Serenity

I finally got Serenity via Netflix today. There will be spoilers in this post.



My reaction: thanks a lot, you sadists who convinced me to watch all 14 episodes of Firefly, and then this movie. Now I shall be haunted by the desire for a show that was canceled well before its time.

As for the movie itself, I think I had to squelch a little of the temptation I get to scold the makers of movie-from-a-tv-show for having to spend part of the movie "explaining" a lot of things that are already common knowledge, in an attempt to help it be a "stand-alone" film. Other than a slightly slower, slightly frustrating pacing during the first 30-45 minutes I was ok with it. Some of the writing wasn't quite as good as the tv show either...not as much playful banter. I suppose they were intentionally going

The only other negative factor I felt was that the characters seemed a little different from the series. My understanding that the movie was supposed to basically pick up where the series left off, but maybe I have that wrong. Mal was a lot meaner and antagonistic (especially with Simon) then he eventually became in the course of the tv show...so that seemed a little "off" to me.

One thing I thought was kind of interesting was what the writing process for the movie must have been like for the creative team, knowing that it was the end of the road; no going back to carrying on the tv show indefinitely. I'm guessing that's what freed them up to make choices like killing off main characters.

I especially liked the twist of bringing the Reaver fleet on top of the Alliance fleet. I think I giggled a little bit. There was a tad too much unbelievability in Mal's ability to fight such a highly-trained assassin, and to take such a beating/shooting/stabbing, and still be 80-90% functional, but that's what makes him the heroic archetype, I guess.

All in all...a good movie, darn it. I'm left wanting more.