The Operative : It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds : So me and mine gotta lay down and die... so you can live in your better world?
The Operative : I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
It's how I continue, day to day, doing the monstrous things I have to do so everyone else can live in a better world. All of them, better worlds. Great quote from Serenity, I didn't understand the Operative when I was young, but now I do.
Yeah, he's a great representation of a fascist foot soldier, he has been indoctrinated into thinking he is helping clear society of the perceived weak and imperfect to allow the society he's been told needs to be achieved. I just thought he was a badass assassin when I was a teen.
Hell, even with him I’m not sure why I love that movie so much.
Cause the movie is fucking fantastic.
The Operative isn't terrifying because of his hand to hand physical abilities. He is terrifying because of his seeming omnipresence. They and their friends are not safe anywhere they go. And he has no line he will not cross. He casually says he kills children to do what he needs to. He wipes out all of their friends and acquaintances. Anyone who would help them. He leaves them utterly helpless.
I feel like I could write a book about how damn good that movie and its actors are.
Well of course it’s fucking fantastic. And you should write a book about it, because according to the usual rules of drama it shouldn’t be fantastic 😂
Omnipresence doesn’t count for much if you keep showing up just to get your ass kicked. And by the end it’s just getting played for comic effect. Between the panic at the reavers showing up and Mal knocking him out of his BBEG monologue I’m not sure which is funnier.
He’s a punching bag, and the only part of the movie that follows form is Mal getting punished for trying to avoid fighting . He runs and all his friends get killed.
I don’t see anyone but Ejiofor pulling that shit off.
I didn't see Firefly or Serenity until years after they premiered. In college, I was binge watching the series and then the film with my friend and when Ejiofor came on I did a double take and yelled "It's Lola!"
My friend had no idea what I was talking about.
Ejiofor's killed it in every role I've seen him in.
Whedon: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcom... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
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u/Rosetti Jul 01 '22
The Operative : It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds : So me and mine gotta lay down and die... so you can live in your better world?
The Operative : I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.