En clase me han mandado escribir una crítica de una película, la que quisera, por eso de justificar la matrícula que pagamos porque no es que hagamos mucho, y se me ha ocurrido hacerla de Serenity. Cuando la he acabado me he dicho, ¿y por qué no ponerla en el blog e irme a la cama un poco más pronto esta noche? No os cortéis en pillar los fallos que veáis, que seguro que hay mil.

Joss Whedon introduces himself as a feature film director with Serenity, a film based on the TV series Firefly, a heavily character driven story about life, death and everything in between. While Whedon excelled in the 90s with his two other brainchildren, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer – turning an apparent teen soap into an magnificent excercise of storytelling – and its spin-off Angel, Firefly didn't live up to people's expectations and was cancelled after a bunch of episodes. Whedon knew how to take advantadge of the situation, though, and his followers' (who call themselves 'browncoats') outcries made some Hollywood producers consider financing a film.

Serenity tells the story of a ship of smugglers with a heart of gold who operate within the borders of space but outside the borders of law. In the middle of their travels they encounter Simon (Sean Maher) and his sister River (Summer Glau), a strange girl with even stranger abilities. When the crew discovers that their new passengers are fugitives from the nefarious Alliance, the political regime which rules the known space, it's too late for them to turn things right and they decide to solve the misteries that surround the creepy River.

While Whedon tries hard to make the film suitable for everyone, it fails to accomodate newcomers (that is: non-browncoats) in matters of character development and setting usage. The greatly acomplished western/sci-fi look of the series is now gone except for a brief pursuit scene which is shooted in a very poor television fashion, taking away any cinematic perspective. However, Whedon begins to show how confortable he feels behind the camera with a nicely done long one-off at the very beginning of the film which shows us this incursion into film territory intends to be the first, not the last.

The otherwise fun lines which used to define Whedon's scripts are somewhat present here and there and so is the character driven dialogue only the writer knows how to sew but I must admit I laughed out loud at scenes supposedly deep and dramatic.

The pace of the story is mostly slow. The first two thirds of the film are made of unconnected B stories which sadly cannot build up a satisfactory narrative tapestry. It is hard to keep the attention (and satisfaction) up if you unknow where the plot is heading. Fortunately, the last part is a fest where the old Whedon we know shines in terms of storytelling and momentum building. Leading man Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) could be today's Han Solo if only he had a little more presence on the screen.

Nonetheless, when we reach the otherwise satisfactory end of the story, one cannot help but realize this is a movie for die hard Firefly (or Whedon's) fans and not the common spectator. A bit dissapointing. If you liked the series or just love the genre, maybe you should try it.