Serenity Didn't Damage My Calm

There's an small group of ever revolving movies in my DVD collection that are needed if no other movie, tv program, book or comic can satisfy my need for entertainment. When you spend ages looking through the video cabinet looking for something to watch, and nothing seems appealing at that very moment (too dumb / too inteligent / too whimsical / too gory) then a few movies always seem to hit the spot. Joss Whedon's Serenity, the movie spin-off from the cancelled science-fiction western TV show Firefly, is one such film.

The movie takes everything that was great about the TV show, keeps what was working perfectly, then improves upon everything else. So what made the TV show work? Primarily it's the perfect ensemble cast (perhaps only Robin of Sherwood could match a cast this size for quality) paired with the best characters and dialogue in the business. Yes Firefly was a action packed sci-fi adventure show...but that wasn't the main appeal. With these characters you could have them locked in a black room for an hour each week and it would still be the funniest, most entertaining thing you'd see.

Leading the bunch is everyman Nathan Fillian (a self confessed Harrison Ford wannabe). It's official; every movie should star Nathan Fillian. Funny, charismatic, complex...moral yet ruthless, Fillian's Mal Reynolds represents the Han Solo TV series you never got...only better. Best of all, his firefly captain is flawed and imperfect, and Fillian's not afraid to ridicule himself, given an opportunity. As usual, the rest of the cast is more than up to matching their leading man's wit, especially Adam Baldwin as Jayne, the tough, not always bright, plain speaking merc who's (usually) in it for himself.

One of the miracles of the movie is the complexity of the script, which is distilled down to a brisk, consise, two hour running time. Not only does it have the job of introducing all the regulars from the tv series, but the series backstory as well including the universe, the character's relationships, the politics and the story so far. Add to that a new plot which ties up the main plot line of the series while introducing a couple more characters to the mix, notably Chiwetal Ejiofor's cold assassain and David Krumholtz's super-hacker, Mr Universe. It's all held together by the wittiest dialogue that Whedon can muster. The script's layered with subtext with a discussion going on about a modernist vision of society (the Alliance's point of view...making people better) vs a post-modern society (Mal's fragmented and old-fashioned stance). Pity Whedon's visual vision isn't as strong as his script, but he's never poor enough to do a disservice to the story.

The other miracle of course is that the movie got released at all. Firefly was cancelled mid-season, and in the States not all of it's 15 episodes were transmitted. Thank Budda than for the army of Browncoats, loyal Firefly fans, that campaigned for the adventures of the Serenity crew to be resurrected on the big screen. Always good to spend some time in the Whedonverse.