Review: Serenity

It gives me so much satisfaction to actually review this one before Nomad that I'm as giddy as a school girl. Well okay, that's not exactly true. And I'm sure Nomad will post his own thoughts, if they ever let him out of work. So on to the movie...

Short version: I loved it, Muse hated it.

Longer version: So after we had talked a while and had dinner, she didn't really hate it as much as she was just not happy with a couple of things. Some I agree with and others I don't. The things I do agree with were the only issues I had with the movie. 1) The song wasn't in the movie. It's not really Serenity without that theme song! 2)Technically there were a couple of moments when the words were muffled by other sounds. Thankfully this was not often, but often enough to cause annoyance when it did happen. 3) I can't talk about because it's a MAJOR spoiler that no one will see coming unless you've already read about all the spoilers on the web (like Nomad.) And I mean seriously, you will not see this one coming. But that's all I can say.

The good points were many: The writing was still great with typical witty lines thrown in at just the right moment to break the tension, the action was very well done and also very much a step up from the show, and there is actual character development still going on, and the acting is still excellent.

The movie's main antagonist is an Alliance man, but that's pretty much all you see from the Alliance. None of the freaky blue-gloved men in this particular part of the story. However, there are tons of Reavers all over the screen pretty much from start to finish. Whedon was obviously aware of what a great creation his fans thought the Reavers were, and he tapped into the disappointment of how little they showed up in the series. Not only are the Reavers in the story from start to finish, but they actually play a major role as all that we have been told about the origins of these horrors turns out to be not entirely true.

So what will fans think? It's hard to tell. I liked it a lot, Muse didn't. My in-laws (who we got hooked on the series) liked it as well, and both of them dislike Sci-fi. So it's hard to say. Our audience seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, and the emotion was certainly palpable as the crew goes through the challenges they are trying to overcome in this film. I imagine people will walk away with different takes, but I enjoyed it and it was great to see the Serenity and its crew back on the screen.