Serenity: the movie

Saw Serenity today, the feature film based on the too-soon-departed TV series Firefly.
I saw the show (most episodes, at least) when it first aired in 2002, and was disappointed when it was suddenly canceled, due to some rather stupid marketing errors and decisions on the part of Fox network.
The complete set of episodes (including unaired ones) was made available on DVD, and we have enjoyed repeated watching of the episodes ever since.
The movie was quite loud, frenetic, and has some great filmmaking in it. I love the cast--they are so good together, and make the whole premise work so well.

Here are some of my thoughts about the movie:
(WARNING--Possible Spoilers Below)

1) It bugs me when characters repeat stupid actions that are vital to the plot. To wit: Mal shoots the (unnamed) Operator once...maybe twice...grabs Inara and then runs. The Operator is wearing body armor, however, and is not harmed. Mal knows about body armor (since Zoe wears it in an episode of Firefly), so why doesn't he MAKE SURE the Operator is dead, before running off?
2) How did Mal know what the effect of the Operator's nerve-ending punch was to be, so he could stand there half paralyzed? Had he seen this before? The convenient reason why it didn't work was a throw-away gag.
3) This film is a love story, above all else. The writer/director Joss Whedon has created some complex characters with complex relationships, and this is why I liked the series so much. Here, we see the depths of love--how far will you (and Captain Mal) go for real, selfless love? It's Mal's love for his crew-family, his ship and even his ideals that make the show more than just a shallow action series. Sure, that's there, but it is this deep subtext that makes the show art. Whedon loves his characters, and the audience who has seen the TV series cares about the ship enough to cringe when it gets heavily damaged.
4) It is heartbreaking to see characters you care about actually die on screen. The deaths are anti-heroic, and this makes it so much less cliche than usual. It also makes the drama of the action so much stronger, because you realize the surving heroes might not actually survive to the end of the show, unlike so many other films.
The film had a few other problems here and there. It might also be confusing to people not familiar with the series, but there is just enough essential information that an awake viewer will quickly figure out who is who and what is what.
I rate it an 8 to 8.5 out of 10.
Well done, Whedon. And Nathan Fillion IS Captain Reynolds.