Movie: Woo!

Serenity - Directed by Joss Whedon, Starring Nathan Fillon, Gina Torres, Summer Glau, Written By Joss Whedon

Woo.

Just that. Woo.

So I got to an advanced screening last night (the film opens on Friday). They've been doing this for months now, advanced screenings to build buzz for the movie, and I got in because someone (like Stan) mentioned that there were free passes available through Townhall.com for the press, and bloggers were counted as press. So I abused my position and the Lovely Bride and I attended a showing last night up in the U district sponsored by the University Film Club. I think we were the oldest people in the place (unless there were some OTHER well-preserved vampires), and the most of them were big fans of Firefly, the TV show that this movie grew out of. Many of them were wearing orange knitted hats, a reference to the series that I will not explain here. So we had a friendly audience that laughed and gasped and cheered along with us. And . . .

Woo. I mean it. My tongue dried out from hanging my mouth open so much. This is a really good film.

OK, so Firefly was a space western put together by Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon. A motley crew of rebels, outlaws, and fugitives do small jobs in a broken down spaceship, armed with six-guns and old west attitude. When a young doctor and his spooky sister come on board, things get interesting. And that's all I'm going to tell you about the plot.

But, you know, Woo.

I'm trying to think of another SF film where the script, dialogue, acting, and special effects all came together so amazingly. Usually you have to excuse one piece or another because of its genre roots, but its all here. The script is tight. The dialog sparkles. The acting and direction are subtle and engaging. The characters are horribly and wonderfully human. And the battle sequences are everything that mix-master quick cuts of the recent Star Wars films were not. They were poetic.

Go see this movie. That's all I'm going to say - go see this movie.

Woo.

More later (woo!)