Fox (the TV network) has a habit of putting on very cool shows and cancelling them just as I get hooked; Firefly, John Doe, Greg the Bunny are three examples that come to mind. Just who the heck was John Doe going to turn out to be anyway?! I try and resist but it’s like any other addiction. So when I first read that Universal had picked up the rights to Firefly and was giving Joss Whedon pretty free reign to make a big screen version, well, you know what happened.
Fortunately for me, Serenity delivers. With one significant exception, which I prefer not to detail so as to not spoil things for you, the movie is packed with the smarts and humor of the television show and adds the visual impact only possible on the much larger canvas. Box Office Mojo and IMDB list the production budget at a mere $40 million and if that’s accurate then the crew stretched every penny of it. The imagery is stylish, taking cues from the series but not being limited by it, though there’s much less of the Old West flavor.
One of the challenges Whedon had was to make a movie that didn’t expect familiarity with the series but still rewarded it. One of the trickier aspects of this was conveying the basics of the ‘Verse, the fictional future’s backstory, and the problem with River Tamme (that forms the core of the movie) without getting bogged down in them and the device used was brilliant because the opening scene took care of both while opening the plot at the same time.
I was also glad to find out that Whedon didn’t feel trapped by the need to keep absolute continuity with the series, something that absolutely became a heavy stone for the Star Trek franchise. Two quick examples where Serenity breaks it: Shepherd Book (Ron Glass) is not a crewmember but rather a good friend and provider of refuge for the ship after deals are done and, well, the movie starts with River and Simon’s rescue of her with help (presumably) from the Serenity crew while in the series the two come aboard as passengers, already escaped from and wanted by the Alliance.
Nathan Fillion really does well playing the leader of our little band, definitely a post-modern future Robin Hood. His Captain Reynolds is good with a gun but not much more than a club boxer with his fists and he’s kept in character by not doing any wire-assisted martial arts. Adam Baldwin’s Jayne gets a smattering more smarts but remains most concerned with himself and his pocketbook. Chiwetel Ejiofor, who I’ve enjoyed in quite a few movies and one or two British import TV shows, rides his accent and an unwordly serene temperament (which I wonder if Whedon had him do intentionally) to provide an antagonist, a front for The Man since no time’s wasted on showing him getting instructions. Summer Glaus is called on as River for a much wider range than any other character, from the disconnected, nearly mad gibberish to world-class, wire-heavy ninja sword and battle ballet and does stuning work.
As mentioned, there’s one event right before the final confrontation that I truly question. When you see the movie you’ll recognize it and I hope you’ll agree that it does nothing for plot development–included to provide a final motivational push (I suppose), it just seem unnecessary and pointlessly deprives Whedon of tools for the sequels that are sure to come. Not a huge big bad, just the least good aspect of the movie.
definitely recommended
Correction: I received an email a few hours after posting this review from Stephanie (the only name she left) explaining that I misunderstood a few parts of Serenity. To set the record straight I’ll quote her mail in its entirety:
“A little off there. You must have missed the three comics that were recently released as official continuity for the series. Shepherd Book left the boat, so in the film it isn’t that he was never crew, but that he no longer was at that point. This isn’t a break or adjustment for the movie. Same with Inara, she’d also left. The Operative is also introduced in the comics. Simon’s River retrieval didn’t happen with help from the Serenity crew in the movie either. Nothing changed from the series. I’m not sure why you perceived that it was otherwise? Could you clarify that for me? That retrieval at the beginning was a flashback, that was not in time with the film. While we as the audience were able to watch parts of their escape for our own benefit, it’s clear that is but a flashback. In fact, a record of it, shown clearly when the Operative pauses the sequence. We were just watching what he was watching. -S”
Fair enough. As I pointed out to her, though, we watched every episode as SciFi recently rebroadcast the Firefly episodes and I can’t recall a single mention of the comic books. That the opening was a flashback was apparently understood by my wife and does make sense in retrospective. Doesn’t change my opinion about the movie, I don’t give all that many definitely recommendeds.
BillSaysThis 
