“I am a leaf on the wind…”

There’s the moment when Wash flies Serenity through two battling armadas (the fascist Alliance and the id of a serial killer personified in the Reavers), and drops through the atmosphere of Mr. Universe’s planet. Or when Mal leaves someone to be eaten alive by the Reavers, only to shoot him and put him out of his misery. That the comparison to Star Wars becomes obvious, and also worthless.

[I should first say that I don’t have the patience for ANY of the Star Wars movies anymore. Now that I’ve watched them as an adult (and with nostalgia aside) it’s pretty obvious that they’re timeless for something besides their quality. Particularly since George Lucas continues to rape your fond memories (and not allow you to see the original as they were… originally).]

Serenity is dark, funny, quick and – most prominently – tight. There is little time wasted in the movie to explain the world or the characters to the informed, yet the story functions for the uninitiated on a minimum of exposition.

(The only bad thing is that some of the more interesting “color” of the “verse” ends up filling an arbitrary role in the movie. Namely how the characters swearing in Chinese.)

Then there’s Revenge of the Sith. Plodding story line. Leaps in logic. And a lot of time doing the filmic equivalent of telling instead of showing grit, darkness and evil.

Moral of the story. Serenity is brilliant. It has more action and intelligence that any other movie made this year and deserves to be seen. I was one of the (allegedly) few who watched Firefly when it was on television. (All 11 episodes.)

I am also (apparently) one of the few who went to see Serenity in theatres. I plan on seeing it again (perhaps twice) before it’s gone.

I would tell everyone else to do the same. But I’m a little burned out on telling people to watch smart things so they won’t be replaced by mediocrity.