01:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 30, 2005

BY MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal Arts Writer

There have been plenty of movies made from hit TV shows, from The Beverly Hillbillies to My Favorite Martian. But Serenity is probably the first movie that owes its origins to a failed TV show.

Joss Whedon's critically acclaimed Firefly, about the crew of a rust-bucket spaceship, was canceled by Fox after only 11 of its 14 produced episodes aired in the fall of 2002. However, the series found a second life and a large cult following when it went to DVD in 2003. Because of that, Universal saw in Firefly the chance for a new space-movie franchise. Whedon, who had also created the hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, was eager to comply and came up with the script for Serenity, which is named after the bare-bones spaceship. Whedon sold it as both a hybrid of the continued adventures of the Serenity crew and a stand-alone story that would thrill moviegoers who had never seen the series.

Count me among the latter who, thankfully, found that Whedon's promise eventually comes true in his film. Being dumped in the middle of the action with characters I'd never seen and a plot that at first was nearly incomprehensible was not a good start. At a preview screening there was lots of antsy movement by the audience during the first third of Serenity as people went to the concession stand or restrooms. Halfway through, the couple next to me left.

Too bad. They fled just moments before all the questions set up by Whedon in the first half of his film began being answered. The plot pulled together amid lots of action and more than one shocking moment. Let's just say Whedon isn't afraid to kill off significant characters. It makes Serenity seem more daring and intriguing than one might have guessed at first.

Serenity is a sort of cut-rate Star Wars, with a bit of the quirkiness of Star Trek (like Serenity, grounded in episode TV). It's played with a mix of spiffy special effects and some cheesy looking sets.

It takes place in a far-distant solar system that has been populated by refugees from an overpopulated Earth. The outer planets in this system were home to renegade "Independents" who have lost a war against the Alliance that runs the solar system (think Evil Empire). The Serenity crew, led by Capt. Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), are former Independent soldiers. Fillion plays a sort of Han Solo character, a self-assured scalawag without quite the charisma of Harrison Ford, who takes on jobs across the solar system, no questions asked as long as he gets his cut.

The plot revolves around a 17-year-old psychic girl named River (Summer Glau) who is rescued from medical experiments by her protective brother. They seek refuge on the Serenity, which is in the middle of a salvage operation. But everyone soon discovers that the Alliance wants River dead so she won't blab the information she has in her subconscious about an evil Alliance scheme that's gone haywire on a distant world. They've sent a take-no-prisoners Operative to kill her, chillingly played by mild-mannered Chiwetel Ejiofor.

This is serious business, but fortunately, like Star Wars, Serenity is played loosely and often with humor. The Serenity itself looks very used and tired. No eye candy here. "Are we crashing again?" asks one crew member during an especially jangly ride on the rattling ship.

For a while those who haven't seen the series will be trying to figure out just who the crew members of the Serenity are and what they're doing. But, having worked on the TV series, they have the easy camaraderie and ensemble playing down pat. So most of us will go along with it until finally -- hurrah! -- the dawn breaks on the plot.

There's even a very good dogfight-in-outer-space sequence. It's not quite Star Wars, but it will please fans of the TV show and may win some new ones.

***

Serenity

Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Rated: PG-13, contains violence.