I accept that it is hard to make a movie, and I can guess a studio may press something the creator/writer does not like, but still, this move performed well below my expectations. I do not know whose fault it is, nor do I really care.
To be honest: I have never heard about Firefly or Serenity, it was mentioned somewhere, so I borrowed the series from a friend and watched it, thinking I better know the story in the movie. I liked it (Firefly, the series, and especially since it was the DVD which contained all the episodes) very much, but it is not our topic here; so after watching the abruptly canceled series I guessed that the people behind it knew it was over, and they would have created a mighty, finishing final episode for the movie, with full of everything they would have liked to tell but cannot. I expected a good story, good acting and creative looks.
Now, let's talk about this movie. It is full of actions, full of mighty scenes, fights, lots of beautifully animated flying whatevers. The fighting is remarkable, especially the martial arts parts. But the story is weak, and short, and mostly consists filling dialogs between the fights. I missed the story most, and felt that fighting have stolen the time from it. (Granted, they shared _some_ of the secrets people were waiting for, but even that felt a bit weak to me.) I know that the actors can act, since they did in the series, so I guess they were asked not to. I have missed the personalities: the members communicate almost none, nothing personal, they have no emotional relations, bonds, nothing; they just seem to do their task. To be fair they had no time to show emotions since most of the time someone was fighting with someone else. The beauty of the personalities, and their personal problems and emotional fights in the series were missing in the movie.
The visuals were good. I like good CGI, but I like it best when it does not show, or when it is creatively done to _look_ like it was not CGI. I felt most (space) scenes were packed with "objects", everything's moving, shooting, making lights or fire, but I was missing the feeling that it is "real". Again, if you've seen the series it was evident that most of its scenes were not in space, were not in very high-tech environment either, which made it look more natural, more believable. Serenity is much more like that everyday sci-fi movie: lots of high-tech environments, lots of space scenes... but then again I have seen lots of everyday sci-fi movies and I was expecting not to see another one, but something more special, something more...personal, more believable, more human.
Yeah, granted, I prefer story to fighting and visuals (while I'd choose to have all of them if possible), don't need to tell me. If you liked the Firefly series because it was different then you may not like this movie so much. Don't misunderstood: the movie is an above average sci-fi action movie. It is good, but it is not THAT good. Worths a look, but I believe one is enough.
To be honest: I have never heard about Firefly or Serenity, it was mentioned somewhere, so I borrowed the series from a friend and watched it, thinking I better know the story in the movie. I liked it (Firefly, the series, and especially since it was the DVD which contained all the episodes) very much, but it is not our topic here; so after watching the abruptly canceled series I guessed that the people behind it knew it was over, and they would have created a mighty, finishing final episode for the movie, with full of everything they would have liked to tell but cannot. I expected a good story, good acting and creative looks.
Now, let's talk about this movie. It is full of actions, full of mighty scenes, fights, lots of beautifully animated flying whatevers. The fighting is remarkable, especially the martial arts parts. But the story is weak, and short, and mostly consists filling dialogs between the fights. I missed the story most, and felt that fighting have stolen the time from it. (Granted, they shared _some_ of the secrets people were waiting for, but even that felt a bit weak to me.) I know that the actors can act, since they did in the series, so I guess they were asked not to. I have missed the personalities: the members communicate almost none, nothing personal, they have no emotional relations, bonds, nothing; they just seem to do their task. To be fair they had no time to show emotions since most of the time someone was fighting with someone else. The beauty of the personalities, and their personal problems and emotional fights in the series were missing in the movie.
The visuals were good. I like good CGI, but I like it best when it does not show, or when it is creatively done to _look_ like it was not CGI. I felt most (space) scenes were packed with "objects", everything's moving, shooting, making lights or fire, but I was missing the feeling that it is "real". Again, if you've seen the series it was evident that most of its scenes were not in space, were not in very high-tech environment either, which made it look more natural, more believable. Serenity is much more like that everyday sci-fi movie: lots of high-tech environments, lots of space scenes... but then again I have seen lots of everyday sci-fi movies and I was expecting not to see another one, but something more special, something more...personal, more believable, more human.
Yeah, granted, I prefer story to fighting and visuals (while I'd choose to have all of them if possible), don't need to tell me. If you liked the Firefly series because it was different then you may not like this movie so much. Don't misunderstood: the movie is an above average sci-fi action movie. It is good, but it is not THAT good. Worths a look, but I believe one is enough.