Understatement? Possible. In my defense, I have three partially written blog posts raring to go, including one for Hunger Games that is yanking at the bit, growling at me for not releasing it to play.
You can thank RyAn for getting me out to play. He pointed me in the direction of Nathan's Hit Me With Your Best Shot series, which invites readers to post their favorite shot from the chosen movie. Seeing as how this chosen film was Serenity, it was highly unlikely I wouldn't come out of hibernation to make my voice heard.
I made a rather haughty statement on Twitter that I didn't need to rewatch the movie to pick my favorite shot, I knew it already. As Ry so accurately pointed out, one doesn't need a reason to rewatch the movie. He is naturally right, as I've just popped the DVD in to go to this specific scene to get a good feel while I type this hurriedly, as some of us have work in the morning.
Usually when I do something Ry has done before, he does it better than me. And while I agree that his choice of favorite shots is superb, I have to make a loud angry honking sound at how wrong he is. While he also chose a shot featuring River (or, at least, a part of her), it is nowhere near the best shot of the movie.
I saw Serenity twice in theaters, by the way. It chose a very inconvenient time to come out. September 30, 2005. Inconvenient because Hurricane Katrina hit at the end of August 2005, rendering the movie theater in my hometown of Slidell, LA fairly useless. I drove 30 minutes to see this movie. Then another inconvenience, my car being smashed into and being rendered fairly undrivable.
So much of the movie has stayed with me over the years. But more than anything was a single image, one that I even had as a Livejournal icon. Remember when livejournal was cool? I'm old.
I hope that in the short time I've been doing this blog, it's become apparent that I have a very deep affinity for strong female characters. You rarely get stronger than this. The doors opening on a partially lit River Tam, standing over dead Reavers with blood streaked weapons.
The battle scene that precedes it is amazing in its own right. Just the sight of her being dragged away by Reavers as the doors shut is powerful. Then the slow motion-sped up scene of her effortlessly killing the mentally damaged Reavers. Summer Glau's amazing ballet skills have never been put to better use.
The look on her face afterwards says it all. Yes, Jayne is a girl's name. Yes, Mal is latin for bad, and yes, your bible is full of false logistics. Do you have a problem with that? Because nothing in the 'verse can stop me. And when I said I could kill you with my brain? You should have listened.
Great choice. Say what you will about Summer Glau's post-Serenity roles, but she was P E R F E C T I O N as River Tam. For my best shots, I try not to pick something too climactic though which is why I didn't pick this (though I should've singled it out in some other way of course).
ReplyDeleteBut yay you posted! Please post more.
Working on it, buddy! I promise.
DeleteI can't remember now if Joss said it in the commentary, or if it's just something I've always believed, but I am convinced that Joss Whedon made this whole movie, indeed, the whole series, for this one exact shot.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the land of non-Twitter/non-FB postings! (and I resemble that LJ remark)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, this shot is epic. There is nothing about it that is anything but perfect.
Happy to hear from a new voice in this blog series and enjoyed reading your post.
ReplyDeleteIt's always hard to choose a favorite thing about Joss Whedon but his unshakeable love of strong female characters is certainly way up there.