Excellence Watch: Orson Scott Card

I came across this review for the film Serenity the other day, and simply had to share it. The review itself is an excellent work of prose, as befits such a well-respected author. But what struck me was the degree to which it reads like a bit of a love letter, the kind of encomium I have not seen since I stumbled across David Mamet's obituary for Patrick O'Brian ("And I will not say I cried at [supporting character Bonden's] death, but I will not say I did not").

But more than that, Card makes a startling statement regarding Serenity:

I walked into this movie reasonably aware of the advance word-of-mouth (though not obsessively so) and only as the film actually began this afternoon, the day of its premier, did it occur to me that I had not heard a whisper of a breath of the actual plot of the movie. All I heard was, "It's great, you'll love it."

Well, guess what.

It's great.

I'm not going to say it's the best science fiction movie, ever.

Oh, wait. Yes I am.

I don't know that I disagree with the man; and in any event, who am I to doubt the assessment of the author of Ender's Game? Plus, I can't stop giggling at his conclusion:

So stop reading this. Go get your tickets. See this movie.

Or don't. Play it safe. Stay home. Watch reruns of Full House. That was a really funny, heartwarming TV series and it's just a shame the kids have all grown up and now we can never have the feature film with the original cast.

Tags: Orson Scott Card, Serenity, Movie Reviews, Firefly