Serenity: A Review

Joss Whedon’s film Serenity comes out tomorrow, the first new episode of his series Firefly in years. Go see it; you won’t be disappointed. It’s almost certainly Joss’s best work yet — mixing storyline tricks with biting humor with amazing battles and beautiful surroundings. The cinematography, special effects, and music are all grand. But most importantly, it’s just really, really fun.

I received a “press pass” as part of the “Serenity Blogger Bonanza” — they invited bloggers to come see a free preview if they promised to write about it. (My companion thought this seemed rather risky — what if a bunch of opinionated bloggers all give it bad reviews?) They also invited blog readers, but then they claimed that all the screenings were full — I actually received a rejection letter — yet when we went to the theater they were handing free tickets to people walking by on the street and the theater wasn’t anywhere near full.

Still, it was a good turnout and full of fans. The person to my left said she’d already seen the film twice (they previously did previews without finished music and so on for hardcore fans) and planned to go to the real premiere (her fourth screening) dressed as one of the characters. But while the movie fits in perfectly with the story of the TV series (I was surprised; I would have thought the studio would demand changes (actually, I can’t recall of the space battles were silent like they were in the TV show (sound can’t travel in space, of course))), one need not have seen the TV series to understand or enjoy the film. In fact, while the trailers mention Buffy and Angel, they don’t mention Firefly at all.

It seemed like everyone there loved the film. As we left, my companion commented, still in awe, “I can see why they let the bloggers into see it.”

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September 29, 2005