Serenity - escape into new worlds
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Serenity - escape into new worlds |
| Original title | Serenity |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English , Chinese |
| Publishing year | 2005 |
| length | 119 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 16 JMK 10 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Joss Whedon |
| script | Joss Whedon |
| production | Barry Mendel |
| music | David Newman |
| camera | Jack N. Green |
| cut | Lisa Lassek |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
← Predecessor |
|
Serenity [ səˈrɛnɪti ] is a movie based on the television series Firefly - The Dawn of the Serenity . The film takes place about two months after the last episode of the television series. The comics Serenity: Those Left Behind and Serenity: Better Days combine a television series and a movie. The film is set about 500 years in the future and tells the story of the crew of the spaceship Serenity . Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds fought together with crew member Zoë Washburne in the lost war of independence. Now the team keeps afloat with minor raids and tries to escape government control. In doing so, they repeatedly come into conflict with Allianz, this time because of a special passenger.
The film was released in German cinemas on November 24, 2005 by Universal Pictures . As a continuation of a television series that was discontinued after a short time, it represents a special case in the film industry. Among the fans ( flans or browncoats ) the film is commonly known as the Big Damn Movie (in German "Big, damned film"). This is a reference to a line of text from the series' Safe episode in which Mal and Zoë refer to themselves as Big Damn Heroes .
content
background
- See also Firefly background world
Around 500 years in the future, mankind has given up the exploited and contaminated earth and discovered a new planetary system , from which many planets and various moons could be made habitable through terraforming . The central planets form the government of the Alliance (Allied Planets) and offer a high standard of living. There are also numerous peripheral worlds that are still at the beginning of settlement. Much is still very primitive here and lawlessness prevails. The situation there is similar to that for colonizing the American West . The equipment, armament and costumes of these places are therefore deliberately reminiscent of western films .
About six years before the movie's plot, the Alliance defeated the independent worlds in a war of unification. Malcolm Mal Reynolds, the captain of the Serenity, and his right-hand man Zoë Washburn fought on the side of the independence movement, whose members are also called browncoats after their uniform .
action
The crew of the spaceship Serenity , under the leadership of their leader Captain Reynolds, struggles with smuggling, theft and smaller transport jobs. Reynolds does not shy away from assaults and robbery, but is not completely immoral: He only kills in an extreme emergency and also does not kill defenseless people. He regards the crew of the Serenity as a kind of family.
At the beginning of the film, the doctor Dr. Simon Tam had rescued his sister River from an Alliance laboratory where she was being used for parapsychological experiments. The government had hoped to use the young girl's telepathic abilities to use as a weapon. In order to bring Simon and River under their control again, the Alliance sends an agent (the operative ). Another reason for the persecution is that River Tam was in a room with senior members of the Alliance and may have learned secret information through her strong telepathic abilities.
The siblings have now hired on the Serenity . During a bank robbery by the Serenity crew on one of the fringe planets, an attack by savages who practice cannibalism and torture , the Reavers , occurs at the same time, and the crew can barely escape. Simon then confronts Mal because Mal took Simon's sister with him in the robbery and demands that he and River leave the ship at the next opportunity.
On the trading planet Beaumonde , the crew separates from Simon and River for the time being. Mal meets up with twin brothers Fanty and Mingo , who commissioned the bank robbery , in the Maidenhead bar . River happened to be in this bar and saw a commercial there, which caused an outbreak of violence with a subliminal message hidden in it: She randomly attacked other guests in the bar until she was finally knocked out by Simon with a code phrase is moved. Confused, Mal takes the two siblings back to the Serenity . With the help of Mr. Universe (a kind of hacker and media activist) they find out that the commercial was broadcast by the Alliance and that the subliminal message hidden in it should trigger the outbreak of violence at River in order to be able to determine their whereabouts. The team also learns that River uttered the word "Miranda" before the violence erupted. Nobody knows what this name means.
Mal receives a message from former passenger Inara Serra, who asks him for help with a minor problem. Although he suspects that it is a trap, Mal sets off and meets the agent. After a fight with him, Mal and Inara manage to flee to the Serenity . Meanwhile, River managed to assign the name "Miranda" to a secret planet. This is far off the normal flight routes and lies behind an area controlled by Reavers. A little later, the crew must find out that all stations friendly with the Serenity were attacked and destroyed by the agent's troops. Former passenger and friend of the crew, Shepherd Book, is also among the victims. Mal asks his team to fly with him to Miranda, despite the great danger, in order to reveal the secret of the planet. With a ruse in which the crew disguises their ship with the corpses of the station as a Reaver ship, they manage to cross the Reaver area. On the planet they find a habitable environment, but all of the inhabitants have long been dead. In the wreck of an Allianz rescue spaceship they find a hologram that was written by Dr. Caron was written. From this it becomes clear that the alliance wanted to test a new substance called Pax (Latin for "peace"). It should calm all residents and suppress aggression. However, it did this job too well: the residents of Miranda stopped all activities of daily living, even eating, and simply starved to death. In about 0.1% (incorrectly 10% in the German translation) of the population, however, the drug had the exact opposite effect: they mutated into the extremely violent Reavers. Mal can convince his team that this information needs to be made public and is willing to pay any price for it. To send the message out, they need the help of Mr. Universe, who runs his own broadcasting station on his planet.
The agent foresees this and positions an armada of spaceships in the planet's atmosphere. But also Mal suspects the trap and provokes some Reaver ships during the flight, which then pursue the Serenity . When the Serenity reaches the planet, the Reaver ships meet those of the Alliance. In the following battle between the two fleets, the Serenity is able to advance to the planet almost unnoticed. Because of an EMP hit, an emergency landing is necessary, after which Pilot Wash is killed by a reaver weapon. The crew managed to break into the transmitting station and try to stop the attacking Reaver. Mal sets out to send the message. He finds Mr. Universe dead and the broadcast platform destroyed, but learns that there is another hidden platform. When her brother is critically injured by the attacking Reavers, River decides to actively intervene in the fight and use her powers again. Mal meets the agent again, but can narrowly beat him and successfully delivers the message. The agent is forced to hear Dr. To pursue Caron. This results in him giving up his loyalty to the Alliance and even helping the Serenity crew by calling his troops back. River has meanwhile repulsed the Reaver.
After the dead are buried, Serenity , which has been badly damaged in combat, is repaired and takes off on new adventures with River as the new co-pilot.
people
- Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds : Formerly a soldier of the Independents in the lost war against the Alliance, he now keeps afloat with theft and smuggling.
- Gina Torres as Zoë Washburne (née Alleyne ): She fought alongside Mal in the war and is absolutely loyal to him. After coming to the Serenity , she marries ship pilot Wash.
- Alan Tudyk as Hoban "Wash" Washburne : He is the pilot of the Serenity and husband of Zoë. He often acts as the voice of reason on the ship and is characterized by his humor.
- Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra : She works as a Companion (a modern prostitute who is highly regarded in society) and used to rent one of the Serenity's shuttle spaceships . When she is visited by the Alliance agent, she and Mal can flee back to the Serenity .
- Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb : A gifted mercenary and gun freak, Jayne plays an important role in combat. You can rely on him in combat, but his loyalty to Mal and his team is not guaranteed.
- Jewel Staite as Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye : She is the Serenity mechanic and has an intuitive, emotional relationship with her ship. In addition, their sparkling zest for life has a positive effect on the other crew members.
- Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam : Simon is River's older brother. He freed her from the Allianz test laboratories and has been on the run ever since. Before that he worked as a trauma surgeon in a prestigious clinic on one of the inner planets; now he serves as the ship's doctor for the Serenity . His life is mainly determined by the needs of his sister.
- Summer Glau as River Tam : Simon's sister is a gifted girl with special psychological and physical talents. After she is rescued by her brother, the Alliance government sends out an agent to track her down.
- Ron Glass as Shepherd Derrial Book : Shepherd Book is a Christian priest and has a mysterious past. He was a long-time passenger on the Serenity , but has withdrawn to a planet where he is occasionally visited by Mal and his crew for advice.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Operative : The agent is a ruthless, intelligent Allianz employee who is supposed to track down River and Simon. Its greatest strength is an absolute belief in doing the right thing.
- David Krumholtz as Mr. Universe : A " techno geek " with ties to the crew of the Serenity , especially Wash. He lives together with his love bot on a planet and observes the communication within the system. This makes him an important ally of the occupation.
Subject
In the film, the Alliance government acts as an all-powerful and authoritarian regime . Whedon makes it clear, however, that this is too simplistic a view. He explains that the Alliance is not some "evil empire" but rather a benevolent bureaucracy. The main problem with this is that every citizen should be governed, even if he does not want to belong to the central government. For him, the Serenity team, and especially Mal's lifestyle, represents the idea that people should have the right to make their own decisions - even when those decisions are bad.
The agent embodies the Alliance and, according to Whedon, is “the perfect product of the defects that the Alliance possesses.” His guiding principle is to bring about a happy ending - “a better world without sin,” as he himself says. The agent believes in this idea so strongly that he accepts to lose his humanity for it. Mal, on the other hand, is shown at the beginning of the film as a man who has lost all faith. In the course of the film, however, Mal manages to believe in something - namely individual freedom - so that he would sacrifice his life to preserve this freedom. Whedon once said that the most important passage in the entire film was Mal's promise to the agent: "I will grant your greatest wish: I will show you a world without sin." With this Whedon tries to make it clear that a world without sin too is a world without choice, and that it is that choice that defines humanity as such.
Furthermore, there are a number of religious themes in the film, especially those of Christianity . The seven deadly sins are mentioned at two points . When the agent met scientist Dr. Mathias kills, he tells him that his sin is pride. Towards the end of the film, when asked if he knew his sin, Mal replied that he “thought all seven were great”.
There is a reference to the Bible in the scene where Mr. Universe is killed by the agent . After speaking with time on Miranda says Mr. Universe to the agent: "Give me my thirty pieces of silver, but I have news for you." This is an allusion to the thirty denarii that of Judas was paid to Jesus to betray.
In addition, individual figures represent different religions: Shepherd Book describes himself as a Christian , Inara worships a statue of Buddha . According to Jewish tradition, when Mr. Universe marries his love bot , he breaks a wine glass.
Whedon also mentions that the planet Miranda is named after Shakespeare's Miranda in The Tempest . The alliance hoped that Miranda would be a “brave new world” in which people could live peacefully and happily. This clearly represents the “unsubstantiated optimism of the alliance”. According to Whedon, the commercial for the granola bar Fruity Oaty Bar , which appears in the film, was heavily inspired by the commercial for Meister Glanz ( Mr. Sparkle ), a fictional dishwashing detergent that appears in the episode Marge as the soul sensorger of The Simpsons .
criticism
In Germany, the film was largely positively received. Above all, the multi-layered characters and the profound story were highlighted by the critics. Josef Engels, for example, praises Serenity in Die Welt :
“[Serenity] shows off special effects that haven't been seen in cinema for a long time. It's about witty, polished dialogues, ambivalent characters and a sensible story. […] In view of the blockbuster nonsense from space, it had been completely forgotten: There is indeed intelligent life out there. "
In the FAZ , Dietmar Dath describes Serenity as a film "which [has] taken the right path in so many places where the aesthetic decision-making tree for screenplay, decor and actors branches out" . He also praises effects and camera work and highlights some of the film's particularly successful parts. His conclusion is:
"Serenity is [...] at the same time a new fixed star in genre cinema like a rare firefly for the textbook of futuristic entomology: nimble, warm, sparkling, dancing, funny, politically clever."
Mostly positive reviews can also be heard from the English-speaking world. On Metacritic , Serenity achieved an overall rating of 74 out of a possible 100 points and is thus in the upper range.
On Rotten Tomatoes , the film achieved an overall rating of 81 percent with 143 positive and 33 negative reviews. The users' opinion on the film is summarized there:
"Snappy dialogue and goofy characters make this Wild Wild West soap opera in space fun and adventurous."
"Snappy dialogues and silly characters make this Wild-Wild-West space soap opera amusing and adventurous."
The users of the IMDb website give 7.8 out of ten stars, with 27.3 percent of the users giving a rating of ten stars (as of January 19, 2020).
Writer Stephen King is also impressed by the film and added it to his personal favorite list (pick of the week) . In a 2007 reader survey by British SciFi magazine SFX , Serenity was voted the best science fiction film of all time. In Germany, Serenity won the Curt Siodmak Prize for Best Film in 2006 .
Trivia
- The shuttle on Miranda, in which the crew discover the HoloVid via the Reaver, is called "C57D", just like the spaceship from alarm in space . At the end of the 19th episode (season 3) of Castle , Castle ( Nathan Fillion ) and Beckett go into this movie together.
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Times | Nathan Fillion | David Nathan |
| Zoe | Gina Torres | Tanja Geke |
| Wash | Alan Tudyk | Robin Kahnmeyer |
| Inara | Morena Baccarin | Melanie Hinze |
| Jayne | Adam Baldwin | Tobias Kluckert |
| Kaylee | Jewel Staite | Ursula Hugo |
| Simon | Sean Maher | Kim Hasper |
| River | Summer Glau | Julia digit |
| Book | Ron Glass | Jürgen Kluckert |
| "Operative" | Chiwetel Ejiofor | Tobias Master |
| "Mr. Universe " | David Krumholtz | Julien Haggége |
| Dr. Mathias | Michael Hitchcock | Frank-Otto Schenk |
| Dr. Caron | Sarah Paulson | Anna Grisebach |
literature
- Joss Whedon: Serenity: The Visual Companion . 2005, ISBN 1-84576-082-4 .
- Joss Whedon: Firefly, Volume 1: The Official Companion . 2006, ISBN 1-84576-314-9 .
- Joss Whedon: Firefly, Volume 2: The Official Companion . 2007, ISBN 1-84576-372-6 .
- Glenn Yeffeth, Jane Espenson (Eds.): Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly . 2005, ISBN 1-932100-43-1 .
- Leah Wilson , Jane Espenson (Eds.): Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe . 2007, ISBN 1-933771-21-6 .
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Serenity - escape into a new world in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Serenity - Escape to New Worlds . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2006 (PDF; test number: 103 523 DVD / UMD).
- ↑ Age rating for Serenity - Escape to New Worlds . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ In the film, Mal says that Simon and River have been on the ship for about 8 months. In the Firefly episode Trash , Mal says that he first met Saffron about half a year ago. Accordingly, a maximum of two months can have passed between the series and the film.
- ^ ME Russell: The Browncoats Rise Again. The Daily Standard, June 24, 2006, accessed July 16, 2006 .
- ↑ Serenity / Firefly FAQ. Archived from the original on December 28, 2005 ; Retrieved July 19, 2008 .
- ↑ Firefly Wiki - Beaumonde. In: fireflywiki.org. April 6, 2007, accessed February 19, 2008 .
- ↑ Whedon, Audio Commentary on DVD Serenity , Title 11 (Miranda)
- ↑ a b c Whedon, audio commentary on DVD Serenity , Title 17 (Fighting for Belief)
- ↑ Whedon, Audio Commentary on DVD Serenity , Title 2 (A Better World) ; Whedon, Serenity: The Official Visual Companion , p. 21.
- ↑ a b Whedon, audio commentary on DVD Serenity , Title 10 (Posing a Threat)
- ↑ Whedon, Audio Commentary on DVD Serenity , Title 14 (Learning the Secret)
- ^ Whedon, Serenity: Making of Fruity Oaty Bar on Serenity DVD
- ↑ Josef Engels: There is intelligence in space: "Serenity". In: The world. November 24, 2005, accessed February 20, 2008 .
- ↑ Dietmar Dath : A shining star of science fiction: "Serenity". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 23, 2005, accessed February 20, 2008 .
- ^ Serenity (2005): Reviews. In: metacritic.com. Retrieved February 20, 2008 .
- ^ Serenity Movie Reviews. In: rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved February 28, 2009 (UK English).
- ^ Serenity (2005). In: IMDb.com. Retrieved January 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Stephen King: stephen's picks. (No longer available online.) October 10, 2005, archived from the original on May 15, 2008 ; Retrieved February 20, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ BBC News: Serenity named top sci-fi movie. April 2, 2007, accessed May 25, 2008 .
- ↑ Serenity - Escape into New Worlds in the German dubbing index ; Retrieved April 21, 2008
