For what it's worth, Ravenus' review of...
SERENITY - Joss Whedon
At the outset I have to say I'm not one of the dyed-in-the-wool Joss Whedon fans. I have not seen the Firefly series of which this film is an offshoot and the VERY little I saw of Buffy The Vampire Slayer did nothing to enthuse me towards watching it. That said, Serenity is one of the really enjoyable futuristic action romps I've seen recently and essentially captures the mixture of swashbuckling adventure with attention-worthy story-telling that was so sorely missing from other recent efforts in this genre.
Serenity starts off explosively, introducing characters and establishing plot-points with a celerity that's ovation-worthy in this (post-LOTR) time of hideously-extended film narratives. A psychic girl who is being tapped by the Big Brother-esque Alliance government to become a living weapon is rescued by her brother. As pursuit for the fugitives begins with a mission-obsessed Operative leading the hunt, the siblings hook up with the Serenity, a smuggler ship helmed by the Han Solo inspired Captain Mal and his crew. Mal gives them boarding on his vessel; in return, much to the brother's displeasure, he uses the girl's psychic powers to aid his felonies. In one such expedition, her psychic powers help to save them from a universally dreaded race of cannibal marauders, the Reavers.
Things get significantly more hairy for Capt. Mal with his stealth-profile blown when the waif-like girl River suddenly breaks out as an unstoppable fighting machine racking up a score of beatdowns in a bar, seemingly triggered by the word, “Miranda”. With the Alliance hot on their heels and ruthlessly staking out all their hiding places, Mal decides to unravel the mystery of Miranda. This leads to a thrill-packed adventure with the Serenity crew battling seemingly impossible odds against both the Alliance and the Reavers, and discovering the secret that the Alliance is working so desperately to keep from being revealed.
To Whedon's writing credit the story always moves along at an invigorating pace adequately peppered with action sequences, and there is a new turn at every corner. The central plot point of the Alliance's secret is a worthy premise for the entire proceedings. The main characters are fairly well-drawn, especially Capt. Mal, River and the Operative (albeit a philosophy-spouting black man wielding a samurai sword is just too derivative of another SF movie series) though apart from Mal's deputy Zoe, an able and mature female protagonist, the rest of Serenity's crew can be described without losing much detail as the geeky pilot, the mushy engineer and the big lug (Firefly viewers may be able to draw more from them).
The Futuristic-meets-Western look of the film, which draws a lot from John Barry's work for Star Wars, is commendable. The cast are generally apt for their roles, although Nathan Fillion as Mal lacks the devil-may-care charisma that Harrison Ford brought to Han Solo and he also seems uncomfortable with the physical action sequences. Summer Glau as River is both convincing as an actress and a visual delight when she breaks out into her balletic action routine. Gina Torres brings presence and a controlled fire to her role as Mal's deputy Zoe.
Weak points: While Whedon's writing is generally good, he suffers from being too much in love with the sound of his words and it sometimes feels like adventure game where every dialog option is being accessed regardless of its value to the proceedings. Also, he is horribly inept at writing and directing romance or emotional scenes and most of these play out in a cringing amateur fashion. Thankfully these are at a minimum in the packed narrative of Serenity and most of the film benefits from yarn-spinning and vigorous action that easily matches the best of the old-skool SF adventure films.
