Serenity - A Review

Joss Whedon

Starring:

Nathan Fillion as Mal
Gina Torres as Zoe
Alan Tudyk as Wash
Morena Baccarin as Inara
Adam Baldwin as Jayne
Jewel Staite as Kaylee
Sean Maher as Simon
Summer Glau as River
Ron Glass as Shepherd Book

and Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Operative

The Movie:

Whedon has taken the basic Firefly story, and followed it through to the end; there is humour, tragedy, violence and much more in this fast-moving enlargement of the TV tale.

Starting with the story of River, the teen psychic, and her escape from being programmed to kill, the movie then explains why this is a real problem for the Alliance - and why they must send the merciless operative to the ends of the known universe to destroy her. And, in the process, anyone who offers shelter or support.

Even for Firefly fans, there's bits of new story - and neat twists of the old one - to keep the attention, as the story moves forward to a horrible conclusion. No spoilers here, but there is tragedy - there's folk that will not see the sequel.

Not a lot of sex, much to Kaylee's annoyance, but even that problem is covered with humor - right to the end.

Mal leads his crew with love - but also with rigid authority, where that seems needed. His loyalty to his 'family' is never, ever in question - but there are issues about who is family - and who is not. Zoe carries her military experience with pride, tempered only by her tender relationship with Wash; a relationship rather taken for granted.

Jayne, the none-too-bright (and none-too-loyal) heavy earns his place and provides a butt for some great jokes, without losing his basic role as the (probably expendable) hired gun.

Having an ensemble cast necessarily has winners and losers, and here the losers were Inara - a key but undeveloped character (but well set up for the sequel); Wash, a source of great one-liners, but peripheral to the action, and Shepherd Book whose wisdom could have anchored the action better for the non-fan viewers.

As all the trailers and posters have shown, River stole the movie, probably more than Whedon intended, but carried it well, and her brother Simon ably supplied the human side of the almost siamese twins.

Worth mentioning the operative's role; in some ways a reprise of the final TV episode, but a larger character too - and a cool portrayal. how many villains can respond to "I don't kill children" with "But I do ... " and mean it?

The special effects are pretty good - as always, CGI works best with moving objects, so reaver vessels in close pursuit looked a little flat - but that's a minor point. the sense of the vastness of space was well done, though maybe not often enough - Whedon's TV background perhaps contributed to the slightly claustrophobic feel at times. Or maybe that's a result of having just $40m to spend - not a lot for a two hour sf movie, these days.

The Down Side

Serenity is a fast moving and very loud expansion of the original firefly story; you can just about get your breath after one set of extreme action before the next wave hits you - if you go for loud action, this is for you.

So why don't I sound more enthusiastic?

Well, Joss Whedon promised us that he would take the story forward, and explore the back stories that remained untold from 'Firefly'; and he only delivered at a very superficial level.

Whedon's strengths are his stories, and his characters; Serenity gave us an intelligent story, but not the depth of a firefly episode, let alone a two-hour movie.

The characters were severely neglected, with some of the ensemble getting less than a handful of lines, and others - notably Mal - substituting bravado and pithy one-liners for depth and meaning.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the movie - but I was embarassed by the certainty that Whedon had misjudged his audience, assuming all were teen X-men fans, forgetting that many - very many - were seasoned Buffy and Angel fans, who would, in many cases, prefer a slower, but deeper movie.

Whedon also showed he has no more understanding of the wider world of SF than Lucas, which, granted, would not have hurt many cinema goers, but it really hurt me. Like Lucas, he presents a bright, loud canvas with a sprightly and fast-moving story.

The tragedy is not what serenity is - great entertainment - but what it could have been. A great movie.