LET’S CATCH UP. It’s 500 years in the future, Earth has
become overcrowded and its natural resources exhausted. The only solution
is to find new galaxies to populate. Our two superpowers; The United
States of America and China have merged; forming The Alliance: the autocrats
of the known universe. Unwilling to be controlled, a small rebellion
is formed, leading to a Galactic Civil War. The rebellion is quickly
crushed. When not running from self-mutilating cannibals named Reavers,
Rebel leader Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) becomes the Captain of
Serenity, a Firefly-model spacecraft; and moulds an ensemble crew of
mercenaries and smugglers to exist beyond Alliance decree… But
when a young female passenger named River (Summer Glau) exhibits a startling
ability to kick the crap out of everyone, her story is told; and Captain
Reynolds and crew realise an Alliance re-match is inevitable…
Plentiful, are the movie stars who say: “It’s all about the
fans…” when what they actually mean is: “It’s
all about the fans… making me rich.”. Not so with Joss Whedon
- the wunderkind writer/director/producer of Buffy & Angel - as without
the fans, his labours-of-love-not-money Firefly & Serenity would still
be festering in the stinky pit of cancellation. To
explain: Firefly was the much-loved but less-watched Sci-Fi / Western
that was ruined by The Man:- Fox TV axed the feature-length exposition
pilot, opting instead to screen the second episode first, they also moved
the allotted time-slot each week making it hard for fans to keep up,
and ultimately cancelled the show before the conclusion of the first
series.
But the stubbornness of Whedon to not let his project die, paired with the devotion of the Browncoats (The Firefly fans whom raised thousands of dollars to print a ‘Thank You’ to the shows creators in a national magazine) and the huge sales of the Firefly DVD led to Whedon being given the green light to create Serenity, a full-scale all-out action-adventure. Of course, none of this really matters. What is important is that Serenity happens to be the best Sci-Fi Action / Adventure film in years and one of the most enjoyable films you’ll ever see.
The trick when making the transition from the small-screen to the silver-screen is to make it accessible to the those uninitiated; (people are unwilling to be confused) and also make it progressive and fresh to those already clued-in (people are unwilling to be placated). As tricky as this balance is, Serenity does it perfectly. After a brief (re)introduction to the characters and our softly-spoken homicidal antagonist The ‘I’m a monster’ Operative (Chiwetal Ejiofor) the action bubbles terrifically. As the action goes, Serenity is too smart a film to stoop for any sub-Matrix flo-mo gubbins, this is old-school fast-talking, fast-shooting action, Tex.
What elevates Serenity light-years (ouch) beyond its contemporaries is Joss Whedon. With the crew of Serenity, he has created a whip-smart crew you really care about. The story is intelligent and beautifully crafted – too bright to fall for passé pitfalls – and the special effects far surpass their station, but what really sticks is that Serenity has been given a lick of paint that others can’t match: a genuine love and devotion from its writer/director/producer, pulling out all the stops needed to keep Serenity alive. And damn entertaining.
Those who weren’t so taken with the smart (pearly-white) mouth of Buffy or Angel need not be troubled by Serenity; it is an all together darker, meaner affair. Gone are the light-hearted Scoobygangisms, replaced is the need to survive; our heroes have become anti-heroes, willing to take a kicking, a bullet or even die... to survive. Plus River could kick the snot out of Buffy no problem.
Another key factor to Serenity’s success as a film is its ability to transport the audience back to pre-pubescence, to a time when cynicism had yet to ravage our enjoyment of mainstream cinema. The cast of Serenity are virtually unknowns but all contribute 1000% to their film. Captain Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) has been touted as the next Harrison Ford; bringing humanity, depth and wry humour to his ruthless action-hero role.
Serenity is a strange beast; it’s a Sci-Fi film with no aliens, a Western with no horses, but it’s all fantastic, every molecule. The tragedy is that this film is that its poor box-office takings suggest it may only be appreciated by those privy to discovering under-appreciated cinematic gems (the geeks) when what it really deserves is an audience as wide as Saturn’s rings (oww); allowing the saga to develop through a further nine or ten episodes, if I had my way.
Joss Whedon asked when trying to resuscitate his Firefly / Serenity project: “When does CPR become Necrophilia?” but with this wonderful film gaining the audience it deserves in DVD, it could see life in the ol’ ship yet.