Tonight was a critic's pass to the showing of the soon to be coming film Serenity. Written and directed by Joss Whedon of Buffy and Angel fame, this movie picks up where the now defunct TV series left off.

Serenity stars the same cast as the original TV show. It is an effective ensemble, and the film has very good visuals and special effects. But the main reason why I wanted to see this flick was Whedon's writing. Both Buffy and Angel were some of my favorite TV shows for a while, and they're almost wholly because of Whe-don's gift with a pen. I don't know if I would have picked the same cinematography (par-ticularly the scene where Mal (the captain) is giving a speech to the crew while backlit and is almost completely washed out. Or maybe I'm just missing the subtleties of the moment), but it works much more often than it doesn't.

I have to wonder what someone who has never seen the show would think of this flick. I've watched a few of them here lately, but I was hardly a fan when it first came out. To-night's screening was basically comprised of 90% fan boys/girls; accordingly, they loved every little thing that happened. Since I'm not a novice on the subject, I got a lot of the subtext and story. I suspect that if I went to Serenity cold, I would have probably felt like I picked up a book at about the ninth chapter.

All in all, I'd recommend this movie to anyone who wants a sci-fi flick with good tension and action while not minding thinking a wee bit. No watch time.