Serenity

I'd heard about this film for a long time, but for some reason, I never got around to watching it. It's been described as a sci-fi western. I don't particularly like westerns, and the director, Joss Whedon, is best known for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I've had no intention of watching. But I saw it in the local HMV and decided to see what all the fuss was about. And it was definitely worth it. Serenity is perhaps the best science fiction film ever made - yes, including Star Wars.

Serenity has something that is hugely lacking in most films, especially SFF films - good characterisation. In fact, the characterisation in Serenity is of a level to rival many of the best science fiction novels. That is something I would very rarely say about films. Many of the ideas at first seem cliched - a group of bandits who are generally good on the run from the omnipresent empire and a person who holds a devastating secret. So far, nothing that original. But Joss Whedon takes delight in subverting our expectations. Yes, these bandits do come from the "uncivilised" outer planets and aren't exactly working for the Empire. But unlike Star Wars, they've lost their war of independence - the Alliance has won, not them. There is no clear good and evil - there are all shades of grey. The main character, River Tam, is a mentally unstable girl how can be triggered as a deadly weapon if certain words are spoken. The captain of the ship is unprincipled and amoral - as are most of his crew. The villain, by contrast, is a character with incredible empathy, understanding and kindness - but also an intense belief in the rightness of his cause. He has a very rigid code of honour and his development through the film is brilliant. This characterisation is helped by excellent acting from the entire cast.

The film is a serious one, on the whole, but there are many moments of humour and wit throughout - shown from the very beginning, with such comments as:
"Define interesting."
"Oh God, Oh God, we're all going to die?"
The humour always feels natural and exactly what the characters would say; it's never forced. On the note of humour, the director's commentary on the DVD is very entertaining - I tend not to watch these, but Joss Whedon managed to make it very entertaining, and starting with the line "Hello, I'm Joss Whedon, director of this mess... this film" was enough to convince me it was worth watching.

The plot is not spectacular, but it is effective, though it functions more as a setting - this is a film about the characters and not about the story. There are plenty of excellent fight scenes, there is great music, great special effects and everything else you would expect from a decent science fiction film - but this is also a science fiction film with decent writing, and that is much rarer. Go and watch Serenity if you haven't already. As for me, I'm just waiting until I can get a chance to watch the TV series Firefly that Serenity was based on.