every area of everyone’s life, ask- ing that they behave themselves for the greater good. After an early bank raid and a splendid hovercar chase (the polluting smoke of Reaver vehicles is a memorable visual touch), the Burt Kennedy-esque cowboy hijinx of FIREFLY are downplayed as SERENITY tells a story bigger than the average episode. In search of a fresh genre model, Whedon seizes on the 1970s paranoid conspiracy movie (ie.: THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, THE PARALLAX VIEW) and pits a group of disparate folk against a monolithic, ruthless, resourceful government as they try to expose a nasty secret via the mass me- dia (represented by a galactic internet).
The pleasantly Rory Calhoun- like Fillion, who manages wry cowboy humor better than die- hard moral outrage, is the screen-hogging hero, but SE- RENITY is built around River Tam (whose name suggests hippie parents will still be an influence 500 years hence). Mostly enig- matic comic relief on FIREFLY, River’s backstory of being mys- teriously and unethically altered into a killing machine parallels X- MEN’s Wolverine. Former balle- rina Glau struts out martial arts moves like Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Slayer or the monster-infected Ripley of the Whedon-scripted ALIEN RESURRECTION. In River’s balletic kill-everything- in-the-room fights, Whedon’s otherwise stolidly televisual di- recting style finally takes cin- ematic flight, though again there’s a have-your-cake-and-eat-it as- pect. As with the similar heroine of the James Cameron-created DARK ANGEL series or the amne- siac ex-superspy of the BOURNE franchise, it is seen to be wrong for the evil Alliance to brainwash an innocent into becoming a su- per-warrior—but those killing
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skills sure come in handy for the good guys in tight spots. It might have been too much of a stretch for Whedon, undeniably the au- teur here, to make his feature di- rectorial debut with this personal project. Just as the rebel heroes can’t escape the all-encompass- ing Alliance (now standing in for the network bean-counters who killed the show?), SERENITY doesn’t quite escape the confines of television. Much of the film’s appeal is down to small-screen values like smart lines couched in a distinctive archaic-futurist mode (lamenting her dead-loss love life, Kaylee whines “Been more’n a year since I had any- thing twixt my nethers didn’t run on batteries”) and the good-hu- mored playing of an experienced, non-starry ensemble cast. Carried over from the previ- ous DVD are 14m 37s of deleted scenes with optional commentary from Whedon and 6m 2s of out- takes (four “extended scenes” are new, though), an introduction by Whedon (obviously pitched at the fans), three brief featurettes about the franchise and the film (“Future History: The Story of the Earth That Was,” “What’s in a Firefly?”, “Re-lighting the Fire- fly”), the full version of the “Fruity Oaty” commercial which plays a part in the plot, and Whedon’s detailed, enthusiastic commen- tary. New to the “Collector’s Edi- tion” are: more making-ofs (the 19m 56s “A Filmmaker’s Jour- ney” and the bite-sized “Take a Walk on Serenity” and “The Green Clan”); a 21m 45s SCI-FI INSIDE episode on the film (typi- cal of the EPKs passed off as original programming on cable); “Session 416” (8m 1s), a short prequel originally put out on the internet, which purports to be the records of River’s brainwashing; and a second commentary track with Whedon and lively cast members Fullion, Baldwin, Glau
and Glass. Mostly, the extras serve to demonstrate that Whedon is a lot of fun to work with and that his actors enjoy ragging on each other, but “Session 416” is a sur- prisingly strong add-on. Shot in black-and-white with Glau, for the first time, playing River as she was before her transformation, this is grimmer in tone than the film or the series and works as a little, self-contained sf/horror story. As expected of a DVD era film, the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is flawless—which sometimes exposes the slightly cartoony look of less-than- megabudget CGI spaceship ef- fects. Besides the English 5.1 and DTS, there are 2.0 audio tracks in Spanish and French; and sub- titles in English, Spanish and French. It also comes in an imaginative, classily-designed box. An insert sheet hawking more merchandise (blueprints, posters, stationery, futuristic fake money) indicates that the fans haven’t been milked dry yet.
THE VICTIM
Phii khon pen “Spirit of the Victim” 2006, Tartan Video USA, DD-5.1 & 2.0/16:9/LB/ST/+, $19.95, 108m 4s, DVD-1 By David Kalat
In the past, this reviewer has been guilty of disparaging the Thai film industry as a whole. Sit- ting through a dozen or so slop- pily-made movies of various genres can do that to you. But after the one-two punch of Tony Jaa’s THE PROTECTOR [Tom yum goong] and Monthon Aryangkoon’s THE VICTIM has set me straight and I am now prepared to retract my earlier statements. THE VICTIM is as stylish, inventive, and scary as anything coming out of Japan or Korea these days. Save for one perplexing cultural quirk, it could
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