The quote in my title perfectly describes Serenity and my experience viewing the movie. I couldn't fit the entire quote in the title, so here it is: "Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstasy of grief."

Serenity is clearly made with passion, I could feel Joss Whedon and the cast's commitment to the film while I sat raptly watching the two hour movie. Of course I approached the movie filled with my own passion for all things Joss Whedon and especially with a passion for the Firefly verse. I love that Serenity has love, hatred, and grief as well as action, humour, excitement and creepiness on a big screen scale. Basically I loved Serenity!!!!!

I'm not sure how coherent I can be about the movie, so here's some random thoughts:

1. Wash is dead?! No ... but ... he can't be dead ... oh god, this is Joss Whedon ... of course he's really dead. It was such a surprise, we were all still laughing at his awesome line about floating like a leaf, some people were applauding his flying when ... bam. There was a collective gasp in the theatre when Wash was killed. I don't know if I could even articulate a gasp but Wash's death propelled me to sob for basically the rest of the movie.

One of my friends observed that she felt like she'd just actually watched someone die. I felt/feel like someone I know in real life died which is really weird for me because I have a very clear distinction in my head between fiction and reality. When the movie ended I was still feeling traumatized, as was another friend who was also really upset. I just love Wash's character so much. sob

2. Book is dead?! I was already upset about Book so when Wash died that caused my sobbing instead of just sad tearyness. For the first time ever I cried so much that my mascara ran (although I rarely wear mascara so that may not be the best descriptive statement).

3. David Krumholtz's character was killed? I love David Krumholtz so I was upset when he got stabbed. Of course, I was only mildly upset compared to Book and Wash.

4. I loved/hated the intense stand off at Mr. Universe's place with the Reavers and The Operative. When stuff was going horribly wrong and people were getting shot, I hated the scenes because I became worried all the characters that I love would be killed. However it was so suspenseful and intense I loved it!

5. Kaylee and Simon!! Finally.

6. Mal and Inara move towards maybe actually expressing their feelings.

7. Excellent River and Simon scenes as always. I especially love the flashbacks and dream scenes.

8. Loved the exchange between the Captain and Zoe at the end of the movie when he asks her how Serenity will hold up but it's also about her. Very understated, in a good way.

9. The Reaver and River torture scenes were creepy/scary.

10. River kicking ass, particularly when she kicked Reaver ass. I especially liked that it was her love for her brother that jolted her into action.

11. The multiple uses of "can't stop the signal" as a line in the movie.

Although I went to the movie with lots of other Firefly fans, 2 of my friends didn't watch Firefly (they're just nicely supportive of my obsessions). They both enjoyed the movie but didn't love it. One friend commented that although it wasn't a waste of money and she had a good time, she wouldn't bother to see the sequel. However she suggested that not having seen Firefly is like not having read the books before seeing Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter movies - you'll enjoy it alright but not love it because you're not already invested in the mythology and characters.

My non-Firefly fan friends also said that they found the Inara stuff boring and that The Operative also became boring after a while. One friend commented that it reminded her of Star Wars, which I think is a correct observation in that the Firefly universe is influenced by the original Star Wars (especially since Mal is a very Hans Soloesque character).

I thought it would be useful to include my friend's observations, since I know that I'm unable to be at all critical or objective about the movie right now. Perhaps on more viewings (hee hee more viewings!!), I'll have some more balanced comments ... but you never know, my passion for the Firefly verse may keep me in the "joy of love" that I'm currently feeling about Serenity.

I know that there's zillions of Serenity reviews right now, but I particularly love the one in New York Magazine. It's written by my favourite former television columnist at Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker. Here's his excellent review.