Slow weekend

I could go on and on. Interesting people whom I resepct have been raving about this movie. This weekend, however, it was beaten out at the box office by Flightplan. For the love of all that is good and nice in the world, why would anyone choose Flightplan over Serenity.

Oh yeah, it has Jodie Foster in it. One review I read said that the best acting in Flightplan was done by the little girl who was either missing or unconscious through most of the movie.

That’s not to say that Flightplan totally sucks. There were also some pretty bad reviews of Serenity. One might say that some people just don’t “get it.” Given the choice, however, I’d rather “get” Serenity, which is an intelligent, fast-paced action movie set in a realistic future that I want to know more about.

OK, here’s my review:

I liked the story. I thought the acting was superb. I keep wondering why these people haven’t ever done movies before. I didn’t like the music at the beginning, but it got better as the movie went on. It still wasn’t exceptional.

The dialog was cute and endearingly corny at times. It was also realistic and often funny. I enjoyed the dialog and the way comic elements were introduced at key points to break the tension just enough to pull us into even deeper tension as the film went along. The only thing that bugged me was Nathan Fillian’s fake Texas accent. The other actors didn’t have to fake it, as most of them are from Texas. I know that Nathan was doing his best, but Ow! My ears! Possibly if you’re “not from around here,” you won’t notice that, but dang.

The action was fast-paced. I found myself so drawn into the movie toward the end that I was literally sitting at the edge of my seat. I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie where I had absolutely no idea how it was going to end until the ending came. Usually, things are so spoon-fed that I can see what’s coming a mile away. The second time I saw the movie, I was still on the edge of my seat, but I covered my eyes during certain parts of the movie because I knew what was coming and I couldn’t watch! But, then I went and saw it again! By the fourth time, I didn’t have to cover my eyes anymore, but I was still pulled into the movie even though I knew how it ended.

That is why I will buy this dvd when it comes out. I will likely see the movie again in the theater before that. I never liked Buffy. Well, honestly I have only seen about two episodes. I only ever saw one episode of Angel and I absolutely hated it. Serenity is not Buffy or Angel. I just thought I’d point that out.

It’s really just an old-timey western set in space. Except in this movie, there are no pristine Good Guys riding in on a white horse, nor any intrinsically evil Bad Guys who get killed in the end because of their complete Badness. The characters in this movie, all of them, feel like real people, often conflicted, sometimes confused, always doing the best they can under difficult circumstances. In some ways, that makes them more heroes than the white-horsed Good Guys I grew up watching. They have to deal with complicated issues and make hard choices.

So, that’s what I thought about it.