Because everyone else is doing it, here's my impression of Serenity.
I've never seen Firefly (something I plan to correct over the next week or so), so I went into the cinema with nothing but a hearty respect for Joss Whedon, and some rather high expectations fueled by a lot of talking up on the Internet.
I left... conflicted.
I really enjoyed Serenity, but I enjoyed it despite its many flaws. On one hand, the movie was too ambitious. It tried to fit a season of television exposition into a two-hour movie, on a third of budget of comparable sci-fi blockbusters, and came out feeling cramped and rushed. On the other hand, the ambition of the movie also made the whole bigger than the sum of its parts: if Whedon had settled for less scope, or been more timid with his budgetary constraints, he would have made a lesser movie.
The best example I can think of was there were too many characters. Eight is a great number for a TV show, where each week you can shift the focus to a different set of relationships. For a movie (unless you're planning a trilogy of three-hour epics), you can't fit that many people on screen for enough time to give them the development they deserve. No character had enough time to truly stand up, and some (such as Mal's love-interest) could easily have been cut entirely, if it weren't for the need to keep the fans happy.
On the other hand, even given their limited opportunities, most of the characters were invested with far more depth than most sci-fi movies afford their heroes. You still got a good sense of who they were and where they were going. You knew enough to care about them. Time was even spent out fleshing out the bad-guy, who could easily have just been a cardboard Terminator, but for whom you were forced to feel a twisted, sickening empathy.
And that, ultimately, is what's good about Serenity. When was the last time you read a review of a science fiction movie that talked at length about the characters? Despite all its baggage, it's a good movie - in turns tense, enjoyable, exciting and funny. And if everyone goes see it, Whedon will be given more money to make the next one with less baggage attached.
Three and a half stars out of five.
Given the last sentence do you see yourself more as a Margaret or a David?
Neither. I think the last movie reviewer I consistently agreed with was Peter Castaldi.
I couldn't agree more.
I felt Serenity was the best sci fi I have seen for a long time, bettery may i say than star wars *gets kiled by conventionists* Might be because im a hardcore fan of the show tho, whon knows, great movie iether way :)
The best sci-fi film I have seen for along time too.
Serenity and Firefly is everything Sci-Fi isn't for me. It has characters who are real, act like thier human and have real emotions. Compare the depth of the characters in Firefly to Star Trek and you see what I mean.
I can't understand your negative points about the film, I suppose it could be classed as alittle crammed, but I am coming from a Firefly point of view and I just don't see that. Everything that was in it, needed to be there.
Plus on my own personal note, I'm a digital animation student, and the CG scenes in Serenity and Firefly are the best :) I love how they arn't perfect, out of focus, shakey cams etc.
I only watched Firefly every so often. I am a big fan of Buffy and Angle and own action characters from each. I wish I had not seen the trailers for Serenity. The transformation of River would have been a great deal more impressive. There were a number of places where the dialogue was a bit awkward but that is how conversation goes. dialogue is supposed to carry the story foward, help to develope characters and create emotion, but sound like conversation. I liked the idea of conventional weapons mixed with the energy weapons you would expect. That is one of the things I liked about "Aliens". Considering the short time Summer has been involved with TV and Motion pictures I think she comes off very well. I rented the movie and ran it frame by frame during the fight scenes in the bar. She really looked commited to what she was doing. I hope the money can be put together to sequel this one. I write myself, and really enjoy developing strong, female characters. I really enjoyed the movie. I hope to see more.