Gah, can’t sleep, too cool, must post…
I’m going to try to keep plot details/twists to a minimum (and any will definitely be boxed) and just give general impressions.
Definitely a crowd of fans (as would be expected). Not many in costume, but then it’s never really struck me as that kind of a fan base. I spotted a Mal, and I snuck in on a technicality: blonde hair and a hawaiin shirt made me Wash. The friends I went with said I should’ve gotten plastic dinosaurs. 
The Denver chapter of the Browncoats gave out some flyers and buttons. My button has the Serenity logo with “Time for some thrilling heroics” (which required some thinking before remembering this was a line of Jayne’s from the Train Job). Friend #1 got “So this must be what going mad feels like” (pretty appropriate for him). Friend #2 got “I’m thinking of growing a big black mustache. I’m a traditionalist”. And Friend #3 got some quote/line involving fierce midgets? Can’t say I remember that one, I’ll see if I can get an exact quote for later…
First, the movie started off with a message from Joss. No, he wasn’t there in person, it was a clip added to the front of the movie.
Jass’s basic message: in the normal world of hollywood, this movie never would’ve been made. No stars, no big name director or producer, and based off of a television show canceled after less than a full season. It got made because of the fans. “We’ve done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.” (a direct quote, and the last part was echoed by quite a few people in the audience) And if the movie sucks…it’s our fault. 
The version shown was in a “mostly finished, but not quite” state. The editing still needs a bit of work to smooth some transitions (some cuts were so fast it was really hard to follow what was happening, even in non-fight scenes). The color/light matching was way off, even in cuts between two views of the same area. Special effects aren’t quite done, I spotted a few untextured ships (just bare CGI model). Most of the music was placeholder stuff (although it fit pretty well), and the TV theme song wasn’t played at all. Personally, I think it might be a bit out of place at the beginning, but would be perfect for the closing credits. And I’m not sure if it was the sound mix or what, but the actor’s voices just seemed “off” from the way they sound on my DVDs. Jayne and Mal aren’t quite as gruff, and either Simon’s loosened up or they just ditched his sometimes stilted way of speaking.
The movie started with the Universal logo (there was no way in hell Fox was going to get it), then the lettering faded leaving a shot of “Earth that was”. We get a lot more info about the history leading up to the era of Firefly (at least from what was in the episodes, I’m not sure how much has been revealed elsewhere). How the Alliance started, the layout of the 'verse, etc. The show makes a bit more sense geographically now that I knowthat it’s all a single system with a bunch of terraformed planets and moons.
The plot follows a formula common to many episodes: starts with a job, job goes slightly wrong, the crew tries to adjust for the job going wrong, job goes really wrong, then the Alliance comes after River, and there is much gunplay, fisticuffs, and amazing flying.
All nine major TV cast members are in it, although Inarra and Book have basically bit parts. Two major new characters are “The Operative” (the agent sent by the Alliance to get River) and “Mr Universe” (an info dealer / hacker?). Mr. Universe kept bugging me with his familiarity, until I looked him up on imdb to discover that he was Bernard the head elf in Santa Clause. The main focus is Operative vs. Mal, River, and Simon, with Zoe, Jayne, Wash and Kaylee in the background doing what they do best (fighting, flying, and fixing)
There’s a lot of action against Reavers. We get a closer look (but not too close ::shudder:: ) on what these madman of deep space look like, along with a pretty impressive space battle between them and the Alliance. They also tie into the plot in a pretty surprising way, besides their normal “boogeyman” role.
We also get a bit more history about River, what the Alliance was doing with her (plus a couple more reasons why they want her back), and how Simon broke her out of the Academy.
Amidst everything, the Firefly aura of “everything and the kitchen sink” kept working. Most of the cities shown were a bit more industrial than western, but the Chinese influences continues to mesh well. I guess the crew had a good paying job recently, since the Mule has been upgraded from an ATV to a hover vehicle.
And the jokes were just as funny (although I’m not sure if they all worked pacing-wise). One I can’t keep to myself from Kaylee (spoilered in case you want to be just as surprised as the rest of the audience): For the past year I ain’t any anything 'round my nether regions 'less’n it had batteries
River kicks a serious load of ass in this. Take the bits in the trailer and multiply by at least 50. She even takes out Jayne! :eek:
Hmm, I think that’s probably about all I want to go over to keep myself from slipping any major twists. And there are a few. I don’t even trust myself to spoiler box the biggest one. I literally caught myself saying “oh no you didn’t” at the screen. “Float like a leaf”.
I’d definitely recommend this to Firefly fans, and probably to sci-fi fans in general. When it comes out, go see it. Take your friends to see it. Go see it again.
Boston got Sean Maher (Simon) and Morena Baccarin (Innara). Austin got Nathan Fillion (Mal) and Ron Glass (Book).