Joss Whedon introduced America to a new genre: a drama filled with sarcastic banters between the supernatural-or-futuristic characters. The trademarks of this Whedonesque universe would be: brooding heroes. After Buffy and Angel say hello to Mal (Malcolm is his real name, but Mal sounds more futuristic). Following the reverse turn of events of « Buffy, the Vampire Slayer », « Serenity » begins with a failed TV series.

When Whedon was the man as both Buffy and Angel drew raves from the critics and a legion of loyal fans, Fox ordered an 14-episode season of his latest series, « Firefly », that follows a rag-tag team consisting of outlaws and renegades traveling across the galaxy on a ship (equally ragtag) called Serenity. He called it a space western and it was indeed, complete with the bluegrass-tinged theme song. Both fans and critics loved the series, but it seemed that nobody was watching. Fox cancelled the series after airing just 11 of its 14 episodes. Then the DVD came out and it sold like candy which opens up the door for a movie version: Serenity.



Even though the captain was Mal (Nathan Fillion / Two Guys and a Girl), River (Summer Glau) was the center of it all. It all began as Simon (Sean Maher) saved her sister, River, from the Alliance's government facility with the help of the Serenity crew. Haunted by whatever they did to her at the research facility, River, a psychic, has frightening visions now and then about death and terror in a certain place. Dysfunctional as they may be, the crew, tries to get to the bottom of what it is that River sees while being pursued relentlessly by the Alliance's special agent (Chiwetel Ejiofor / Love Actually).


Well, being a scifi fan, I might be biased here, but Serenity is indeed a fine piece of entertainment. The special effects were just stunning, they truly captured the Firefly universe where everything was either chinatown meets the wild wild west (the outer rims) or star trek sterile (the alliance worlds). And then there's the spaceship crash landing and battle scenes which were such an overload to the visual sensories. Meanwhile, Joss Whedon managed to keep the witty humor in the conversations and the unexpected turn of events right when you're taking a deep breath.