Serenity, the review

OK, as the previous posts should tell you, I think this film was pretty good.  In fact, I would say it was much better than Cats; I would see it again and again.

"it was much better than Cats; I would see it again and again."

Now, here is the spoiler free review

The dialog, plot and pacing are what we have come to expect from Whedon.  Most everything is tight, and none of the details seem to lead you to dead ends.  The core characters all get a chance to establish who they are and what they are about.  IMO, in the movie, Inara and Shepard Book are not core characters.  They show up, help establish some details, act as foils so we can get to know Mal Reynolds better, then fade into the scenery.

Now, if you saw the show, you'll get more out of the characters.  If you didn't, you'll still see that there is unresolved romantic tension between Simon and Kaylee, but without the additional context of episodes like "Jaynestown", Kaylee comes off more as a horn dog than as smitten.  The movie also establish Jayne as a greedy, self centered borderline sociopath with few scruples, but you never worry about his loyalties in the movie the way you would if you had watched the whole show.  Same goes for Zoe and Wash; you know they are married, you know they are in love and a bit mismatched, but not in the way you would from the show.

But what can you expect?  The show had a whole season to establish who everyone is and what they want., the movie only a handful of minutes.

OK, down to some nitty gritty.  The movie opens with an exposition about why mankind left Earth-that-was, and explaining how they found another start system with a dozen or so planets and a host of moons, all ripe for terraforming.  They don't explain how they got there, found it, etc, or explain if there is FTL in the 'verse (what people in Whedon's world call the sum total of existence).  A short explanation of the politics of the last generation, and the war between the Alliance and the independents.  No mention that I caught about the Anglo-Sino origins of the alliance.  Then we cut to Simon breaking River out of the research facility (a break from the show's time-line), and the story moves 8-9 months into the future on board Serenity, and we find Simon getting ready to jump ship with River, as the conflicts of interest and personality between him and the captain are growing insurmountable.

As the movie moves forward, we meet a few new characters, including Mr. Universe, a tech wizard that feels like he should have been in the show (the way the movie tosses him out) but wasn't.  We also meet the Operative, a sociopath that puts Jayne, River and the bounty hunter Jubal (not in this movie) to shame with his ability to kick ass and not care about the whys of his orders.  As Inara tells us, he is a believer, and that makes him very dangerous.

The Operative, in fact, out thinks and out fights Mal at every turn and crosses any line to get River back for the sake of the Alliance and its good reputation.  In fact, it is not until Reynolds crosses a line that even the Operative would not consider, that he finds he may have met his match.

So, I won't spoil anything here, but we will see some growth between Simon and Kaylee, as their feelings are put to the test.  We will learn why River is so tormented, but not really the reason why the Alliance experimented on her in the first place (we are left to conclude that she is just a weapon project gone wrong).  There will be some tear jerking moments as Wash and Zoe reach a turning point in their marriage.  Lots of one liners from Jayne and Mal.  And more Reavers than you can shake a dismembered corpse at.

I'm going to write more, later today, and either password the posting OR put it on delayed publish so that it will appear on Saturday, so that I can vent about the things that would ruin the plot/suspense for people.  Some of them are "how cool is that", some of them are "Whedon, you bastard".

Comments

[Ken]

"Turning point." Well put.

[Sean]

Good take!