(Non-spoiler review)
September 30th, 2005 dawned, Serenity opened, and Joss Whedon made a case for being one of the best writers in the history of pictures that move. If you’ve watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, or Firefly (the series upon which Serenity was based) then you would likely agree that Joss Whedon has a knack for taking stock characters and previously used ideas and creating unique, dynamic, character-driven and dialogue-rich series.
Firefly was Whedon’s take on science fiction that aired in late 2002. 500 years in our future rapid population growth forced outward expansion and humans set up shop in a nearby galaxy. The prosperous, government controlled central planets were ruled by the Alliance while outer rim planets and moons were terraformed and populated with settlers who had to eek out existence in much the same way America’s early settlers did. This creates a true western-in-space scenario. In this setting a Firefly class ship named Serenity manned by a rag tag crew operates on whichever side of the law will net them quick cash and keep them out of the reach of the Alliance. A random passenger pick-up finds them in possession of a young girl the Alliance is desperately wanting to get back. And it is there that their true adventure begins.
If you haven’t heard of it or haven’t seen it this isn’t surprising. As a series it failed. Fox’s choice to air the show sporadically, out of chronological order, and to only show 11 out of 14 completed episodes went a long way towards Firefly‘s demise. Despite that and due in large part to the faithfulness of those who watched Firefly and the ability to convert fans via the DVD collection, Firefly spawned a cult following which has been rewarded with Whedon’s motion picture follow-up, Serenity.
Serenity begins approximately 4 months after the last episode of Firefly and Whedon does a masterful job of introducing the characters and universe without rehashing a lot of the things that Firefly fans have already seen. I was stunned with how well this was handled. In fact when the movie was over I was completely stunned. I sat watching the credits in awe, proclaiming Whedon as the creator of one of the greatest science fiction movies ever. Whedon has created and populated a science fiction universe with characters that are real, human, and flawed but at the same time can be noble, loyal, and heroic. Whedon writes the characters and dialogue in such a way that you can’t help becoming deeply attached to them…a fact which makes it all the more frustrating that this show is not on weekly. There is so much I enjoy about this series and film starting with the fact that much of the dialogue is an amalgam of old Westerns, Whedon-slang, and Chinese cursing. Yes, they curse in Chinese…it is wonderful. The Asian and Western influences in the look, feel, and dialogue of this universe makes for a unique and entertaining vision of the future.
The special effects are terrific in this film and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a film that balanced action, drama, humor, adventure, suspense, violence, grief, and romance so perfectly. So much happens in this 2 hour film and yet Whedon handles all the aspects of this film so well and doesn’t cheat the viewer in any way. The actors chosen for the various roles in Firefly/Serenity could not be better cast. Each one infuses their character with such life and dimension and you find yourself caring so much about each and every one of them regardless of how sweet or how roguish they are.
This is probably one of the hardest reviews I’ve had to write mainly because I don’t want to reveal anything at all about the film. If you are a fan of science fiction, there honestly hasn’t been a movie this good in decades, perhaps since The Empire Strikes Back. If you are a fan of good film in general then you still need to see this. Its hard for me to know how this film will play for those who haven’t watched Firefly. Reviews I’ve read indicate, and I agree, that Whedon has crafted a truly stand-alone film that scores high marks without any former knowledge of the characters. That being said I appreciate having had such a strong emotional connection to all the characters going in as it increased the dramatic impact of the experience for me.
I was not exaggerating at all when I said that I was stunned at the end of this film. I walked out of the theatre feeling numb…I was so completely taken in and blown away with this film. I still am. I cannot wait to see this movie again. Go see the film. Rent or borrow the DVD’s and watch ALL of Firefly…it builds and has such incredible episodes. Serenity is the science fiction movie that I have been longing to see for so long and I am nearly as impressed as I was when I was a kid and sat being awed by Star Wars for the first time.
If you haven’t seen the film and intend to I encourage you to stay out of the comments section as I intend to make that an ALL Spoilers section. Believe me when I say that you do not want this filmed spoiled for you. If you’ve seen the movie please jump in and lets chat about this thing. I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts.
I watched the series when it was on. It had a lousy time slot and, as you said, they kept skipping weeks. Not a good way to keep an audience interested. I take it they explained more about the girl?
I’ve read several reviews now of Serenity. Here is one I really enjoy.
Oh yes…do you want to go see this together Nick? I’m sure Mary would love to see it again! Wow, you were quick, I just posted!
Big Spoilers
As a Firefly fan this movie was all I hoped for and more. I can’t believe with all the special screenings they held over the summer I didn’t hear about the deaths. I kind of guessed Book was in trouble when I didn’t see him on the advertising and he wasn’t in the film much but when Wash was killed I was stunned. I truely thought someone else wouldn’t make it to the end. I love a lot of the characters for varied reasons but Zoe is my favorite and I didn’t think she was going to make it after Wash died. Which made it even harder seeing her at the end with the exchange with Mal in the hanger bay. I teared up.
So many other things to love about the film. The explanation for the Reavers was great. Jane’s one liners. Kaylee and the Doc getting together. I also loved the gentleman that played the assassin. They made him a believeable bad guy. He wasn’t stupid or crazy but reminded me more of a Lex Luthor type. Smart but driven by the wrong reasons. I loved how the special effects didn’t overwhelm the movie but added to it. This is the kind of writing and character development we all wanted to see in the last three SW films.
I’m so glad we got to have this film as fans. It’s truely a miracle in this day and age for this film to have gotten made. Now I’m just holding out hope for a Wonderfalls movie! 🙂
Great review Carl! You captured just the way I felt at the end of the film, too. I sat through all of the credits just stunned. Keri came home with red eyes from crying the night before when she saw it and I couldn’t blame her. This is now my favorite sci-fi movie period. As much as I love SW and ST these are the kinds of characters I wanted to see in those films. Love that UK Serenity poster, too.
Big Spoilers
Great thoughts, Jeff. I was so shocked when Wash got killed. I couldn’t believe it. And though a small part of me wanted it to somehow not be real I’m glad Whedon didn’t cheese it up and left him dead. I thought for sure Zoe was going to bite it after that but it made it more powerful that she didn’t.
I liked the way they let Kaylee and Simon get together and I liked the hint at the romance between Mal and Inara at the end.
The whole ending sequence including Mal’s statements to River had me tearing up.
Are we going to go see this again??? I mean, WOW, we’ve got to!!!
Great review Carl. I hid mine behind a password because it is more of a what happened in Serenity rather than a review. If you want to read and comment then the password is the name of the planet.
I’m actually more excited to be going this Thurs than I was going to see it for the first time. I was so careful to try and keep my expectations low. I needent have worried.
I was in total shock when I came out of the cinema. Not just because of the deaths, but because the whole film was so excellent. But then I faced this long wait before I got to go see it again. Well, my tickets are bought, come thurs I’ll be in screen #1 again (pity, it is the small one) for the preview. And I’m guessing that I’ll be at the kino again come the actual opening on Fri. And maybe sat too 🙂 I love my Serenity, and my unlimited card that lets me go again and again and again.
Explain what the unlimited card thing is, Fence, if you would. I’ve seen you mention this before.
Yes, it is an entirely excellent film. It was really nice to go into a film with high expectations and come out blown away. I’m hoping to go see it again very soon!
I haven’t seen the film yet but it looks good. I might give it a go!
Michele sent me~!
Glad you came and visited, PE! Run, don’t walk, to see Serenity!!!
The unlimited card is god’s gift to people who like me who visit the cinema a lot, but aren’t too fond of shelling out huge money for films that may very well be crap. I pay 17 euro a month and get to see as many films as I want.
Of course I’d pay to see films like The Corpse Bride and Serenity if I didn’t have the card, but it means I can take more risks about what I go see and not have to deal with that terrible “I just payed a tenner for this piece of fei-oo” 😉
more cinemas should do it.
That is a sweet idea. I wish they would do that over here, there definitely certain times of the year where I would take full advantage of that.
As far as I know UGC cinemas (who have been taken over recently by Cineworld) are the only cinemas to do it. Pity they only have the one here in Ireland. UGC were a French company, not sure bout Cineworld
I loved this movie!!! It ranks right up there as one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the incredible characters and my desires for adventure, love, belonging and some cool fighting were greatly satisfied!! It’s definitely the best sci -fi movie I’ve ever seen. I actually forgot I was watching sci-fi, which will help broaden the audience for this movie. I did a lot of gasping and squealing during the film!! Great fun!!
Oh yeah, We are definitely going to go see this again!
I hated seeing Wash get killed. He was by far my favorite character from Firefly. I can relate to Wash. He loved his wife and wanted to be as brave as she and even tried a few times in the tv series. With as little as he was in this movie we probably should have seen it coming. I respect Whedon for being brave enough and believing in his writing enough to kill off what I consider a core character.
All the years of watching sci-fi movies the fact everyone lives and it’s all flowers at the end just gets old. Especially in ST you never even fear the death of someone important because you know the writers would be lost after losing even one of them.
I think Joss just has a clear plan and goal with this series and it isn’t about just keeping something alive forever so (insert movie company here) can have money.
I think Serenity closes out the tv series so well. Joss is now free to move into a completely new story. If Firefly had stayed a tv series it could bave been two or three seasons before we learned what we have from this 2hr movie. You can now own the 4-disk tv series and this movie and have a complete story to enjoy.
Now we wait, we wait for the next Serenity adventure. I can’t wait!
I love that quote from the UK poster.
“They aim to misbehave”
I agree, it took courage to kill off main characters and it really ups the emotional ante in this movie. I really liked both characters and hate to think that, if there are future Serenity movies, they won’t be there but I still applaud him for doing it. They weren’t deaths just for the sake of killing off characters, they really meant something.
Jeff, forgive me if I miscorrected your wording in your last post. I assume you meant to say that we are definitely going to see this again, but you may have actually meant to say that we are defiantly going to see this again which actually has a “they aim to misbehave” ring to it! 🙂
Serenity was everything I hoped for and more. I was all but grinding my teeth that we were too busy to go see it with everyone on Saturday. When Jeff asked me if I wanted to go see it Sunday night I said yes, but was thinking “Of course I want to go see it. Are you high?” 🙂
I was saddened when Book died, though I wasn’t really suprised. Wash was a complete suprise to me. I was shocked and that was when the cryig started. I didn’t think Zoe would make it out alive, but I was glad when she did. It was heartbreaking to see her in the hanger with Mal.
I thought it interesting to get the origin of the Reavers. It made a lot more sense than the explanation we got in Firefly. It made a bigger impact, too.
The movie being this good makes it all that much harder that the series got cancelled. I want more!
Hey Keri! Jeff said you came home red eyed. I got kind of choked up myself but then had that weird “I’m crying at a science fiction film” thing happen.
Loved the origin of the Reavers and how that played into the bigger picture of the universe. Great stuff. Also loved how Book’s death made such a big impact on Mal in futher shaping the man he is.
Wash was a complete shock, especially in the manner that it happened. I was also really prepared to have them not fix Serenity so I was really glad that they rebuilt her before the movie ended.
Glad to have your comments Keri! And everyone else of course.
This was a fantastic series/movie.
I liked in the movie how we learn about the origin of the ship’s name. Or did we know that from the series?
The villain was so complex. He really made me think.
Hello Carl, Thanks for the visit from Michele! And I am checking out the “Bare Bones HTML” link you have, as I am in need of it for finishing my template work! Thanks again, Doug.
PS: Haven’t seen Serenity yet but is on my weekend list…
Mal named the ship Serenity in the flashback episode ‘Out of Gas’ on the series…one of the best episodes of television ever made in my opinion. I can watch that one again and again.
Let us know what you think after you’ve seen it Doug and thanks for the visit!
Did anyone else find it ironic that Wash was killed by essentialy a giant stake. I mean Joss created Buffy and they killed the vampires by staking them. I thought it was a little weird. Maybe it’s just me reading too much into the movie. At least he didn’t turn to dust.
James’s comments on character deaths are right on. If Star Trek ever returns to TV they need to take a long hard look at Firefly and the current Battlestar Galactica series and see what these series did to make people love the characters so much.
I will also echo my wife’s sentiments – I want more!
In fact I went out and bought the Official Visual Guide to Serenity written by Joss Whedon today along with the souviner Serenity movie magazine because I just don’t want to let go of this story yet. Amazon also lists a Serenity original series novel coming out next summer written by an excellent Trek novelist ( sorry not Peter David – James ). So at least the story can continue on in novel form even if we never get another movie or tv series. The recent Serenity comic also was good. Hopefully Joss might pen some more Serenity comics. The collected edition of the recent mini-series which takes place between the end of the series and movie comes out this December so everyone who doesn’t already have the individual issues can add it to your Christmas lists.
I’m going to have to check into getting that magazine! I think character deaths are important but I’m not entirely convinced that main characters always need to die in television series to make them good. I enjoyed the original Trek series, the last few seasons of Next Gen and all of Voyager and I know some of you really enjoyed DS9. I think they just rushed Enterprise out too soon and needed to take a break. Yes they can learn something from BG and Firefly but it I think there is a place in the entertainment industry for science fiction that doesn’t have to be dark and gritty and can still be well written and entertaining…hopefully Trek will come back to that someday. I think where Firefly and BG succeed is that the characters are just more real. They are flawed but not for the sake of just having a flawed character but because they are trying to represent a more accurate human being, warts and all.
I do agree that for a series of Firefly’s nature that a main character’s death was inevitable if the television series continued or it would’ve been in danger of going against the tenor of the show. I still hate that Wash was one of them but I can’t honestly say I’d rather have one character die over the others…I was sucked in and cared for all of them.
SPOILERS for FIREFLY episodes
I don’t think that deaths per se are neccesary for good tv. But the feeling that someone might die is, and often you only get to that point by killing a character. I mean when first watching the pilot didn’t you think that Kaylee was dead? I did. For two main reasons, 1 – pilot episode so things change 2 – Past Joss experience.
And in the Ariel episode, where Mal has Jayne in the airlock. Didn’t you think that was it for Jayne? I mean, we’d seen Mal kill. We’d seen Jayne betray the crew. It was almost inevitable that Jayne should have died. But no, he says that one little line and makes Mal reconsider.
But the excellent thing about Firefly and Serenity is that no matter who died it still would’ve felt terrible. No character was expendable, but they were all at risk.
I agree Fence, I agree.
Thank’s for the great review! I must see it now. I’m sure I will like it. Hell, I liked Battlefield Earth and Waterworld so this movie can’t lose with me!
i am so glad i went into the movie not knowing any spoilers!.. i usually do, and this would have totally ruined it for me!
i’m surprised the deaths were kept as quiet as they were.. usually, you get the occasional posts on various sites that give away key things like that.. especially when they’re shocking.
as much as i hate that Wash got killed off, i can see where it was essential for us to get that feel that none of the crew (except Mal) were safe from death.. it gave us more suspense & dread.
Krista, if those are your movies for comparison then you will definitely LOVE Serenity!!! 🙂
I too am glad I remained spoiler free…I stayed off sites and didn’t read reviews just so I could maintain that.
I meant to comment on your stake comment earlier Jeff…it really is amusing in its own way that Joss killed Wash with a giant stake. Doesn’t take away from how horrified I was that it happened but does indeed give a nod to Whedon’s Buffy origins.
There is a Big Damn Essay that mentions that perhaps Mr. Universe is us, the fans. Always at the edge of the action, helping to keep the signal going. So what it means that Joss killed us I don’t know.
Of course Wash is often regarded as the character representing Joss, so what should we think about Joss killing himself 🙂
Taking that analogy a bit farther, since Mr. Universe was killed but part of what made him Mr. Universe..his equipment, etc…also had a smaller, hidden back up then maybe Whedon killed only the more crazed fans but keeps the signal going through the less ostentatious but equally effective back up fans…. 😉
I read on that site that Ron Glass had asked to be written out due to health reasons and that Alan Tudyk may have had too many other commitments to be able to guarantee availability for future films and thus Whedon had his hand forced in regards to killing off characters. True or not both deaths worked but I still would’ve liked the movie just fine if Wash hadn’t been killed.
Just got back from seeing Serenity for the second time…went with Jeff to the 9:55 pm showing. It was just as amazing the second time around. Got to look around and take in more of the movie. I’m so impressed by the flight scenes, the way they are filmed and the sounds…between this movie and the opening scene in Revenge of the Sith I’m just blown away by how cool space battles and flight can be portrayed. Awesome stuff!
The plan is to see it again this Saturday afternoon with Nick since she hasn’t seen it and that will also give Mary and opportunity to see it again. You’re all welcome to join us!!!
Angela, I was also amazed at how people didn’t go out of there to spoil the death’s in this movie. Usually it seems if you travel around to people’s boards, blogs, etc. someone will spill some huge plot point to a movie but with this movie it didn’t happen. It’s like everyone respected just how good this movie was and how it made them feel and they truely didn’t want to spoil that for anyone else. It was just very cool.
I also enjoyed the movie even more the second time around. I was able to relax and really take more in. It was also great hearing others reactions to scenes. I could easily see this film again today. I’m looking forward to several films this holiday season ( Harry Potter, King Kong, Chronicles of Narnia ) and I’m sure they will be great but I can’t imagine any of them will touch me the way this film has and that’s ok. 🙂
I can’t wait to see this on Friday! I became a fast fan of “Firefly” over the weekend, as hubby and I watched the entire series! I don’t want it to be over! I read the spoilers on the net, so I was not surprised by any of the comments. Hubby is in the dark, but he saw the soundtrack online and said he was skeptical about all the characters’ fates because of the “song” titles. (“Shephard Book’s Last Words” is one of the pieces.)
Glad to hear that you and your hubby have joined the Browncoats Nat! It is/was such an amazing show. Its too bad that it is going downhill so fast as far as viewing goes. It did very poorly this past weekend and most likely won’t last long in theatres. Its a real shame as this is arguably one of the best science fiction movies ever filmed not to mention a great film in comparison to films in all genres.