Watching Serenity is kind of like being invited to a party filled with interesting people involved in a complicated business, none of whom you've ever met before. It doesn't take long to figure out who's who as they're all archetypical characters, but the entire time, you can't help but feel like you're missing out on something.
Based on the short-lived television series Firefly, Serenity tells the story of a down on its luck spaceship crew in the distant future. It's sort of a cross between Star Trek, Star Wars and an old Western TV show from the fifties. Like Star Trek, it follows the adventures of a spaceship, like Star Wars the crew is opposed to a large galactic empire and like a Western, the setting is the wild frontier. The clothes and even the dialogue are also highly reminiscent of a Western. It's an interesting amalgam of ideas that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.
The general thrust of the plot involves an agent of the government following the Serenity (which is the name of the ship), in an effort to recapture River, a young girl who's not only a psychic but one hell of a fighter. Trained by the government to be their agent, River was rescued by her doctor brother and they've been taken on as refugees by the crew of Serenity. While I'm guessing most of this was detailed in the series, it is given a reprise here at the beginning of the movie.
During the course of the chase across space, other things do happen in an episodic manner. In fact, you can almost see where the episodes would start and end if this were still on television. Supporting characters come and go (some quite violently) but they are introduced so quickly that it's hard to care, unless you are already familiar with them. The fan reaction from others in the theater when I saw this movie was loud and raucous whenever a familiar face appeared, but to me they were just minor characters.
The cast, mostly unknowns, are all quite good, but even they are given less time to develop as characters than they probably should be if this was their first introduction. Nathan Fillion is excellent as the Captain of Serenity and is clearly the star of the show. The rest of the crew though is never given enough time to become three-dimensional.
Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, writes and directs the movie and the script is filled with lots of Whedonisms. There are the witty remarks following a fight, quirky dialogue and (inevitably) an inspiring speech by the Captain. Although this marks Whedon's feature directorial debut, he had already directed numerous Buffy and Angel episodes. He handles things nicely, keeping the pace moving, but I only wish he had looked at the movie more closely with the eyes of someone new to this universe.
I'm sure fans of Firefly will love this movie. It's a nice gift to them. The rest of us though, might be left wondering what all the fuss is about. Now if Whedon ever decides to do an Angel or Buffy movie, I'll be watching with rapt attention from inside the devoted fan circle.
