More Serenity

[ivyfic]

Two more thoughts, then I gotta go do actual work.

Joss is a big fan of the art shot, and they are all over this damn movie. From the light almost obliterating the shot of Mal as he issues his call to arms on Beaumont, to the last shots of River and Mal on the bridge, where the camera looks past them at the rain-covered windows. Did anyone else notice the first shot on Serenity? It's a single shot, the entire first scene, from Mal and Wash in the cockpit, all the way around to Simon and River in the cargo bay. That's like a ten minute shot! With all of the major cast members! I think Joss was just showing off that in his new set, not only are each of the floors continuous, they're also connected. They built the entire gorram interior of Serenity as one set.

I noticed as I was going into the theater this time that Serenity is PG-13. PG-13? I'd classify this movie as dark and terrifying, and it's PG-13? But for all the attention on Reavers, you barely see them at all. The horror of their actions is all implied. You only get two sustained shots of Reavers in the whole film. The sequence where they're flying through Reaver space to Miranda is all cheap tricks.

What does he give you - screams coming over a tinny radio. A field of spinning junk. Low bass and shrill strings The only thing that moves is a light that comes on and tracks them. This is classic, basic, haunted house stuff. I've been in haunted house that did exactly that. And yet that's one of my favorite sequences in the movie, because despite how little is actually shown, it is terrifying.

My favorite part of that scene, though, is Jayne hugging Vera like she's a life preserver.

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

What's more amazing still is that he has now explained the Reavers' origin...and they are still fucking terrifying! That the Reavers are originally spawned from infected/tainted people implies that there could possibly be treatment (even those that seem most unstable--ie River--can be treated and made better) for them, if you could get one tied down long enough to do it.

There's still a little matter of how it is they use technology so proficiently, plan raids with tactical prowess, and survive by being cannibals, but I guess "crazy space gas" isn't going to cover everything...

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

They didn't go seriously in-depth to the effects of the Pax gas in the movie, but one could conjecture that if the "normal" effect was to make people lose the will to do anything (including work, mate, or eat), the "opposite" effect would be to make them hyperproductive. And crazy like foxes in terms of tactics.

(The fact that everyone is freakin' terrified of them also probably helps their ability to win fights, as well.)

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

And that they seem undeterred by pain or fear. It's like fighting someone hopped up on drugs - you can hurt them all you want, but it won't stop them. They take a slug to the arm and keep on coming. Tactics-wise, people who are still intelligent but have no regard for human life, including their own, are the scariest people ever. Because they don't have to retreat. They always win chicken. You can't fight them to a draw - as long as one is still alive, he'll still be trying to eat you. They mutilate themselves - what on earth can you do to stop something like that?

The Reavers scare the living daylights out of me. Chuckro has the fingernail imprints in his arm to prove that one.