A Finale Worth Fighting For
Serenity is "Shiny"

When Joss Whedon's short-lived television series Firefly died a premature death in 2002, most folks assumed that it was over - another casualty of network television's short-sighted vision. But Whedon had more to say on the subject and vowed that he would bring the crew of the Serenity back to life on the big screen. It seemed like a grand dream. Three years later, the dream has come true.

Serenity
The crew of the spaceship Serenity face an uncertain fate in the science fiction film that follows up Whedon's television series Firefly. (Universal, 2005)
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Written by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, and Summer Glau

Rated PG-13 (for sequences of intense violence and action, and some sexual references)
Running time: 119 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 10 out of 10.

Unlike many television shows that try to live on past their prime, Serenity corrects a grand mistake and revives a series that died too soon. Firefly returned to life in a DVD boxed set and in reruns on the SciFi Channel. In only a dozen episodes (including a few which never aired on network television), Whedon created a series that defied traditional programming and gave science fiction fans a world where space really is a frontier (in the "Old West" sense of the word) and the good guys are the uncivilized ones who wanted no part of the planetary alliance.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is a veteran of a not-so-civil war between the core planets and those on the rim of known space. As a "browncoat," he fought the Alliance and lost. Now, with his motley crew aboard his ship Serenity, he ekes out a living by smuggling and occasionally stealing from the Alliance. Two of the passengers on his ship are a doctor named Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his sister River (Summer Glau). River is more than a passenger; she's a problem. Part psychic, part warrior, she is a walking weapon. Having escaped an Alliance facility (with the help of her brother), she is on the run from military, bounty hunters, and assassins who want her dead. The key to River's value to the Alliance lies in the word "Miranda" and fractured, broken memories of a world that doesn't exist.

The mystery of the Alliance's interest in River was a running sub-plot of the series, but Whedon managed to summarize everything beautifully for an audience who had never seen Firefly. By making River's abilities and her escape from the Alliance a key point of the film, he gave movie audiences a solid story and helped fans find a sense of closure that had been missing after the series abruptly ended. Fans of the series will also appreciate the inclusion of the language of the show, which includes some Chinese and words like "gorram" and "shiny."

In addition to an outstanding story, Serenity has enough action, suspense, and good humor to fill any science fiction film. Whedon's writing is as crisp as ever, and the cast seem to fall into their roles perfectly. It's as if they had never stopped working on the show. All of the cast is back, albeit some have smaller roles than others. Each character adds to the story in his or her own unique way. The film is filled with small moments that might go unnoticed to a general audience but find resonance with fans. With no exaggeration, this is -- hands down -- the best finale any television show has ever had.

The special effects in Serenity are every bit as good as they were in the series. Normally, this could be a criticism. After all, aren't films supposed to be "bigger and better"? The truth, however, is that Whedon's attention to detail in the original series was so precise that nothing needed to be fixed for the big screen. There is a larger sense of scale in some of the fight scenes and space battles, but the special effects serve as a compliment to the story and do not take the spotlight.

For fans of the television series, there is a lot of satisfaction in Serenity. Several dangling threads are addressed (even if not resolved), and Whedon does not skimp on the surprises. Some things, like Shepard Book's (Ron Glass) past and Inara's (Morena Baccarin) relationship with Mal, were consciously side-stepped. Nevertheless, by the end of the film, I could not believe the sheer number of things that had been dealt with in a mere two hours.