At the beginning of Serenity, the motion picture sequel based on
Firefly, the Alliance decides to finally play hardball in their persistent
search for young River Tam. A mysterious man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) with the highest
security clearance is seen watching the visual record of Simon Tam’s (Sean Maher) rescue of his
sister River (Summer Glau) from the Alliance scientific facility. The man, whose very presence
is so secret that he’s known only as the Operative, notices the director of the
facility at one point bragging on the video about how key members of the
Alliance parliament know about this black ops program. This is a serious breach
of security, and the Operative carries out his task--preserving the secrets of
the Alliance--by killing the director and his security detail right then and
there. Once that loose end is tied up, he resumes his ruthless search for River.
The subject of the Operative’s intense focus, River, is still with the crew of
the Serenity. It’s been almost a year since Simon and his sister joined the ship
as part of its crew, and Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) figures it’s
high time for River to earn her keep. Despite Simon’s strenuous objections, Mal
has decided to use River’s growing powers of clairvoyance in a job. River
contently joins Mal, Zoe (Gina Torres) and Jayne (Adam Baldwin) on a payroll
robbery, and proves to be a major help--to the point where she senses an
approaching attack on the settlement by Reavers. After River and the others
return from a hair-raising escape, Simon, enraged that his sister had been
placed in mortal danger, angrily vows to leave the ship at their next port of
call. This makes chief mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite) very sad; not only has she been holding
a torch for the good doctor, but both Inara (Morena Baccarin) and Shepard Book
(Ron Glass) had already previously left the ship, due in large part to Mal. Yet
the Tams' departure from Serenity is postponed when River abruptly goes psycho
in a local bar. As this 90 pound, 17 year old girl single-handedly mops the
floor with the bar’s burly patrons, Mal begins to realize that he may have an
even greater threat than the Alliance right aboard his own ship.
Serenity is written and directed by Joss Whedon, who wisely broadened his story to more epic proportions
as befitting a motion picture. Yet he still never loses sight of what makes the
original Firefly so much fun: his characters. He utilizes the original Firefly
cast very well--although Ron Glass' Shepard Book may well have been reduced to little more
than a guest starring part, his presence is still viable. Whedon manages to give
everybody a moment to shine, and this fine cast of actors takes the ball and
runs with it. Nathan Fillion is superb as Mal, who has become even more
hardened and somewhat embittered in the months between the TV series and this
film, yet he’s still a very sympathetic person whom you want to root for. Summer
Glau also makes the most of what she’s given, which is plenty, since her
character’s mysterious past is finally addressed. Jewel Staite is also marvelous
as Kaylee, ever the optimist no matter how dire the situation, and Alan Tudyk
excels as the easy-going Wash. Adam Baldwin is great as Jayne; Sean Maher portrays
a tougher Simon; Morena Baccarin is very good as a conflicted Inara, and Gina
Torres provides staunch back up as Zoe.
The DVD is available in full and wide-screen, and I reviewed the latter version.
Whedon makes good use of the widescreen format, packing in as many visual clues
to tell the story as possible, making a repeat viewing of Serenity a must. The
special features include an audio commentary by Whedon--who is such a master of
these things that you never get tired of listening to him--deleted scenes and
outtakes (some of which are gut-busting hilarious), and "Relighting The
Firefly", which looks at how a TV series, cancelled midway through its first
season, came to the big screen. It also tips its hat to the fan base that
supported the show. Whedon also talks about the massive back-story behind the
series and the film in "Future History: The Story Of Earth That Was." And "What’s In
A Firefly" looks at the special effects shots in the film. Since one of the main
messages of the original Firefly series was picking yourself up and moving on no
matter what the odds, it’s downright poetic that Firefly, which was cancelled
before its time, should be reborn like a phoenix as a motion picture. Here's
hoping there are more stories from this 'verse.
--SF
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