle in that nothing within the context of the movie prepares you for it.
--Anthony
It's very subtle, neither Mal or Jubal Early make any kind of a deal about it because when Mal keeps fighting back Jubal just attacks another way. It's a desperate scrambling sort of fight where neither of them really have time to notice the kidney shot didn't work.
I'm not even sure if it's intentional, but at least within the framework of the movie and series that blow being ineffective on Mal is consistent.
And yes, there was nothing about it in the movie, so if someone had never seen the series before, or if I'm wrong, then it is kind of pulled out of nowhere.
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Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,
Nothing in the scene with Mal required the weapon to penetrate something. So if we accept penetration issues as an established weakness...
It still explains nothing at all that transpires during the climax.
--Anthony
Life is too short man. Let it go.
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Anthony,
I think it's fair to say that, yes, Joss is entirely capable of bad writing and this is an instant of it. Among other things.
It's okay to accept this fact and still like the things that are good. 
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According to you, the scene would require that the blast penetrate Mal. It doesn't. That's why there was no damage other than him pratfalling spectacularly off the rail. Are you just in a mood to argue or what?
[/sig]
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Quote:All this talk about the Operative's gun's penetration power or lethality or reliability is beside the point. You had to notice how angry the Operative was. (Good acting by Chiwetel Ejiofor. And moody lighting. Mal underlined it, "Did I make you angry?") Operative wanted to torture Mal, not kill. Mal falling off the railing onto his face was the first step in the Operative taking Mal apart, without anesthesia. Maybe torture for a year than death by hanging. The Operative could take his time because (he thinks) he is in total command.
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,
Nothing in the scene with Mal required the weapon to penetrate something. So if we accept penetration issues as an established weakness...
It still explains nothing at all that transpires during the climax.
--Anthony
The part that can never be explained is why did Mal turn his back on the Operative after their inconclusive gun duel. That was surely a direct-to-video moment. I did not expect that level of storytelling in a major movie.
Mal already got stomped the previous time he turned his back on the Operative at Inara's temple apartment. Why make the same mistake? Did God cloud Mal's mind? Or did Joss? Was it the fall on his face? Will we ever know why? So many questions.
The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
According to you, the scene would require that the blast penetrate Mal. It doesn't. That's why there was no damage other than him pratfalling spectacularly off the rail. Are you just in a mood to argue or what?
He might be, he did also start a thread about Superman that was liable to draw a lot of argument. :)
For the record, I like your argument, either that it was a sonic weapon or a stun weapon, and that this was foreshadowed in the beginning with soldiers unable to fire through the glass.
I kind of like stun weapon better, because of the sparkly special effect involved, but maybe a high frequency sonic weapon has some associated flashes from the barrel too.
A stun weapon, I note, doesn't always knock someone unconscious, like Princess Leia in Star Wars. Modern stun weapons often just temporarily disorient someone, making them easier to handle/manhandle. If we're talking something more like a taser that temporarily overpowers the nervous system, it'll have you twitching for as long as the current is going, sometimes it'll even make your limbs numb or unresponsive (like when your foot goes to sleep), but that doesn't mean Mal couldn't haul himself up afterwards and quick draw on the operative. They did talk for a while, could have been long enough for Mal to shake off the effect.
As for shooting the operative and turning his back, maybe Mal thought he had finished it, despite the previous time wearing body armour. Getting shot wearing body armour actually ruins the body armor, maybe Mal assumed the Operative only had one set because that's just what he's used to out on the Rim.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
...As for shooting the operative and turning his back, maybe Mal thought he had finished it, despite the previous time wearing body armour. Getting shot wearing body armour actually ruins the body armor, maybe Mal assumed the Operative only had one set because that's just what he's used to out on the Rim.
I know why Mal turned his back to the Operative. If this was a Die Hard movie, with Mal as John McClane and several Operatives as Die Hard villains, Mal could kill Operatives one at a time. But there is only the one Operative and Joss has to keep the Operative alive to the very end. If the Operative dies, then Joss's movie is over. That is the reason Mal turned his back on the Operative, to keep the movie going 10 more minutes. We haven't got to River's fight to the death with Reavers. "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfraker." - John McClane always says that to last villain he kills spectacularly.
The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two
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It's just bad writing. Joss likes to torture his tough guy characters, and he took it too far in this scene. He admits himself, in the commentary, that the degree to which Mal got beat up was not believable. So I think you're right Anthony, it's just dumb plot. But I forgive Joss, as he's done so many genius things that he deserves an off moment or two.
I do love Joss, but there are things he does not excel at. Fight scenes mostly-probably because he doesn't like them much. (That's from a Buffy commentary.) The fights at the end of War Stories and in Heart of Gold, for instance. Bad. Even bits of the duel in Shindig. They come off flat and contrived to me.
Also, I'd be hugely surprised if Joss really had the little war injury plot detail in mind when he wrote the fight scene with Jubal. Very hugely surprised. Sorry, but that sounds all fanwank to me.
Not that fanwank is bad. I've done quite a bit of that myself.
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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
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Quote:
Also, I'd be hugely surprised if Joss really had the little war injury plot detail in mind when he wrote the fight scene with Jubal. Very hugely surprised. Sorry, but that sounds all fanwank to me.
It probably is. But considering I had the same problem there that Anthony did, I was glad to see it, see ANYTHING all the same.
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