I’ve been feeling pretty pessimistic about The Avengers‘ prospects based on some of Joss Whedon’s past misfortunes. While Whedon has a strong “cult” following, his projects have a way of falling by the wayside of popular culture. But as I sat watching Serenity this week, I felt a spark of hope as I was reminded of all the things it does so well, and all the ways it could contribute to a fantastic feature film and solidify Whedon’s place in the mainstream. Allow me to elaborate.
Serenity is based on Joss Whedon’s prematurely cancelled Firefly TV show about a crew travelling the edges of space just outside the law. It has an unmistakable Western feel and was intended to emulate the post-Civil War United States from the Confederate point of view, with the main character Mal Reynolds (played by the inimitable Nathan Fillion) and his first mate Zoe (Gina Torres) having been on the losing side of a rebellion against the all powerful Colonial Fleet. Serenity is a bit of an abridged version of the TV series, but it also wraps up a lot of the ideas that Whedon wasn’t able to get to with the show before it was cancelled. One of the ship’s crew, River Tam (Summer Glau), is a psychic and has a precious government secret buried somewhere in her mind. That secret is dangerous enough for the government to send one of its elite assassins (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to eliminate her and anyone she’s come in contact with. It is a terrific film, and another example of a rare scifi film that strives for epicness without the the benefit of a trilogy to build up steam (although I guess the preceding TV series helped). It also shares a number of elements in common with The Avengers – it takes place in a very well established world with an ensemble of equally well established characters – each of them with a fully resolved subplot, relies on action sequences just as much as the dramatic, and definitely hinges on it’s ability to bring in fans outside the typical scifi niche. Add into the mix his close familiarity with the comic book world – his latest run of X-Men was especially great – and you’ve got a winning combination.
What Joss does best, what he’s been nominated for an Oscar for, is great writing – great banter between characters. Serenity is especially great at dishing out some great back-and-forths amongst the crew, keeping things playful, while also being able to shift gears into the gravely serious, should the narrative need arise. That kind of nimble dialogue will be an essential ingredient to an Avengers team that will include everybody’s favourite billionaire weisenheimer, Tony Stark.
One of Serenity’s secret weapons is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s “Operative” – one of the few new characters created for the movie. He’s got Kung Fu nerve techniques, a sword, and is as cold blooded a killer as they come. He’s also got a code of honour and a clear understanding of is place in the world. Established as a credible threat from the outset of the film, he is a constant menace dogging the crew, but might ultimately hold the key to their salvation. In The Avengers, the trailer appears to indicate that at least Thor’s brother Loki will be sitting in the bad guy chair, and he’s ripe with inner turmoil from Thor to be teased out and made just as menacing.
If there’s something else that Joss is known for, it’s strong female characters. Buffy the Vampire Slayer being the prime example, Joss has another set of tough ladies on display in Serenity in the form of Zoe and River – ones a battle hardened soldier, the other a lab created human weapon. They do a great job in balancing out the gender roles from Mal and alpha male Jayne, aren’t too hard to look at either. Whedon’s proclivity for strong women may be the only thing to proves problematic when it comes to The Avengers, as there is really only one female lead to speak of in the form Scarlett Johansen’s Black Widow. When it comes to the cast already on board, Whedon’s gonna have a hard time devoting any attention to her, especially since no matter how tough they make her out to be, she has nothing in the way of the super powers of the other teammates she’s hanging with (except maybe Hawkeye). Not sure how that’s gonna play out, but I’m excited to find out.
There’s still a while to wait before The Avengers makes it to the big screen, but make sure and stay until the end of the credits after Captain America for at least a little taste of the action.
Wayne (6)
John (4)
Mette (4)
Nic Cage (4)
Sebastian (4)
steve (4)
Nick (3)
Chip Lary (2)
Dan (2)
Twitter: kaiderman
August 13, 2011 7:15 am
That sneak peek at the end of Cap was underwhelming but it was so cool to see them all in one room at a roundtable.
Great review! I had no idea Whedon was up for an Oscar???
I love this film and I dig the correlation you made with Avengers. Loki bothers me (Dylan and I were just talking about this) as a main villain. But he did make Adawahattachittlefurd’s (I think that spelling is right) character interesting and menacing so finger’s crossed.
Thanks Kai! I had a bit of a different fit of inspiration while being out here in BC closing down my house.
My understanding is that Whedon’s nomination was for his work on the Toy Story script, for which he is still pulling in fat royalty cheques.
I respect what Brannagh tried to do with Loki in Thor, but it just didn’t work. Maybe I was too aware of his true nature as the bad guy to follow along with his journey into badness. But yeah, given his work with Spike, bad Angel & The Operative, I think we can be reassured something good’s bound to happen with Loki now.
I love this film. My library of films is pretty limited right now, so I would estimate that I watch this movie at least once every one or two weeks. Like you said, the writing here is simply incredible.
I try to alternate between the movie and the TV show at about a 3:1 ratio to try and build an appetite for the narrative conclusion you get with the film. Why, why couldn’t they have had more time on the show with River in bad ass killer mode?
I wish I had Firefly over here to watch. I bought the complete set of BSG a few weeks back for dirt cheap, and went through that in a matter of a week.
How about a healthy helping of Arrested Development? 14 episodes of Firefly can go by quick, but three seasons of the Bluths can last forever.
I’m known by many as being a die hard Whedon fan, and so when I praise Serenity, people might assume that I’m using some sort of “Whedon does no wrong” filter when approaching the film. The reality is that when I first saw Serenity, I had never seen Firefly, Buffy, or Angel. Serenity was the project that made me look into Whedon’s other work.
Honestly, it’s quite a feat to make a film that’s essentially a series finale work for an audience that never saw the series that precedes it.
Sounds like we came upon the works of Whedon in much the same way. I was a bit of a Buffy fan before I came across Serenity, but otherwise I didn’t know much about the guy.
Not sure how the folks at Universal felt about creating a film that was basically going to feed viewers back to Fox – you’d think the folks at Fox would have been more grateful and given Whedon access to the original Firefly set instead of having to build a whole new one for the film.
Is Serenity still your favourite work of Whedon’s? Do you think it’s possible you might switch it up for The Avengers?
Twitter: joelburman
August 14, 2011 8:57 am
I have been a huge Buffy fan for forever and of course went seeing this in the cinema without even seeing the Firefly and it was a big disappointment.
What would you cite at the film’s shortcomings, Joel? While this review might have been about what it has in common with The Avengers, there are no doubt several similarities between Serenity and the Buffy TV series.
Twitter: joelburman
August 14, 2011 12:13 pm
To me it felt like it was not a stand alone film I assume people who had seen Firefly got a lot more out of it than us Buffy fanboys just coming in for the feature.
I’m gonna have to agree with Fitz and our colleague David on that. I backed into Firefly (and almost everything else about Whedon) through Serenity. I didn’t rush to Firefly because I had unanswered questions, it was because I wanted more of people talking like that, and interacting like that. It’s too bad you saw too many holes, I hope you don’t have the same reaction to The Avengers.
Twitter: nevermindpop
August 14, 2011 1:26 pm
It still works as a standalone film. You just don’t get the complete picture as much as a person who watched Firefly. I know that seems contradictory, but you have to remember being a stand alone film and answering all of the questions isn’t the same thing.
One of the best Sci-Fi movies ever made. In my top 10 list of all time. I wish that the series would start up again…go Browncoats!
Captain Reynolds is what Han Solo should have been. Yeah, I said it. Especially after the bullshit “Greedo Shot First” garbage.
So many great characters in this film. Wash and Jayne stand out the most, but nothing beats Rivers epic ass kicking.