Serenity

  Spoiler alert! I discuss important plot details, if you haven’t seen this decade old movie based on a failed TV show and don’t want to know what happens then go watch it before you read my review. The movie is good, you’ll enjoy it.
  Outlaw Mal Reynolds and his crew of intergalactic bandits pick up a new passenger, a psychic named River Tam. River is being hunted by an operative of the Alliance, the chief government of the galaxy. Can Mal protect River and his crew while exposing the hidden crimes of the Alliance?
  While I’ve never seen the TV series that preceded it, for some reason I ended up watching Serenity in theaters during its release in 2005. I enjoyed the movie at the time, and years later I bought the DVD on a whim. Watching it recently, I was initially puzzled why I owned this movie, but by the time the film was over I was reminded why I liked it.
  Firefly is a cult TV show, and while I don’t fully understand all of the appeal, as a fan of weird things and sci-fi in general it’s hard not to like it at least a little. A sci-fi Western where all of the characters curse in Chinese? Sure, why not. I find it kind of strange that this movie even exists given that the show was cancelled during its first season due to poor ratings. I know Twin Peaks had a movie after it was cancelled, but that series was initially popular and had a lot of buzz around it, it also had a second season. I’m assuming Serenity was made due to the then growing power of creator Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed it. Whedon’s influence has only continued to gain momentum, as he has transformed from a TV writer to a director of huge blockbusters. If the man had just created Buffy the Vampire Slayer that would be enough to make him a geek legend, but giving nerds a live action Avengers movie ensures that his name will live on in internet chat rooms and comic conventions forever. He also wrote The Cabin in the Woods, which is a fucking awesome horror movie. Joss Whedon is the man.
  Like I said before, while I was watching the beginning of this movie I was wondering why I had purchased it given that I had never seen the TV show. The short answer is the story and the characters. The heroes in Serenity are a little more fleshed out then your average sci-fi characters, and Whedon is known for infusing his dialogue with wit and charm. Some of the protagonists are killed off, and the movie is good at making these deaths feel genuinely sad. A lot of movies slaughter cardboard characters left and right and nobody gives a damn, but seeing some of the people in Serenity get the axe was moving. I don’t think this is an easy thing to accomplish, but Whedon does it here and the movie is more compelling for that reason.
  The ideas in this are also something I found interesting. The movie explores the theme of control, and the pressures to conform to a society that manipulates individuals to no end. Anyone with adult responsibilities can probably relate to what the movie is talking about, I know I’m frequently stressed out by a system that often seems inhuman. Mal and the crew of Serenity oppose the overwhelming control of the Alliance, they are individualists trying to make their own way in a universe torn apart by power struggles. Later on in the film the good guys discover a planet where something killed the population in the midst of their daily routines, with the few that survived becoming the violently insane, space cannibals known as Reavers. It was the Alliance that caused all of this misery, they were trying to chemically control the population with a calming gas, with disastrous results. Control is not always a good thing, the movie is arguing, and too much control can be harmful.
  Characters and story aside, I thought Serenity had a good protagonist and villain. Nathan Fillion plays a square jawed anti-hero to good effect, he isn’t amazing but you like him enough and I found his back story intriguing as he is essentially a Confederate soldier living in the aftermath of a war his side lost. Chiwetel Ejiofor is frightening as the Operative because of the calm, collected way he murders innocent people. He is an idealist who thinks that the end justifies the means. At one point this villain admits to Mal that he knows he is a monster, and that he will not have a place in the world he is trying to create.
  One thing that is worth noting about Serenity is that while the movie does contain a climactic battle between the hero and villain, the hero does not kill the villain. After Mal beats up the Operative he forces him to watch video evidence proving that the Alliance wiped out that planet I mentioned earlier. After seeing this the Operative changes his position, and agrees with Mal. In 99% of these things the hero and villain can’t agree on anything, and one of them uses violence to take out the other. To see a movie where the bad guy actually learns the error of his ways was refreshing, and it felt natural to the story. Kudos to Joss for achieving this without it feeling forced in any way.
  If the Reavers are insane cannibals then how are they able to pilot and maintain space ships? And why don’t they wipe each other out? I understand this movie is a Western and the Reavers are the stand in for indians/Native Americans, but if you think about it they’re basically savage astronauts, which doesn’t really make any sense.  
  I don’t think you need to be a fan of the Firefly TV show to enjoy Serenity, the movie explains enough of the lore to give newcomers an idea of what’s going on. I’m sure fans of the show will get more out of this film, but I would recommend Serenity to anyone who likes good science fiction.