You Can Take the Silver Screen from Me
Saw lots of Firefly reviews that might nominate Joss for godhood, but I gotta say I disagree. I will keep this spoiler-light, and would appreciate any comments do the same. It's a good movie, but it lacks the soul of the series. Bad points listed below, as the good points would be spoilers.
Misuse of scale. In the series, the crew of the Serenity were nobodies trying to get by. This allows characters to have interesting downtime, instead of merely trying to advance the plot. In the movie, the crew gets swept up events larger than them and they flail, restricted by what they now must do. I also had this problem with the Star Wars prequels, where I find myself not caring about the characters because what they do ceases to be personal. Cheers for Troy for having grand battles that made me care.
Telling, not showing. Lots of stuff, some plot critical (e.g., "The Signal"), some utterly irrelevant (e.g., the history lesson), some character arc (Simon's regret), was explained with dialog. This includes what Marie calls "Butler and Maid Dialog" where two characters discuss topics that they would already know and agree upon so that the audience can learn it. This is the sort of thing I expect in a documentary or a website, not a movie. Also hated Book's "Believe!" scene, but I would have to spoil the movie to say why. Also, the movie did have a lot of good zingers in it.
Too many effects. Star Trek: TNG had this problem early on that the SFX department was writing their scripts, or so it felt. I like seeing lots of moving things and explosions, but it too needs to stay personal. If you're gonna have a battle sequence, it should not include lots of characters who are incapable of doing anything.
Overcompetence. Characters who are too good at things are not interesting. There's no tension when a hero is undefeatable. I'm just glad this didn't extend to the entire cast, as frequently happens with "unlikely groups".
Society of bad guys with no sustainability.
Deus Ex Machina. It happens twice.