Reviews

Kevin Smith. When you hear that name, you think of Jay and Slient Bob, Dante and Randall, Holden and Alissa, Mooby's and the Quik Stop.

With Evening Harder, you're not disappointed. Smith takes us on a roller-coaster ride of sexual innuendos, rapid-fire wisecracks, and riffs on Tim Horton's, writer's block, and organized religion.

Guest shots by Jason Mewes, a special delivery of Timbits from an audience member, and Smith's take on how *he* would have written the Passion of the Christ round out just *one* disc of pure Kevin Smith gold.

Parents beware: this is *not* for the kids, nor is it for anyone that can't stomach a good solid dig at religion.

'Serenity' is one of those films that has a difficult history. Based on the canceled Fox TV series 'Firefly', almost canceled itself, and revived through the dedicated efforts of a relatively small number of Firefly fans ('Browncoats', for those familiar with the 'verse), my hopes were high for this movie, set approximately six months after the final broadcast episode of 'Firefly'.

Joss Whedon created pure gold with 'Firefly', spinning Wild West gunslingers, starships, and his trademark sense of humor into an entertaining action/adventure.

'Serenity', therefore, is the logical continuation of the canceled series.

Six months after the events of 'Objects in Space', little has changed. Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of the Firefly class transport ship 'Serenity' are still doing any work that needs doing, be it thieving and smuggling or honest shipping jobs and passenger work.

The Alliance has not given up, however, on recovering two of Serenity's passengers: Simon Tam, a young doctor, and his troubled sister River, a tortured psychic that was horribly mutilated by the Alliance, for still-mostly-unknown reasons.

'Serenity' joins this troubled 'family' with work running scarce. The all-powerful Alliance has been coming down increasingly hard on small shipping vessels in an effort to 'smoke out' Serenity and her crew. Simon and Mal Reynolds are coming up against each other more and more often as tension mounts among the rest of the crew.

Thrown into this mix is a mysterious hunter, who will stop at nothing to 'retrieve' River for his Alliance superiors, a man known only as 'Mr. Universe', and a troubled, gifted child that might prove to be their salvation, or their undoing.

On the whole, 'Serenity' works as a film. The action is tightly-scripted, Joss Whedon's trademark humor can be seen throughout, and the characters are just as well-developed.

What is missing in this film is direction. For those unfamiliar with the television series, 'Serenity' drops the viewer straight into the action with very little explanation of who the characters are and why they're on Serenity's crew together, who and what the 'Alliance' represents, and the significance of the ship's name (and the ship played a large role in the series; it was called 'the tenth character' by Joss Whedon himself, among others).

'Serenity' is also hit-and-miss as a film when compared to the 'Firefly' series. Where the series was sharp and quick (a necessity for television broadcasting), 'Serenity' seems slightly sluggish when the bullets aren't flying.

One place that Joss Whedon's humor is sadly missed is among the characters. The dialogue is certainly not 'wooden' at any point, but it often lacks the 'zing' that we've come to expect from a director such as Whedon. The character of Malcolm Reynolds is most obviously lacking, and has lost the trademark cynicism and somewhat self-effacing humor so prevalent in the television series. This time around, he plays 'brooding hero' to an uncomfortable extreme, which really drags things down when relating to the other characters.

'Firefly' was, at its heart, a western, and this was reflected in the musical score. Snappy fiddles, warm guitars and some pipes and drums set the mood in a very non-intrusive way. 'Serenity', however, comes away lacking, with the only recognizable music being the 'Firefly' theme, played on guitar during the closing credits.

Plot-wise, it's got some good points, but it's really nothing extremely new. Coupled with the sluggish pace of the movie, it serves its purpose, but really never gets around to resolving anything (Who is Shepherd Book, and what is his past? Who is Inara, and what is *her* story?), and, unfortunately, struggles and ultimately fails to avoid some rather time-worn clichés.

If you're a die-hard 'Browncoat', feel free to buy it, or rent it, for the nostalgia factor. Otherwise, you're only going to end up confused and bewildered by the unfamiliar characters, and the sluggish and somewhat muddled plot.

I *loved* the first two Suikoden games, so naturally, when I saw this one on the rack at Future Shop, I instantly picked it up.

However, while it is definitely worthy of the Suikoden series, there are some flaws to be pointed out.

First, while your headquarters is now mobile, and an enjoyable addition to the game, this can end up mired in some very tedious travel time, especially if you're backtracking all the time.

Next on the 'Oops List' is the linear nature of this game. I have not played Suikoden III, but the first two were much more open-ended and free-roaming.

Finally, Suikoden IV is lacking in true character development. I have played the majority of the game, and thus far I haven't learned anything about the main character other than what he does for a living. This extends into inter-character interaction, which was excellently handled in Suikoden I and II, but seems to have taken a back-step here.

On the plus side, the voice-acting is well-done. One minor character's voice is just too shrill to be enjoyable, but this does little to detract from the game, as you likely won't interact with her often enough for this to be a problem.

While it does get tedious at times, Suikoden has the usual assortment of addictive mini-games, from coin-tossing to the ever-present dice and fishing games.

Large-scale combat has been redone yet again, and is enjoyable, though there really isn't any point to it beyond 'take the city back'. Again, this hardly detracts from such a well-done game.

Rent if you like, buy if you must. On the whole, Suikoden IV works hard to earn its place in the Suikoden lineup, and, for the most part, it succeeds.