Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

I can't review Serenity like a normal movie.

You see, I'm a Firefly fan. Whether you are a fan already or not will affect how you approach this movie.

If you're not a fan already, you'll likely be looking at this film with a little curiosity. You've heard how some people talk about Firefly, though, so you wonder if maybe the film might be worth seeing.

Well, I'm sufficiently emotionally involved that I don't know if I can really make an objective judgement of whether you will like it or not. I think you will, but I'm biased.

If you are a fan and you haven't already seen it, it's probably only because something actually stopped you from going last night when it opened. So I probably don't have to convince you to see it.

Fortunately, nothing stopped me, I saw it, and wow.

It wasn't really what I expected.

Of course, in retrospect, I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting it. Firefly has always had a funny side and a serious side. The threads left hanging from the cruel mid-season cancelling of the show were all on the serious side.

Then, they make a big feature film of it, so why should I have been surprised that the plot would focus primarily on the serious side? *shrug* I dunno, but I was.

Don't worry, there's still a lot of humor. I laughed out loud a lot. But the plot is not some funny heist-episode. Big stuff happens. I won't say any more than that, but if you spoil yourself with this film you are doing yourself a real disservice.

Speaking as a fan, the film is really good. Really good. In truth, I can't remember the last time I was as viscerally excited and moved by a film. Not to say it's the best film EVER, just one that grabbed and shook me harder than any other film in recent memory. It's also a lot of fun, and leaves you with a smile on your face.

This is probably an odd-sounding review to a non-fan. But what can I say? I'm a fan. Maybe if you go to see it, or check out the series on DVD, (preferably both), then you'll become a fan too. Then you'll understand.

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