I’ve watched the short-lived series through a few times, so it was a no-brainer that I go see the feature-film exploits of the crew of the Serenity. I didn’t go opening weekend because I hate crowds (ironic and tragic that I live in the most crowded state in the union).
It may not be the best movie in the ’verse, but I was entertained, felt I got my money’s worth, will buy the DVD, and hope there’s a sequel. It was certainly a better film than the most recent adventures of that crew who consistently save the galaxy, getting nary a smudge on their shiny, primary-colored uniforms. A bit of warning, though, the protagonists of this movie do not escape unscathed.
Universal has put the first nine minutes of Serenity online. It uses some crazy DRMed Java player that excludes Linux users, but the clip played back pretty well on my Mac. Those nine minutes show only two of the key protagonists, but it introduces the villain and gives a decent back-story, and the movie only gets better from there.
