The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Serenity

Directed & Written by Joss Whedon

by [irulan]

Let me first say that is not necessary to have watched the short-lived TV series Firefly to enjoy this movie. You will mostly likely enjoy it more though if you have seen it; it is like visiting old and dear friends. You will also already know about the subtle relationships between certain characters and therefore take more enjoyment from their banter. 

For those of you who did not watch Firefly, here is a little background information. It is a western set in space and created by the great Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) and canceled in the middle of its first season, after the episodes were carelessly (and disrespectfully in my opinion) shown out of order. Despite the lack of faith from Fox, the show gained a large fan base. When the first season in its entirety was released on DVD, the fans showed how much they loved it by purchasing hundreds of thousands of copies. Therefore, Whedon was able to convince the proverbial “powers that be” to make Serenity, a full length motion picture featuring the same cast from Firefly.

Serenity picks up a storyline that Firefly fans often wondered about – the secret history of River Tam and her brother Simon. These two join the regular crew of Serenity, obviously hiding a mysterious past. River is a young and troubled woman whom Simon must constantly take care of. We learn that at a young age, due to telepathic abilities and a natural tendency to question the norms, she was taken by the Alliance (the government/dictatorship that rules over the galaxy) and experimented upon. The movie reveals how Simon rescued her and how a secret she didn’t know she held inside of her is threatening the Alliance. Captain Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of Serenity must choose to protect and help them or ditch them at the first available moment.

The dialogue is well done and everything one would expect from a mind such as Joss Whedon’s. Everything from the occasional cursing in Chinese to the kooky banter between Mal and Jayne to Wash’s sarcasm and wit to the musings of the articulate assassin truly make this movie worth every dime you paid to rent or purchase it. Sure there are some fine space battles, one on one combats, and top-notch scary Reaver moments – but Whedon’s ability to weave the interaction and relationships between the characters genuinely rivet the attention of the movie-goer. He did the same in Buffy and Angel.

The only thing missing from the movie? The theme song! I was disappointed by that, but I assumed that Fox did not want to give up rights to it.



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