Overall Rating:****
Serenity @ IMDB
Synopsis:
An interplanetary government will do anything to kill a young psychic who knows their darkest secret. The only thing standing in their way is the self-preserving captain of the Serenity. A small agile little ship with a crew determined to survive and reveal the truth. This is the continuation of the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly(2000/01).
Review:
I’m going to start off this one by saying that I went in with low expectations, but came out pleasantly surprised. It had everything it needed to make it a good movie, but it fell short of a great movie. I was going to give it three out of five stars, until somebody pointed out that relative to other recent space operas (i.e. the Star Wars prequels), it stood out. I have to wonder if I would have thought more of it had I watched the show, but I’ll leave that for later.
What was good? Well I liked the plot. The story was interesting and seemed to move fairly well. There were a few details that would have helped, but over all the story worked well. The introduction to the Reavers could have been done a little better. When they’re introduced in the film, I got a little confused. I wasn’t sure who they were and why they looked so freaky. It became clearer as the film progressed, but I think Joss Whedon (director/writer) may have been banking on Firefly fans watching. I also didn’t like the character Inara (Morena Baccarin). Not only was she not a terribly strong character, but the actress wasn’t all that great. She also didn’t serve much purpose in the plot.
One of the things that helped this movie was the pace. Things kept moving which is critical for a movie. Compared to a TV series where you have time to develop complex plot lines, a feature film is a bit of a squeeze. The movie didn’t feel rushed and the plot was intriguing enough to keep me interested. I never felt bored during the movie.
River Tam (Summer Glau), the young psychic girl, added the right amount of mystery and little bit of creepy to the movie. The hero of the movie, Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), is witty and entertaining. Fillion brings a wittiness to Mal that reminds me of Jack Oniell (Richard Dean Anderson) from Stargate: SG-1 or John Chrichton (Ben Browder) of Farscape. And the comedic relief for the movie comes in the form of Kaylee Fry (Jewel Staite), the rowdy but cute (if I do say so myself), engineer. I found it amusing that she appears sweet and innocent, but is quite the deviant when she wants to be.
I think some of you may be wondering if watching the show Firefly is critical to getting the movie. I’d have to say no. It isn’t essential that you watched the tv series or that you have any prior knowledge of the show. That is one thing that made me respect this movie a little bit more. It is pretty good as a standalone self-contained movie. I had no clue that the movie was related to the show until I was walking out of the movie theatre. I never watched the series, but I’m sure that that movie builds on whatever was developed in the first and only season. Of course, this isn’t to say that watching the show wouldn’t help you to get more out of this movie. Perhaps you should check it out. Now, after seeing the movie, I’m tempted (only just a little) to watch the show. Firefly is currently running in syndication on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Overall, I’d say its worth a matinee showing, and definitely worth a rental. It makes an iffy primetime movie and definitely not a purchase when it comes to DVD.