Joss Whedon's "Serenity"

September 7, 5:58 PMClassic TV ExaminerDoug Krentzlin

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                                                    (Universal Pictures)

At the peril of being buried under an avalanche of angry geek mail, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Joss Whedon’s Serenity (2005), the cinematic continuation of his short-lived Fox television series Firefly, is not just the best film based on a TV show, hell, it might just be the best damn sci-fi movie ever made! There, I said it and I’m glad. Do your worst, fanboys! (For what it’s worth, veteran sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card holds the exact same opinion of Serenity.)

If you have any problems with this sentiment, let me put it this way: name any other science-fiction film that has better dialogue than Serenity. Indeed, Whedon (who both scripted and directed Serenity) wrote such terrific dialogue for the film that it’s an ideal movie to watch on home video just so that you can stop and rewatch scenes with particularly memorable exchanges. One of my favorites is the one where Kaylee (Jewel Staite) is complaining to Captain Mal (Nathan Fillion) and Jayne (Adam Baldwin) about the announced departure of Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher) whom she has a crush on.

Kaylee: Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries.

Mal: Oh God, I can’t know that!

Jayne (deadpan): I could stand to hear a little more.

Speaking of our semi-lovable Neanderthalic strong-arm goon, Serenity has my all-time favorite Jayne line when he says about the savage, cannibalistic Reavers: “Eatin’ people alive? Where’s that get fun?”

In addition to great dialogue, Serenity features the impressive visual style that Whedon brings to all of his directing efforts: a perpetually moving camera (the elaborate five-minute tracking shot that accompanies the main credits is an obvious nod to Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil), rapid-paced editing and creatively stylized use of color (especially in the Beaumont sequence). One of Whedon’s cleverest inspirations was hiring Jack Green to be the Director of Photography. After all, if you’re making a Western set in outer space, who better to photograph it than Clint Eastwood’s favorite cinematographer?

Usually, I do a plot synopsis about now, but since Whedon is one the most talented storytellers this side of Alfred Hitchcock, to reveal anything about the story or plot twists would spoil a lot of the enjoyment of watching Serenity. (On a personal note, I deliberately made a point of not reading any reviews of Serenity before I saw it. Sure enough, I found out later that several critics gave away the film’s most shocking surprise.)

So suffice it to say that all of our beloved characters from the TV show put in an appearance, including Zoë (Gina Torres), her husband Wash (Alan Tudyk), Inara (Morena Baccarin), Shepard Book (Ron Glass) and Simon’s teenage sister River (Summer Glau). (In fact, the entire story revolves around… naw, never mind.) Also, Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Operative may be Whedon’s scariest villain to date.

One more thing: If you haven’t seen Serenity yet, please, please watch Firefly first! (Don’t get me started on the imbecilic suits at Fox who deep-sixed the show.) There’s only fourteen episodes and the entire series can be watched for free on-line at Hulu, so you don’t have any excuse not to. Besides, it's not only more fun to see Serenity that way, it’s downright shiny.