Muse's Review: Serenity

Disclaimer: I have never seen any of Whedon's television shows, except Firefly.

I didn't actually hate the movie, I was just really, really, strongly-emotioned after it was over. And as Ward can tell you, I continued to strongly emote for some time following the movie. I missed Firefly's theme song, and felt that there really wasn't one particular theme song for this movie. But I admit that I prefer to watch movies more than once in order to get the fullest experience possible. Perhaps next time, I'll focus more on the musical overatures, if there really are any. I also really missed the use of the Chinese language and culture in this movie. The Chinese language, while I cannot understand what they are really saying just adds another dimension to Firefly, and Serenity just barely had a few of such phrases. I also thought that each character was stripped down, so the new viewers really missed out, whereas the Firefly fans already "knew" some of the real depth that each character really had tapped into during the short 13 episodes of the show. I think this is especially true of Jayne. He had come so far in the television show, but he seemed almost an insolent little boy in the movie. Simon kept waffling between trying to be Neo-like in stance, to Tyler Durden, to regular old Simon. 'Nara looked pretty, and was still smart, but she didn't seem to do much more than look helpless and pretty.. this isn't how she left Firefly, was it? Kaylee: still some funny lines, still after the same guy, but didn't do much else. Mal was still very brooding and moody, but again, lacked a lot of the depth he had gained in the show.

I don't want to spoil anything. But during the action-packed buildup to "that we will not speak of" I actually threw up my hands and sunk low in my theater chair. I felt that all hope was lost, that Whedon had given up, and decided that only he could shred and destroy all that he had created in Firefly. And I guess that it is his choice to make.

I'll watch the movie again, but hopefully next time I'll find more merit in it.