by Serenity by Joss Whedon has come a long way. From concluding the short-lived TV Series Firefly by comprising the plot of its final, never-made three episodes to garnering a cult following and being included in the science fiction canon – and sometimes even being named as the best science fiction film ever made. In short, it has received enough attention despite being a box office failure to be taken seriously even by the typical Star Wars and Star Trek franchise fan boys.
The film opens abruptly, throwing the audience right into the story without explaining much. Certainly the film was made for the fans of Firefly, that wouldn’t have to learn what cosmos this is, what went wrong and who is up against whom. As soon as River Tam and her brother Simon are rescued and aboard the Serenity, a spaceship of the Firefly-class the TV-series borrows its name from, we understand that plot is secondary to style anyway, since those that missed the TV show have to fill in the holes all by themselves. The Serenity’s bowels are artfully presented in an extensive continuous shot following Captain Mal Reynolds around. While the plot makes sense, it’s not drop-dead sophisticated. In fact, one gets the impression that Serenity is more about images and unrestrained creativity than plot or characters. This quality is its asset as much as its failure.
Reynolds, portrayed by Nathan Fillion, is definitely the best character in the film. Where River, the conditioned psychic and assassin, fails to leave an impression even when she is taking on dozens of rogues and roughnecks at once without a reason as if she were in the matrix, Reynolds is one of the iconic space cowboys in the tradition of Han Solo. Streetwise (or rather, spacewise), tough and still having a good heart, he has a 26th century six-shooter dangling from his gun belt and rather draws it than asking questions. We learn little about him, as little as we learn about any of the characters in the film, but then while we fail to fully comprehend the shy and somewhat naive stock character mechanic with a twist making her a young and good-looking woman, we easily relate with the space gunslinger making a living for himself and his crew as an outlaw. They’re riding a steel horse, if not made by Harley-Davidson. The Serenity is as dirty and worn as the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars and doubtlessly, a lot of thought went into its design. But it isn’t iconic enough to leave a mark in one’s memory. That said, it is in line with the characters.
This is how it is. Anybody doesn’t wanna fly with me anymore, this is your port of harbor. There’s a lot of fine ways to die. I ain’t waiting for the Alliance to choose mine.
Mal Reynolds
Serenity plays with an idea that has been used in science fiction before and as early as in Dark Star by John Carpenter in 1974. Just because mankind managed to start space colonization doesn’t mean everything’s fine. As in real life, things get broken, software is faulty, the government is spying on people and a lot more. Things go wrong, people are mean to one another. It’s not a space opera but a space western, like Star Wars. Heroes are flawed, they meet opposition and they fail, only to hustle some more and make it eventually. All of this is familiar, and all of this is well-made. At the same time, nothing is unique. The port where the Serenity stops to let River and Simon disembark before things start going south big time is stylish, yet indistinguishable. It never attains the quality of the world of Blade Runner, another film that puts style over plot. It never even attains the quality of the most banal settings in Star Wars. The same goes for Inara Serra’s hideout, a fortress in the mountains that draws inspiration from cultures in the Himalaya. None of this is truly stylish, and since none if it is crucial to the plot either, all style fails to leave an impression.
We see “noble wild men” with a lot more heart than hope, of course paying the price for the crimes of Captain Reynolds’ crew. We see the crew, with help of River’s vision’s and implanted information, discover a planet where an experiment by the government led to the creation of the feared Reavers, a bunch of simple-minded space pirates that are evil and cannibalistic. We also see a character named “The Operative,” carrying out his orders no matter what, knowing that his actions are morally wrong but fulfilling his duty anyway, giving an explanation that very closely resembles the plot: comprehensible but questionable. We even see what The Alamo would’ve been like in space, when the crew of the Serenity fight off the Reavers trying to kill them for no particular reason other than being made bad by the government. But when the crew wins, transmitting the news of what happened all over the colonies in space, and makes it out of the adventure unscathed safe for the loss of their pilot Hoban Washburne, the pawn sacrifice, Serenity leaves us wanting.
Space western films have always been exciting, not only through what they show but through what they’re implying. They’re implying a future world that is exciting, not dull and tamed by technological progress, a world that is dangerous but where everyone is free to make their own choices and rebel against authorities. It is a new Wild West conquered by technology and roughnecks. Serenity does that too, if not as effectively as for example Star Wars did before. The Serenity has much less style than any X-wing, the settings are too indifferent to stay and the action is subdued and tamed. Tamed is what Serenity is, a film for fans of Firefly but not a science fiction milestone in its own right. Even though it sparks the imagination of the ten-year-old in us, it never unfolds to deploy its full potential. So should it be in the science fiction canon? Yes, if not on top of the list.
