Serenity

After a long wait Joss Whedon’s Sci-fi Western has made its resurrection as a major studio picture. This film provides all of the entertainment of the genres of which it is constructed. There are the space ship battles, the small group dynamics, the heroic cowboy, martial arts, and awesome special effects. In essence this film transcends the science fiction genre and stands somewhere between a classic John Wayne western and Star Wars. At times the film reminds one of everything from Blade Runner to Stagecoach, Star Wars to Kill Bill and numerous things in between. It is a satisfying science fiction film with an engaging cast, a solid script, and strong and purposeful directing.


This film is of course geared towards a general audience and is accessible to all fans new and old with very little of inside references for the fans of the television show. It tells the story of transport ship Serenity and her ragtag crew who fly the edges of the civilized galaxy performing questionable jobs. They are guns for hire in a world where there is a distinct difference between the haves on the central planets and the have-nots on the outer rim territories. When Joss Whedon set out to make the television show Firefly he wanted to work with an ensemble cast not just a star, and he wanted the film to be populated with older people not just teenagers. Thus the film centers around not one or two, but nine separate characters. These nine are different lives, adrift in a universe they don’t quite fit into, who find a home and a purpose aboard one little space ship.


The ship is captained by Malcolm Reynolds played luminously by Nathan Fillion whose presence brings sympathy and emotion to the gruff and irritable leader. Gina Torres, recently of 24, plays his second gun Zoe. Alan Tudyk, the voice of the robot in I Robot, plays Zoe’s laid back husband Wash, the pilot of the ship. Adam Baldwin plays Jayne, the morally bereft muscle and self described, public relations officer, of the ship. Jewel Staite plays the cheerful ship’s mechanic Kaylee. Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, and Morena Baccarin are current or former passengers who generally have much more history and intent than their titles of doctor, troubled teen, preacher, and whore would imply.


When we meet the little ship Serenity its crew of seven is preparing to rob a bank. That may not be very heroic perhaps, but necessary for a small ship flying dangerously close to braking apart. The Captain especially seems grumpily aware that he and his crew are precariously close to losing everything. In addition to his crew, the captain must deal with the ship’s doctor Simon and his unstable sister River. River was the subject of some classified governmental project to fuss with her mind and it is their endeavors to get her back that form the focus of the film.


The film starts with a prolonged single shot as Serenity prepared to make an ungraceful landing at the site of their latest job. Whedon succeeds immediately in creating a sense of the concrete space that these characters inhabit by traveling the length of the ship from the bridge, past the crew quarters, through the kitchen, and back to the engine room. Not only does this show that the filmmakers built an entire ship, but it makes the ship feel real, not a collection of sets. Perhaps it is this that makes the most heart-wrenching moments of the film those of the ship being severely damaged.


Of course the film introduces the two other crew members of Serenity, those no longer on board, of the companion Inara and the preacher Book. Now some have complained that some of the characters have been shortchanged in this film but I would remind them that carrying 9 major characters is difficult for any length project. On a television show you can have one episode devoted to one character and one devoted to another, Lost is a great example of this. But to make a film populated with so many rich characters is trying at best and leads to some characters getting fewer scenes than they are capable of. In this case I think that is true of Wash, Book, and Jayne especially.


As a fan of the show there were a couple of things that I missed from the show. Simon’s old hairdo, what is the deal with this new floppy hair? Kaylee and Wash’s old duds, I miss the teddy bear patch and the Hawaiian shirts. Most of all I miss the quiet moments. The times when things are actually far apart in the universe, when the residents of Serenity sit around the kitchen table sharing a meal or playing something resembling 3 on 3 basketball in the cargo bay. Moments when they aren’t flying into or out of danger and things aren’t exploding. I think that these recollections are not limitations of the film, I think that they simply highlight the differences between film and television and though Whedon does an admirable job in his directorial debut, I think he is more comfortable in the television format. One would think that more can be done with a 2 hour movie than a one hour television show, but a film must stand alone while television episodes can build characters over a roughly 22 hour season. Whedon excels at adding those brief moments where characters reveal their true emotions and intent and the depth of their character. These character arcs take a series of events to unfold and there is not the luxury of telling subtle multi-part stories (unless of course the film grosses a lot and there are sequels.)


Serenity still has those moments. There are significant looks between Mal and Zoe about why no man is left behind. Jayne even gets a moment where the self-centered tough guy runs around checking everyone’s seatbelts before the ship crashes. But in general films are not able to capture the camaraderie, the everyday interactions between people. In two hours all of the explosions and chases have to be fit in at the expense of the quiet travels between two points. The destination becomes the film, the trip there becomes the television show. Perhaps this is why good television shows are rarely made into films. Most of the film adaptations of television focus on the shallow sitcoms with easily stereotyped characters and predictable interactions. It makes skipping the slow character development more palatable.


Whedon has filed his futuristic film with memorable characters and memorable images. His is a ship on the edge. The characters are scruffy and deep. Each has their own agenda and their own reasons for being on the ship but they are all pursuing the same goal, to keep flying. Each has their own reasons for staying out of the way of the all encompassing Alliance and for staying on a small ship in the outer reaches of the galaxy but when push comes to shove they all follow Captain’s orders. Not only does Whedon remind us that space ships are not only in space, but fly like planes in a planet’s atmosphere by putting Serenity into a very impressive in atmosphere flat spin. But he also produces an impressive space battle in which space itself feels claustrophobic and cluttered by the sheer magnitude of the ships engaged in the tussle.


The martial arts sequences are impressive. While Mal resorts mainly to standard fisticuffs, River Tam is a true killing machine with amazingly fluid martial arts. I think much of this is due to great choreography and to Summer Glau’s training as a dancer. Never has ass kicking been so graceful. Whedon is of course familiar with the needs of filming martial arts sequences from Buffy and Angel but here he is able to make the fights bigger and more atmospheric as they fill up the larger theater screen. The film doesn’t feel like a regular episode stretched out to twice its length, though the quality of the television show was such that it could have been done that way. All of the space battles, all of the fighting, all of the story are more expansive than those on the show.


There are some surprises in store for both the Firefly faithful as well as those new to the Serenity family. But the film is accessible to both audiences and the tight story, special effects, and acting make the film highly watcheable. Regardless of the box office take this film will do well in DVD sales as it has a high level of repeatable viewing. Whedon has turned the science fiction film into an delicate balance of right and wrong at the edge of decent humanity. It questions government’s intent and their right to impose not only laws but of a morality in the universe that is not universally bought into. The film questions that what is right is not always cut and dry and often depends on the situation and the intent of those involved. Consider it Star Wars if George Lucas could write witty dialogue.


Though there are violent images in the film that might scare younger impressionable children Serenity is a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family. There are space battles, martial arts fights, there are even a few jokes. Even the cursing is kept to a minimum, and since it is all done in Chinese it is unlikely to offend most of the audience. The film offers not only a good ride, but a social conscience. Serenity is as well written a science fiction action film as has been put to screen and it will probably be a long time before one of this caliber is produced again.

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1. Eagerly Awaiting Serenity