One of the more thrilling aspects of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi yarn is that good guys die. Sounds harsh, but it lends his made-for-cinema TV action pic a freshness not seen since the good old days of A New Hope. Cognoscenti should skip forward. Serenity is the much anticipated adaptation of Whedon’s Firefly, from the man who made Buffy and Angel the hits they were. Whedon gained an Oscar nomination as co-writer of Toys and an Emmy for the Hush episode of Buffy, confirming that the x-factor here is writing. Serenity is a good tale told well. The acting is even, design is exciting, the concept bold. There is a sense that this is what Star Trek could be if only they would concentrate. Captain Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) leads a group of squabbling, loyal outcasts on his ship-for-hire with no questions asked. An unusual cargo pits the crew against itself and Reynolds soon discovers that the galaxy’s greatest danger might be hidden on Serenity itself.

Granted, this is little more than an extended TV episode yet Whedon delivers it most convincingly. The film unfolds at a brisk clip, the layered story-telling sustains the film’s length through a script that manages to keep most of its secrets until show time. There’s an satisfying curtain of moral ambiguity that tilts at genre clichés while maintaining a delightful sense of levity. Little matter that the digital effects are loose or the storytelling lacks a grand eloquence - Serenity is as diverting and entertaining as any recent sci-fi flick of its kind. Which is what you want from space opera, surely?

// COLIN FRASER