Movie Review: Serenity (2005)

[Dave Gray]

Premise: Based off of characters from the cult show Firefly, a band of space rebels harbor a psychic who escaped from an alliance facility, where she was being turned into weapon, and learned a few government secrets during her stay.

Rating: Surprisingly good.

I'm becoming a bigger fan of sci-fi, as I'm learning that it comes in many forms.  This was a fun movie -- it was intentionally campy, and pretty quick-witted with one-liners that didn't come off as totally corny.  It pulled off space dialog and chatty fight scenes well -- reminding me what Star Wars used to be like.  The main character is very Han Solo-esque -- kind of a mercenary who only cares about his crew and his booty (both treasure and women), and the part was played very well.

It's described as a space-western, and it seems pretty accurate.  I thought it was a unique look at sci-fi -- as it was less serious than a movie like Alien, while still being a little dark.

By the way, you don't need to see the series first.  I've never watched one episode.

[Sunstroke]

I'm a full blown member of this "cult" ...have seen Serenity and all the Firefly episodes multiple times. Dave nailed it on the head when he called it a unique look at sci-fi. As someone who has devoured sci-fi at an alarming rate since the 70's, it was that uniqueness that makes me enjoy it so much.

[GUATARICCAN]

Being a Sci-fi lover I liked this movie, but as I was telling Dave, I just didn't feel like it brought anything new to the table. Oh and that black guy was pretty thug too!

[fyo]

The three things that disappointed me the most about Serenity:

- Trying to tie up too many of the lose story ends in the Firefly universe.
- Crappy lines for Wash (the pilot).
- Where'd the massive amount of badass swearing in Chineese (well, Mandarin) go?