Review: Serenity (2005)

Directed by Joss Whedon
Written by Joss Whedon

Nathan Fillion …. Capt. Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds
Gina Torres …. Zoë
Alan Tudyk …. Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburn
Morena Baccarin …. Inara Serra
Adam Baldwin …. Jayne Cobb
Jewel Staite …. Kaylee Frye
Sean Maher …. Dr. Simon Tam
Summer Glau …. River Tam
Ron Glass …. Shepherd Derrial Book
David Krumholtz …. Mr. Universe
Chiwetel Ejiofor …. The Operative
Michael Hitchcock …. Dr. Mathias
Sarah Paulson
Yan Feldman …. Mingo
Raphael Feldman …. Fanty

I’ve been promising a review of Joss Whedon‘s new movie “Serenity.” Well, here it is.

Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year.

Yes, that’s including Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. (of course, that wasn’t hard)

For those of you who have watched Firefly, you know most of the backstory. For those of you who haven’t seen Firefly, run, don’t walk to your nearest Blockbuster to rent the DVD.

Well, if you haven’t run off to get the DVD, I guess I’ll give you some background.

Firefly takes place in a future of haves and have-nots. Space has been colonized. The inner worlds run the Federal government. The North Americans and the Chinese were the ones to colonize the most, thus there is a real mix of Chinese and the cowboy theme througout the series. The inner worlds have been busy sending their unwanted (poor, prision inmates) to the outer worlds to colonize. They send them with the absolute minimum required. Some animal embryos, a few vehicles and then they are off.

Cheap way to colonize worlds really, why pay for all the fancy equipment?

So you have a world where people walk around in cowboy getups, have guns, but have spaceships as well. It makes a strange sort of sense really. If you are on a backwards planet, and your laser piston quits working, you are up a creek.

There was civil war. The outer planets were tired of the inner planets using them, so they revolted. You then get the “Brown Coats”. They fought, they fought and they lost. That’s where this story picks up. Capt. Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds fought in the war. He lost. He’s trying to keep his ideals intact. He bought the ship “Serenity”, a Firefly class transport ship. He smuggles, he does whatever it takes to keep his “Family” going (legal or illegal). Including taking aboard a very smart Doctor Simon Tam and his River Tam. The Federal government is after them in a big way, but you never find out in the series.

So that is the backstory to this film. The backstory for me, is that while I was in Las Vegas, I had found an old friend of mine from high school, who told me that both him and his wife were going to see a preview the next night. My jaw hit the floor. They told me to just show up, and most likely someone would be hawking tickets.
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I did show up, and the lady who had been hawking tickets was gone. I was despondent and wandered around the line where all the Firefly fans were lined up. I was then approached, “You are looking pretty despondent. Here’s a ticket.”. “How much?” I asked, “None, just enjoy the show.”.

Firefly Fans rock.

We go into the screening, after being monitored by studio watchmen, and there are all kinds of banter, and sign waving, and hoping that Joss comes to this preview. Instead, we are treated to seeing Joss on the big screen in front of us (instead of an annoying Fanta commercial). He says the following

“Hi, my name is Joss Whedon . Before we begin the special screening, I have a little story I want to tell you. It’s about a TV show called Firefly.

Firefly went on the air two years ago and was immediately hailed by critics as one of the most canceled shows of the year.

It was ignored and abandoned, and the story should end there–but it doesn’t. Because the people who made the show and the people who saw the show–which is, roughly, the same number of people–fell in love with it a little bit. Too much to let it go. . . . In Hollywood, people like that are called unrealistic, quixotic, obsessive. In my world, they’re called ‘Browncoats.’

This movie should not exist, Failed TV shows don’t get made into major motion pictures–unless the creator, the cast, and the fans believe beyond reason. . . . It is, in an unprecedented sense, your movie.

Which means, if it sucks, it’s your fault”

There is some truth to those words. There is a lot of heart in this film, and it shows it.

It begins with crucial backstory into River Tam. In the beginning you introduced to River being trained in a Federal facility. Her brother then breaks her out, and manages to get her off the planet. A character is introduced, the Operative. He is a dangerous man, because, well, he belives in the Federation. He then talks to the Doctor who allowed River to escape and in the end, he kills the Doctor.

This Movie is all about River and about the Federation. It also explores what happens if a government has too much power. The movie moves at a fast clip while Mal attempts to figure out who/what is hunting River and then he has to go into the midst of every man’s nightmare, the Reavers. The Reavers are set up as “Men who went to the edge of space, and looked past” and became animals/monsters. The truth is probably even more frightening.

The Reavers

are colonists from a planet where the Federation was using drugs in an attempt to pacify the populist in order to control the outlying planets better. The only problem was, it made them so passive that they just sat down, and went to sleep and never woke up again. A small portion of the population went the other way, and became insane lunatics. Those are the Reavers. The Federation created their own boogymen.

The end of the film has Mal (along with the rest of the crew) racing to right the wrong that they have found.

Not everyone makes it either, Joss isn’t afraid of killing people off

Both Book and Wash die in this film, and Joss has said, he plans on making this a three film series.

The film is a filmed beautifully, the story is riveting, and the characters are done so well. I can’t give them justice. I continue to enjoy Adam Baldwin as “Jayne”. Something I’d never thought I’d say about a Baldwin brother.

Go see it, even if you are into films about British guys, with their lamb chops, walking around gardens, or dancing excessive amounts of time. It will be worth your time, I promise.