Reviewed by
William Muñiz

HUGE

Wow I can't begin to tell you how good this movie is.  This movies has everything you want in a great Sci-Fi movie, and for that matter any movie.

For those of you who don't know, this movie is based on a canceled show from 2003 that aired on FOX it was canceled after 11 episodes aired, but strong dvd sales gave Universal the idea that this would be a good movie, Thank you Universal.  The show was about a rag tag group that after a bloody civil war in the future the live in space in a ship called "Serenity" to avoid confrontations with the Alliance.  The crew is composed by Malcom Rynolds (Nathan Fillion), Zoe (Gina Torres), Hoban "Wash" Washburn (Alan Tudyck), Jany Cobb (Adam Baldwin), Kaywinette Lee Fry "Kaylee" (Jewel Staite), Shepard Book (Ron Glass), Inara Sera (Morena Baccarin), Simon Tam (Sean Maehr) and River Tam (Summer Glau).  And the villian, The Operative, of the piece is played cold and menacing by Chewitell Ejifor.  This character is a self proclaimed monster he even admits to murder children, but here comes the twist he believes that what he is doing is for the good of the galaxy, he is not the villian ta!

Hat wants to rule the worl and kill everybody and he plays it great.  Nathan Fillion (Mal) and Summer Glau (River) steal the show, after this we have a new hero for movies and the new action female hero, the rest of the cast is good too especially Tudyck (Wash) and Baldwin (Jayne) with their one liners, Staite (Kaylee) is the heart of the crew, Torres (Zoe) is the resident hard chick and wife to ace pilot Wash, Maher (Simon)the doctor is really good in his role because he plays the relationship he has with River, his sister, really really good up to the point that it chokes you up at some point.  And then there is Glass (Book) and Baccarin (Inara) who don't get a lot of screen time but the purpose they serve on the film they achieve it in a great fashion.

The best thing about this movie for people who isn't familiar with this 'verse is that you don't have to see the 11 episodes of the show to get it. The actors shine in this movie, they are the characters they play, this movie is not about CG shots (although it has great ones), but is about the characters and the story, the special effects are there to support the story.  The writing is superb, Whedon has written a movie based on a show loved by it's followers but in the meantime he makes it accesible to new comers in a way that old fans are not bored. The SFX are awesome, in their motion picture debut Zoic have doen great.  There is a Space battle that surpasses the opening space battle in SWIII.  This is the type of movie the Star Wars prequel had to be, not movies with bad acting, bad story, but SFX.  In my opinion this is one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever rivaling The Empire Strikes Back, yes is that good.  Do yourself a favor if you like romance, comedy, awesome SFX, great characters, superb writing and story, explosive action in your movies go see this gem of a movie.