Serenity and Violence

Serenity.

If you've read any reviews for this film at all, then you already know it's a movie made from a failed TV show, Firefly. Joss Whedon. Western in space. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I'll skip it.

What you should know is that I'm Joss Whedon's bitch. And I loved Firefly, all 14 episodes that actually got made. So, I was already pre-disposed to like the film. And even before the film was released last Friday, I'd already seen it twice (albeit in unfinished versions) at two of the special pre-screenings Universal had done for the film over the summer as a way of spreading buzz. So, when I went and saw the opening last Friday, it was actually the third time.

So enough foreplay...

The film centers mostly around a girl (River) and her brother (Simon) on the run from the Alliance (big government) and hiding out on a ship (Serenity) captained by Malcolm (Han Solo) Reynolds. Throw in some hot Reaver (canabilistic crazy space folk) for a little extra added fun. The movie is, in a nutshell, what the show was. All the character depth, humor, action, drama, Western linguistics, Chinese cursing, and most importantly heart. It's a little darker than the show was, but there is a quality to the film that makes it feel less like a movie, and more like a two hour episode of TV.

Which can be both good and bad.

Good because, well, just ebcause I loved the show just the way it was. It had a ragtag feel to it that perfectly suited the cast of characters on their ragtag ship. Let's face it, if it were a car, Serenity would be more a Dodge Dart than a Ferrari. But for all that, the ship is very much home to the people that live on her, the aforementioned Mal, River, and Simon, as well as Wash (superstar pilot and semi-muscular man), Zoe (Mrs. Wash, old army buddy of Mal, and warrior woman that likes slinky dreeses), Jayne (big muslce, loveable oafish mercenary that never kisses them on the lips), Kaylee (hot, hot, super hot tom-boyish engine greasy mechanic chick that never made me wish more that I was a set of batteries), Book (preacher man with a dark past) and Inara (respectable and hot, hot, super hot Companion, or working woman, or mujere del noche).

But also slightly bad because this is a $40 million dollar major motion picture, and the TV feel of it, added to the generally hard to grasp nature of the material could be a turn off to a general audience.

I say hard to grasp, but don't take it to mean that I think that's a bad thing. But the film (like ths show) has so many intertwining elements that it's hard to categorize. Also, it's more about the people than a set story. Sure, there is a very definite plot, but it's the characters that make the engine of Serenity go.

But overall, the film is very much good. I only had a few small problems with it. It does a decent job of answering some questions for the die hard fans, as well as staying accessible for Joe Q. Public. The characters are distileld down to their most essential, which takes away a bit of their depth from the show and kind of resets at least one relationship (that of Mal and Simon/River) back to an earlier state, but it's understandable and somewhat necessary. The laughs are funny. The action mostly good, the drama dramatic. Even the big character deaths don't bother me. One was necessary to advance the story, and another necessary to rip away any feeling of safety and certainty that everything would be OK at the end. The danger these characters face is real, it tells us. There may very well be no happy ending.

And honestly, I'd be happier if there was no ending. As in: sequels please.

We'll jsut have to wait and see about that.
...
A History of Violence.

I find David Cronenberg to be hit or miss. I'm not a huge fan of the weird just to be weird school of storytelling, which I feel he does periodically. Anyone see Crash? What the fuck?

But A History of Violence looked apppealing.

Tom Stall (Viggo Mortenson) is a small town yokel type. Has a family, hot cheerleader outfit sex with his wife Edie (Maria Bello), owns a small diner. Normal life stuff. Until one night when his diner is held up. Tom kills the two men, and that's where his life, and the film changes. He is then approached by some unscrupulous mobster types from Philadelphia that accuse him of being not Tom Stall, but Joey Cusack. And these mobsters (led by Ed Harris) have a score to settle with Joey Cusack. They stalk Tom and his family, until in a showdown at Tom's house, Tom kills the three of them. Although claiming he doesn't know any Joey Cusack, you find out at this point that he is indeed, Joey Cusack. Former mobster, tough guy, trying to start over.

I had problems with this film.

The premise is good. But it was delivered with no nuance, no subtlety. I remember years ago, Sarah McLachlan, in an interview, spoke of how the problem with her album Solace was that a lot of the songs were just parts thrown together. That's what this movie felt like to me. Scenes thrown together, with no flow. Take away the violence and bitchin' sex scenes and this could have been a movie of the week on Lifetime. "My Life With Joey Cusack".

Also, let me also take this time to mention the rules of a movie world. The rules of a movie world, are those things that are understood between the film and it's viewers about the universe the filmaker wants you to inhabit while you're watching the movie. You watch Star Wars, and you understand that there will be space ships, laser guns, and mystical Force powers. It's not that way in real life, but it's perfectly fine and acceptable for the two hours your in a galaxy far away. But take a movie, a drama, grounded in reality, say American Beauty. It would be totally out of place if 2/3rds of the way through the movie the cast breaks into song with a full chorus, and dancers. It's not accepabtle to the mind because of the rules already set up. In reality, that doesn't happen.

In A History of Violence, the world is one very much set in reality. No space ships or musical numbers. This could be your neighbor we're watching. Your favorite uncle. You might see this on the daily news. It could happen. Except...

Except, when Tom is called upon to do violence. When he has to kill the two men in the coffee shop...the three men in his yard...the five men at the end of the film....he all of a sudden turns into an action hero. The first scene, taken by itself, isn't too bad. The second scene isn't terrible either, except for his disarming one guy who has a gun to his head with some seriously slick moves. But the scene at the end, I have real problems with. He's sitting in a chair, two guys behind him, one at a desk in front of him. One guy comes up behind him with a garotte to strangle him. He tips the chair back, pretty easily dispatches hoodlum #1. Runs over to hoodlum number #2, and bashes his face in, as hoodlum number three (behind the desk) removes a gun and starts shooting. Tom then DODGES BULLETS!?!?!? as a fourth man enters the room. He smoothly snaps this guys neck as he runs out of the room. DODGING BULLETS!?!?!?

This is real for John McClaine. It's real for Martin Riggs. It's not real for Tom Stall and his world. And a scene like that can totally take you out of that world and put you back into your seat where you realize that all there is is a dark theater. It makes you question any that came before in the film.

Overall, a very flawed film. Could have been much better.