Holy crap.

I was planning on seeing Serenity on Sunday out at AMC, but Seth and Chrissy came over last night and telepathically convinced me to go out at wimpy Carmike (RIP, GKC) Market Square here in town. Seriously, it was telepathic. They just looked at me and waited for me to suggest it.

The movie was fantastic. As a fan of the series, the movie was everything I had hoped it would be. It was a major gift to the faithful without devolving into total fan service; Serenity appears to be very accessible to newcomers as well. The film is thrilling, hilarious, and affecting - perhaps moreso than any I've seen so far this year.

Joss Whedon is back in the saddle in a big way. The action is some of the best he's ever shot, the dialogue is wonderful (as always--it's Joss), the special effects are as glorious as ever (probably even a little bit better), and the characters--sweet fancy Moses, the characters!

All the characters from the series are back and not a one has been corrupted by the Hollywood process. Mal (Nathan Fillion) displays the same split of stoic pragmatism and nobility he did in the series, and the limits of both are tested severely in the film. Jayne (Adam Baldwin) still provides a lot of gruff guy comedy, but he has a couple serious lines that just knock a room silent. Kaylee (Jewel Staite) is as adorable as ever and gets to deliver some of the funniest lines in the movie. The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an assassin after the crew who, despite his deadly prowess, possesses a far more powerful weapon: unwavering belief in his cause.

I can't really say a whole lot more about the movie without spoiling major stuff, but let me say this: if you are going into a Joss Whedon movie without expecting to see a girl beating a lot of people up, you're way off base. River (Summer Glau) is absolutely butt-kickingly cool in this movie. If you've seen the series, you were expecting something like this the whole time; now you've got it.

I offer only one caveat for those who'd like to see this. See the television series first, please. Go out and buy it, rent it or, assuming you're a brigand of the worst sort, download it between bank robberies. You will enjoy this movie so much more if you've seen the series first. I geh-ron-tee.

So yeah. It's good. It's really really good.