Welcome to 7 Days of Serenity, a special thing our own Brian Mesick has cooked up as a way of promoting the upcoming Joss Whedon-helmed movie to those of you who might not yet be aware of its brilliance. We’re going to try to work it so that every day for seven days (that’s where the name comes from, you see) you’ll get another fan take on the preview screenings that have taken place across the country during May. These aren’t necessarily reviews, exactly, but impassioned essays from impassioned fans telling you why you need to be excited about this movie.
Today we come back to Alex Hernandez, who’s already discussed the role of sound and music in Serenity. Today he does an old-school compare-and-contrast between Serenity and Star Wars, which is all well and good–but Alex, dude… you might want to be careful about how you’re slinging around comments like “our” movie and calling Star Wars “our parents’ sci-fi.” Not everyone digging this movie was too young for the original Star Wars, y’know. Hell, the fact that you referred to it the first flick as A New Hope tells us something–no one who experienced Star Wars as a kid would dare call it “A New Hope.”
But all poking fun at Alex aside, he’s got some cogent points…for a whippersnapper. (I keed, Alex, I keed!)
The “Star Wars” of Our Generation?
I’ve heard rumblings these past few weeks in places geeks gather, cyber or otherwise, and the buzz is always the same: Serenity is our Star Wars. Most of us can’t really claim Star Wars as our own, even though we grew up watching it many times on video, and then on DVD, it’s really our parents’ sci-fi. Sure, we’ve got the prequels, but they’re a far cry from what our parents got. The prequels are too glossy and talkie and stiff. We never got our dirty rebellious space opera. I remember when The Phantom Menace came out. We collectively bit our bottom lips, dug our nails into our knees, and waited to get a glimpse of what our parents felt when they first saw A New Hope. Sadly, we didn’t even get a fraction of that feeling. So where is our underdog sci-fi saga? Well, it’s here.
Waiting in the theater to see the special screening of Serenity, I fought not to bite my lip or nervously claw at my knees. I told myself to relax, that I’ve been disappointed before, that that kind of sci-fi doesn’t exist anymore. I tried to stifle the bubbling anticipation with much sarcasm and eye-rolling, but then something happened in the theater that burst the dam of dry wit. People started singing, “Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand.” Not only was I flooded with giddy anticipation, but there was something new welling up inside me, hope.
What I proceeded to see that night, not only in the audience but in the film itself, was exactly what I’d been looking for. This little film that shouldn.t exist was everything that I loved about Star Wars. Serenity is the original trilogy compacted into one brilliant film. So what do I love about Star Wars? Well, Han Solo, the Millennium Falcon, the whole Rebellion aspect of the thing (a ragtag bunch against the entire universe), wise Yoda as opposed to the “Action Hero” Yoda. And I was surprised to discover that Serenity delivered on all accounts, with a grit of a 70s Western and the wit of a British comedy.
Whether Nathan Fillion is the next Harrison Ford remains to be seen, but in Serenity he evokes the best of Han Solo and Indiana Jones in Captain Malcolm Reynolds, only adding much more depth to the character. You can actually feel his internal struggle between doing what’s morally right and doing what’s best for his crew. Mal flies in the face of Hollywood’s latest crop of ultra-cool, calm, and collected kung fu heroes. He’s emotional, charming, a bit confused, and he falls down when he gets punched. The thing that makes Mal admirable though, is that he always gets back up.
Another thing a lot of reviews are saying, almost as if it were a slogan or battle cry, is that “Mal always shoots first.” Indeed, there are instances in the movie where you can’t help but think of Han blasting Greedo in the cantina or Indy casually shooting the highly skilled swordsman on the street. Not to mention the bickering/flirting with a girl who’s obviously more refined than he is and the reverent way he regards his beat-up old ship is very akin to Han Solo. This is the kind of scoundrel-hero that girls swoon over and boys pretend to be. The kind that’s sorely been missed in recent sci-fi.
Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that the similarities do not end there. River is so a Jedi Knight. The talented Summer Glau deftly manages to convey an innocence and menace that Hayden Christensen never mustered. You truly believe that nobody in the ‘verse has the midichlorians to stop her. Also, the ship Serenity is a space jalopy that can punch it when the need arises; Jayne is the best of Chewbacca and Lando (big, loud, and back stabbing) rolled into one; The Operative is almost equivalent to Darth Vader; and Book harkens back to the wizened Yoda of old, imparting words and putting our hero back on track.
Most importantly though, the film contains the raw emotions of the original trilogy, the excitement of A New Hope, the fear, sadness, and shock of Empire, and the satisfaction of Jedi (without the Ewok picnic). I’m not saying Serenity is better than Star Wars. Hell, I’m saying it is Star Wars, only a more concentrated, potent product and this time, it’s undeniably ours.
I don’t think it’s at all pretentious or inaccurate to say so. You’ll just have to watch it and compare for yourselves.
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