I finally saw Joss Whedon’s Serenity today, by virtue of the holy P2P, and I cannot remember the last time I saw a more satisfying sci-fi adventure. When the New York Times said this movie was better than Star Wars, they weren’t kidding, and it’ll fit nicely alongside Dark City and Blade Runner as my favorite sci-fi features of all-time.
I’m normally not a huge fan of cowboy-themed stories, but every now and then something comes along that just does it right (Garth Ennis’ Preacher is a good example). Serenity is one such example, and Whedon’s small cast of space mercenaries, led by Nathan Fillion, is captivating in their futuristic redneck-ness.
I won’t go over the plot or what I thought of the ending (although I should say that it was very elegantly done), but I will say that you need to see this movie, if you haven’t already.
[ SMALL UPDATE (4:44pm) - When I said this was "better than Star Wars," I did in fact mean all 6 of them. Put together. Played back-to-back. The last time I was in this much awe after seeing a movie was with the first Matrix, and Serenity has the distinct advantage of getting better (instead of worse) during its final act, so it's leaps and bounds ahead of that trilogy as well. ... Did I mention you need to see this movie already? Grab the original Firefly TV series as well while you're at it. Wonderful stuff. ]