Buffy creator's 'Serenity' will sate sci-fi buffs

LOS ANGELES - A cancelled TV show is reborn on the big screen in Joss Whedon's feature debut, "Serenity".

The film is an appealingly low-rent, if not earth-shattering, 26th century "Star Wars" with faint glimmers of "Blade Runner," "Buckaroo Banzai" and "The Manchurian Candidate" for good measure.

Whedon's series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" have inspired die-hard devotion, and when Fox yanked his Western-flavoured sci-fi adventure "Firefly" off the air in 2002 after only 11 episodes, a Web-fuelled cult sprang up. The series' loyal legions -- aka Browncoats, named after the small band of freedom fighters at the show's centre -- have packed previews of "Serenity," which reunites the "Firefly" cast, with the tasty addition of Chiwetel Ejiofor as the intrepid crew's archenemy.

Browncoats will no doubt turn out again when the film, which premiered at the recent Edinburgh International Film Festival, opens wide Friday. Whether "Serenity" will entice nonaficionados is another question. The characters' mildly offbeat spins on standard action-figure types and the cheeky humour are pluses, and familiarity with the TV show isn't necessary to follow the film. But the Serenity crew's chemistry isn't enough to take this spaceship into the stratosphere, and Whedon unleashes his most provocative ideas too late in the proceedings.

A striking nine-minute pre-credits sequence lays out the crisis at hand. Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a young doctor, rescues his sister, River (Summer Glau), from the clutches of the interplanetary ruling Alliance. A gifted telepath, River has been the subject of Alliance experiments that have turned her into an unpredictable killing machine. When she's not kicking ass, she's a damaged waif in Stevie Nicks hand-me-downs trying to regain control of her mind. Brother and sister secure passage on the Serenity, whose captain, Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), is a rugged, world-weary cowboy in the classic mould of cynical, reluctant heroes.

Because the Alliance has dispatched an unnamed, ruthless operative (Ejiofor) to retrieve prize experiment River, the Tams' presence on board puts Mal and his crew in danger. Crusty mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin) would just as soon drop them off at the next planet. Bickering and banter reign as the crew members chart their clanking spaceship through the hostile universe. Second-in-command Zoe (Gina Torres) is a beautiful black woman with the soul of a quaintly stoic old soldier, and her easygoing husband, Wash (Alan Tudyk), serves as pilot (their relationship, however, barely registers onscreen). Kaylee (Jewel Staite), the ship's farm-girl mechanic, would love nothing more than some private quality time with Simon.

Touching down on Wild West desert landscapes and checking in with wise man Shepherd Book (Ron Glass), the noncutesy Yoda of the piece, the Serenity struggles to elude the ultraorganised Alliance and the murderous, galaxy-roaming Reavers. Along the way, Mal consults with cyberhacker Mr. Universe (David Krumholtz) and reconnects with his vaguely defined Buddhist love interest, Inara (Morena Baccarin).

Whedon's theme of outcasts resisting the intrusions of an omniscient law-and-order government is ever-timely, and his ideas come across with more subtlety than those in "Star Wars" or "Star Trek." Even more timely is a revelation concerning behaviour modification gone awry that resonates in this age of Zoloft. But, arriving late in the story, it remains a plot point rather than a developed concept.

As a makeshift family caught between the "calmed" masses and the raging Reavers, the cast acquits itself well. Barry Chusid's flavorful design, especially the ship's thrift-store lava lounge decor, enhances the story's outsider sensibility, with able creative contributions all around.

- REUTERS