Movie: Serenity

Did you like Star Wars? I'm not asking if you liked Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope, I'm talking about that movie, 28 years ago that was called Star Wars, and described as a space western. Star Trek started out as a space western too... both series became, well, not westerns. Star Wars became myth, Star Trek became a vision, they became "more important" than popcorn, fluff, matinee style entertainment. I love them dearly, but fuck even Galactica left behind the space cowboy fluff to be the "best drama on television"! It's great for sci-fi to be ambitious, and it should, especially when the material is good enough, but would anyone dare be ambitious enough to make a QUALITY piece of fluff sci-fi? Well Joss Whedon was!

Serenity is more like Cowboy Bebop than Star Wars or Star Trek. The Earth is unusable, and human kind has colonized another solar system, in Bebop it was just the rest of our solar system. It has a ship as it's base of operations, Cowboy Bebop has the "Bebop", and Serenity has the "Serenity" a Firefly model ship... Both series sport an eclectic cast of characters, but most series do, and they're morally good groups who are on the wrong side of the law, slightly.

Serenity is the type of movie I've wanted to see since the Mos Eisley segment of Star Wars, and that want has grown with every viewing of the original Star Wars. To put is simply, if you were unsatisfied with the Star Wars prequels for the lack of sarcasm and wit and almost all of the bitches about the prequels... Serenity is EXACTLY the movie you wanted to see. I must be an odd form of geek, I loved both. Lucas and Whedon have such opposite strengths and weaknesses, your fanboy heart may wish they could work together. One of the best movies of the year, and I won't redo my top five list for awhile so Serenity can digest some.