Ysman

So I finally get around to seeing Hotel Rwanda. A friend and I had a long standing engagement to get out and see this film however the forces that control these things conspired against that happening and as all movies eventually do, even good ones starring Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda left the theater. My friend and I would have to view something else.

As luck and fate would have it, Hollywood studios like to make as much money as they can on any given film and so they released Hotel Rwanda to DVD which allows viewing movies outside of the theater in your own home or place of convenience (forgive me if I am going to fast.) As I have a Netflix account and in that account I have a queue of movies, Hotel Rwanda was sent to me without me having to do anymore than point and/or click. Since it was sent, I felt obligated to watch - a fact that my wife hates by the way - while she has no problem stopping watching films already in progress, I, by some freak genetic mutation, must watch them to their painful end regardless of how long or asinine - much like the South Park episode where Cartman had to finish singing Come Sail Away whenever he heard the beginning of the song . . . but I digress.

For those not familiar: Hotel Rwanda stars Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsis refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. The audience watches Paul's transformation from a man with style to a man with substance. (see the film - the quote makes more sense then.) So I watched IT - and here you are, dear reader, wondering how IT was. How do you think it was? Of course it was good, fine, Oscar nominated and all that. The story was heartfelt, Cheadle was stellar, impeccably shot. Heck, even the sound was good. And therein lies my problem - the film was all that I expected it to be and thus as I sit here thinking about it, I am terribly bored by it.

How horrible! I am an unfeeling boob! He should be gutted and hung in a public square to remind little children on how not to live their lives! And to all of these things I would say yes, yes, and yes again. But that doesn't make Hotel Rwanda any better at entertaining me (a funny side note, the aforementioned friend, myself, and my wife all went to see Amistad one evening and were so bored by the slave trade film that we fell asleep which incensed our more social conscious audience members.) The problem is that Hotel Rwanda is so paint-by-the-numbers Oscar caliber that I wanted terribly for some Sofia Coppola-esquire Godfather 3 performance or some random death to shake me from my stupor. I took to the Internet to see if I was alone in my thoughts. Here are some quotes from the IMDb:

larajane says: Watching with a friend, after ten minutes we had to pause the film because we decided we would be better served if we were more informed about what the basic facts of the conflict in Rwanda were. So to my shame, we had to read on the internet about what really happened, before we could continue. I say shame because we should have known, both of us were of an age when it happened to have taken more of an interest in world politics.

and this from Julie-Gefter: i am frustrated because nothing i can type can represent how powerful this movie is or how much it moved me. i can't comment on the amazing acting or cinematography or directing because the movie transported me.

and celiaricky loved the movie so much she "ovated" the director for 10 minutes - the lucky scoundrel: Just saw the San Francisco premier last night and it isn't a dramatization - it's much more of a documentary -- Hotel is extremely factual. CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THIS FILM! INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE! The Director and the story's protagonist were at the screening to answer questions. We ovated him for almost 10 minutes.

So there you have it - Hotel Rwanda was a good movie - a great movie by most accounts - that, I'd be willing to say if 'tweren't based on true facts would have been a nice little HBO original film. Cheadle is greatness - but watch Boogie Nights or Devil in a Blue Dress for a more impressive performance. And to all IMDb readers - I'm sorry I suck.

Movie notes: Hotel Rwanda is 121 minutes long and rated PG-13 for brief strong language, Oscar worthy depictions of human atrocities, and disturbing images. Directed by Terry George who has brought you other true life moving experiences such as A Bright Shinning Lie and the second episode of season one of the District. It stars Don Cheadle who is good in everything he does, on and off camera.

Since George Lucas stepped away from his throne in 1983, many have tried to come and replicate the success of the Holy Trinity of science fiction films. Most attempts were thwarted before they even began. The Wachowskis made a noble effort with The Matrix in 1999 yet they fell victim to CGI extravagance and to their own over inflated views on the landscape they created producing sequels that were nothing more than exercises in "hey look at what we can do with a PC and 100 million dollars at our disposal." Even Lucas tried to reclaim what was rightfully his and alas he too was more interested in the technology than the storytelling creating 3 criminally stilted, wooden prequels that only tarnished the films that almost everyone holds dear.

Enter Joss Whedon. What Whedon has done is eerily similar to what Lucas did in '77 taking a cast of relative unknowns, the most famous being Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket and Pirate Steve from Dodgeball, and creating a compelling, exciting space western. Serenity is what Star Wars would have been if the focus was on Han rather than that pansy-a$$, Luke. What is more exciting is that what Lucas lacks, Whedon has in spades. Having cut his teeth on television series and script doctoring, most notably Toy Story, the dialog is crisp, witty, never forced, and almost Mamet-esquire in its pacing and originality. The language used recalls a nod to the old west without veering towards the ridiculous and without falling trap to invented "space dialog." Whedon, too, finds a rhythm with his actors and since they are relative unknowns, the audience has no trouble letting them become the characters they portray. While it is not completely fair to continually draw comparisons to Star Wars and Lucas, it is evident Whedon is a fan.

From the Serenity website {ed note: no need to rework what has already been written}: Serenity centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family - squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal. When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl.

The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself.

Having never seen a minute of the television show from which the movie originated, I am unsure of how much of a back story or character history I am missing however watching the film, I never felt left out of an inside joke or nods to the hard-core fandom. The story isn't weighted down with trying to establish an environment or character origins. The characters are richly drawn without being obvious clichés and the story begins and ends without the false promise of useless, unnecessary sequels.

In the world where box office numbers are king, it cannot yet be told what the future holds for the Serenity universe. Whedon takes on Wonder Woman next and that will be, most likely, what will cause people to start referring to his name as a precursor to the titles of his films. That said, it would be a shame if this were the only film we have that scrapes the surface of the Alliance and shows us only a single voyage of the Captain Malcolm Reynolds and crew of the Serenity. The landscape is far too rich and the possible stories are seemingly endless. And if future stories are told, lets just hope that Joss is not so much a fan of Lucas that he becomes like him and destroys everything that made him great.

Serenity gets an A- (A minus.)