My Review: Much Ado About Nothing (4/10)

"Shakespeare knows how to throw a party."

While Joss Whedon was working on his big budget film, The Avengers, he was working on this much smaller but personal passion project. He only needed 12 days to shoot this black and white movie which consisted mostly of actors he had worked with in the past from his TV productions. He filmed this entirely from his home so fans of Whedon might appreciate how passionate he was about the adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. I am a huge fan of Shakespeare's plays, but I usually have a hard time enjoying the films that try to modernize his 16th century plays. That is exactly what happened here, I just can't conceive these characters speaking this way living at the present. It kind of throws me off as I would rather watch a version of this play centered around the 16th century. Much Ado About Nothing isn't considered as one of Shakespeare's best plays either. I didn't care too much for most of the characters and the comedy didn't work too well either. The main themes of the play still come through in this film however. We can see how easy it is to build love out of nowhere or destroy it with words. This is a very different film coming from Joss Whedon, but I guess one of the advantages he has for having so much success is getting to do films he is passionate about. Fans of this play might enjoy this more than I did. 

The governor of Messina, Leonato (Clark Gregg), is getting prepared for a much awaited visit from his good friend Don Pedro (Reed Diamond). Pedro who has recently come out victorious from a Civil War is returning with two of his officers: Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Claudio (Fran Kranz). Along with his brother Don John (Sean Maher) who was on the losing side of the War, they are all going to stay at Leonato's home. Love soon is in the air when Claudio falls for Leonato's only daughter, Hero (Jillian Morgese). Leonato and Don Pedro make plans for their wedding, while at the same time they decide to try to get Benedick and Hero's cousin, Beatrice (Amy Acker), to fall in love with each other despite how much they hate each other.  Meanwhile, Don John, who is still bitter about his defeat will try to do what it takes to make others miserable and therefor tries to break up the relationship between Hero and Claudio. Will love prevail or will Don John be able to destroy their love? If you've read the play than you know the answer.

Some of the same basic complaints about Shakespeare's play can be heard here as well, such as how underdeveloped the villain (Don John) is here. He is perhaps one of the weakest villains from his plays. The love story between these two pair of lovers isn't something out of the ordinary either, but the actors give strong performances nonetheless. Fans of Firefly and Serenity will be pleased to see Nathan Fillion in the comedic supporting role here and he stands out from the rest. This is one of Shakespeare's lighter comedies, considering it doesn't end in tragedy, and it has some funny moments, but I just didn't like the way the play was modernized. I never got engaged with the story and I never felt the wit coming from Whedon's other works.

My Review: Serenity (6/10)

"I'm going to grant your greatest wish. I'm gonna show you a world without sin."

Serenity was Joss Whedon's first feature film after experiencing a series of success as a writer and a TV director. Whedon's recent success with The Avengers made me want to go back and watch his earlier work which has a pretty solid fanbase. It has become somewhat of a cult film and it is an adaptation of Whedon's TV series Firefly which was only aired for one season despite having a decent amount of followers. The events in Serenity take place six months after the last episode of Firefly and shares the same cast as well. I never watched an episode of Firefly but had no trouble understanding the plot of this sci-fi film, but I would guess fans of the series will take greater pleasure in this movie. It is pretty easy to follow and despite a very slow beginning the film does pick up and has a very climatic ending. I thought the film was ok, the characters were pretty funny, but I didn't really find anything that stood out in order for me to consider this a classic. It was a decent sci-fi film, but I didn't find anything special about it beside the great sense of humor it has about itself. The characters are pretty strong and well developed, but the effects are pretty weak. I enjoyed this film, but it didn't blow my mind. Whedon also does a pretty decent job with the narrative of the film and wrote a solid and imaginative screenplay.

Serenity takes place in the future, in the 26th century, after humans had to abandon Earth due to overpopulation and they discovered new galaxies where they were able to establish themselves. After a civil war between the Alliance and the rebels known as Independents, the Alliance came out victorious and colonized the entire galaxy. The surviving rebels continue to drift across the galaxy, and among them is the crew of Serenity. Their captain is Mal (Nathan Fillon) who fought for the rebels during the civil war. His first mate who also fought with him in the war is Zoe (Gena Torres), who happens to be married to the pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk). Among the rest of the crew there is the mechanic, Kaylee (Jewel Staite) and the gunman, Jayne (Adam Baldwin). The crew wonder the galaxy trying to survive by doing jobs (including some illegal and criminal activities) or taking along passengers. One of the recent passengers they pick up are Simon (Sean Maher) and his sister River (Summer Glau). They soon find out that River has special psychic abilities and that she is being hunted down by the Alliance and one of their trackers (Chiwetel Ejiofor) thus putting in jeopardy the entire crew, and so the action begins.

Nathan Fillion is a pretty strong lead and he gives a very charismatic performance. He is better known now as the lead in the TV series, Castle, but fans of Firefly and Serenity will forever remember him as the tough captain with a clever mouth. The rest of the cast is pretty strong thanks in most part to the inventive screenplay by Whedon. He is a great screenwriter and is known for creating some interesting narratives and memorable characters. The action in the second half of the film is pretty strong as well but it really took a long time to get going. Summer Glau has some pretty interesting action sequences, but the highlight of the film is the face off between the tracker and Mal. This sci-fi film mixes some western elements to it as well. Despite all this Serenity wasn't quite the classic I was expecting, but I still had a good time. Whedon's The Avengers is a much stronger film and you can tell how much he has matured as a director.