Serenity -- WOW!!

We have just returned home after the advanced screening of Josh Whedan’s “Serenity”.  Allow me to kill the suspense…

Wow!

It.  Rocked.  Hard!

Arriving we were pleasantly surprised by the long line.  I knew Firefly was a cult hit, but had no idea if anyone would be there tonight.  After some hassles we were able to bypass the line and head into the theater.  If there was any doubt that this would be Nerdapalooza, the shrieks and screams during the preview for the upcoming Doom would have silenced them.

If you’re a fan of Mr. Whedan you will leave this film an even bigger fan.  All the elements you’d expect are there in spades.  The characters remain true to the original, the plot was unique and yet comprehensible in context of the television show and the humor survived the trip to the big screen.

About ten minutes in my wife leaned in and whispered “now this is how you start a sci-fi film”.  I couldn’t agree more.  You hit the ground running and the film never lets up in terms of intensity.  The pacing was phenomenal.  I had to pee about forty five minutes into the film, but there were no slow spots where I could sneak out and take care of business.

But most of all, it was a smart film.  I for one really appreciate that.  It was clean without being dull, intense without pandering, violent without the violence hijacking the essential humanity of the characters, emotionally and visually dense without ever being confusing.

I would rather die than give away any of the surprises, but, let me say the main villain was menacing without ever overplaying his hand.  In fact, there was an understated quality to the film that I found immensely appealing.  

If you’ve watched the show you’ll know what I mean when I say that the essential tension between the characters is very much in evidence.  No simple two dimensional Hollywood style relationships here.  Each character onboard Serenity fights with the next and yet you fully believe they would sacrifice their lives for each other.  Much like in life.

To wrap up, I for the life of me cannot imagine why this delightful show was pulled off the air.  My fondest hope would be that this film is the impetus for someone to bring it back to life (hint-hint).  Please-Please-Please go see it.

In fact, grab a friend, grab ten friends, grab people you don’t know and go see this film.

You’ll thank me.

PS-I would like to thank Mr. Whedon for granting the blogosphere some respect and extending an invitation to us as bloggers to attend the screening as members of the press.  Hats off sir, I think you did a very smart thing.

PPS-The rewards of tenacity.  When we arrived there was an enormous line so I approached a security guard and mentioned that we were there as press.  He pointed to the end of the line.  I wouldn’t have minded standing in line, but the website was clear that we would be able to bypass it. We then made our way upstairs whereupon an attendant evincing proper big city ennui told us again we would need to stand in line.  We started downstairs when I thought-this isn’t right.  Up we went again and finally spoke to a manager who directed us to the right guy and we got to go right in.  Whoo-hoo!
Did I mention it was a really, really long line?