Serenity

I had the pleasure to see the film 'Serenity' today.
First I should say I am glad that I had the opportunity to view a couple of epidsodes of the TV show it is based on, Firefly, before seeing Serenity. Otherwise I would have been lost and probably would not have enjoyed this film. This worries me for people that aren't fans of the TV show that make it to the cineplex to see this film. They may not appreciate it without having the background.
In the film they try to give the viewer some background but in the time allotted and to be able to tell their story they needn't have bothered.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack of this film. That was probably my favorite part. The pseudo western science fiction mix with a touch of asian feeling stirred in makes for a unique experience. One pet peeve I had was the on again off again attempt at western gunslinging dialogue. Either stay in that role or leave it alone. The fickle nature pulled me out of the film too many times and was distracting.
I liked the story, well mostly. I really don't like the Reavers (sp?) element. A little too close to the science fiction genres' crutch of using weird space alien non-human creatures to push a story. The gory bodies and faces bothered me and the predictable end game battle with the reavers was disappointing. Other than that I thought it was witty, funny, intelligent and had a fun cowboy swagger to it.
Oh, and one last thought. I would go see a sequel to this film I liked it that much, but why in the world did they have to kill off two of the best characters?
Oh well, go see it, it's fun!