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It’s an inspiring sci-fi western movie about a courageous band of outcasts who fight the Alliance and win. That’s it.
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It’s an inspiring sci-fi/western film about a courageous band of outcasts who fight the really not-so-evil, merely misguided (by an overzealous application of utopian ideals and a penchant for performing experiments on non-consenting patients) Alliance. The band of outcasts makes peace with its place in the universe after exposing how the Alliance accidentally destroyed the universe during one of its innocent experiments. Who gets to rule in a dead universe? Only the strongest. Mal and his crew survive, although they make a few sacrifices along the way. But it was all worth it to get the message of the Alliance’s past misdeeds out.
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The essence of Firefly was Mal’s journey as the captain, a journey based on a love for life. The film, on the other hand, documents Mal’s evolution into an anti-hero. Who gets to rule in a dead universe? The anti-hero. Mal sacrifices his best friend and doesn’t even apologize to the pretty Black/brown lady whose husband just got decapitated before her very eyes. It takes Mal about five minutes to replace the pilot with a psychotic 17-year-old who was going to kill him a few days before. The Alliance is stronger than ever, especially after Mal makes a deal with them. For what purpose did Mal sacrifice his crew member’s life? To get out a message that changed nothing.
Mal put a meaningless message above his crew’s life. But Mal is still alive. Only the most psychopathic get to survive in an Alliance-run universe. Only the dead can survive in a dead universe.
Oh, and the Reavers = poor, traumatized people, who aren’t people in the Alliance’s eyes. If only our Serenity crew members had been able to rehabilitate the Reavers, somehow, in the moments before they were defiled…then maybe they would have stood a chance against the Alliance. Oh well.
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Whedon made a movie about making a movie. He sacrificed the ship (the franchise) by making a terrible movie. Why? To get the message out.
Mal was no longer a threat to the Alliance because he shared their values by the end of the film. By focusing on his hatred for the Alliance, Mal became exactly like them. He put hatred for his enemy above love for his crew/family. The movie was about how the Serenity’s crew was integrated into the Alliance’s system via the moral disintegration of the hero. Instead of sacrificing his life, as Mal was destined to do since the episode “the Message” in the regular show, he sacrifices his crew member’s life. It’s a “reverse Behelit.”
What is Whedon’s message, the only one that isn’t meaningless?
Life is more important than any message, any so-called belief system, any unreal fantasy of utopia. Whedon won by losing: he made a bad movie to get the message out.
Occult content: 5/10. A lot of this was pretty obvious, and it took me one viewing to see this. Maybe if I watch it again, I’ll see more.
Schizo Movie Reviews 