Movie Reviews

I was introduced to the television show 'Firefly' a few months ago by a friend who considered it one of the best shows ever to hit the airways (though she is an admitted Firefly fanatic). I watched the DVD set of the series and, despite some initial misgivings, found myself 'moderately' won over -- to the point where it disappointed me that a generally-good show like Firefly would get cancelled after only one season, while there's so much crap out there that continually gets renewed.

Firefly does get another shot at life, however, in the new film Serenity. For viewers who never would have seen the Firefly universe on the small screen, I was very impressed at how well the film lays everything out and introduces all the characters. The film -- which like the show is a slightly-odd combination of the sci-fi and western genres, with a healthy dose of humour -- picks up right where the TV show left off. It includes all the same mediocre acting, but the writing -- which had always been fairly strong in the TV show -- is elevated here and is really quite good. I was particularly impressed with some of the surprises the film had up its sleeves; there are a few very unexpected moments.

Serenity doesn't seem to have done very well at the box office, which is unfortunate considering that it really is one of the better science-fiction movies I've seen in a while. It's definitely the best sci-fi/western movie I've ever seen! I think it deserves a pretty strong recommendation, even if you've never seen the television show.