There was a point during the movie Serenity when I turned toward my wife, smiled, and said “I’m happy”. You must understand that Serenity’s success was not guaranteed in my mind. There is nothing I hate more then people who can sit through a movie knowing they would love it before, and come out singing its praise. I remember walking out of Star Wars Episode 3 (early this summer) and I overheard two guys saying “That was the best sci-fi movie ever”. I wanted to turn and ask “You did watch Star Wars right?” What was wrong with these guys? It blew my mind . . . but then I remembered Brand Equity and I let it slide.
I am not saying I am entirely unbiased; I know enough about how the world works to know that man (and perhaps a few women) are inherently biased. Yet watching Serenity did not destroy what I had loved, the TV show Firefly. So many times I have been led astray (X-files; Matrix 2, 3; Star wars 1,2,3). In fact the last movie that worked on a larger scale was Lord of The Rings. I remember watching Lord of The Rings with a similar feeling “they did it right”, that is the same happiness I found during this movie.
Firefly is a TV show that was ungraciously aired out of order, then cancelled. We can blame Fox for the short sightedness. Firefly featured a science fiction show about a bunch of smuggler types, and a few complimentary crew members. The show was different then other science fiction shows like Star Trek, Star Wars: no aliens, a Wild West theme, and the eerie quiet of deep space. Firefly featured a back story of a war between separatist and an Alliance who is looking to control. Take that and add a captain who lost his faith fighting on the loosing side of that war.
Serenity manages to pick up the ball that Fox fumbled and run with it. It is an engaging space-opera from the beginning until the violent and bloody end. Instead of focusing on cool technology, big weapons, and a big bang this is a story ala 1984 and Brave New World. It is moralities tell about big government, control, and the fact there will always be people on the other side of that control looking to fight for their slice of the sky. It is because of this, not the science fiction, which Serenity works.
Now I will hope that Serenity is a success and I will get to see the adventures of Mal Reynolds and crew sometime in the short future.