The crew of a spacecraft named Serenity buy trouble for themselves when they take on two passengers. Simon (Sean Maher) has just rescued his kid sister River (Summer Glau), who's been getting groomed by an evil organization for use as a living weapon. The Serenity captain is a tough, cool Han Solo type named Mal (Nathan Fillion) who transforms from protagonist to genuine hero when his consciousness is raised, and he learns to fight for the greater good.
The decent sci-fi / action flick "Serenity" was designed by writer / director Joss Whedon (a man who made his name creating TV series like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Angel', and 'Firefly') to be a fairly self-contained story that newcomers to the 'Firefly' universe could enjoy. Of course, I'm sure it helps if one has already seen the series, but this is a reasonably entertaining story in its own right.
Whedon gives his audience a lot of razzle-dazzle: visual effects, world-building, action scenes, and a blazing pace. There are whole sections of the movie where Whedon barely give the viewers a chance to breathe. The hip, stylized dialogue runs the risk of being annoying, but it never does take top priority. It's fun to take in some of the details here, such as those numerous and unrelenting antagonists known as "Reavers", who are cannibalistic savages.
Mal and his crew are a colourful, likeable bunch: Zoe (Gina Torres), Jayne (Adam Baldwin, a hoot as a comedy-relief macho character), Kaylee (Jewel Staite), and Wash (played by one of this viewers' favourite actors, Alan Tudyk). They're *not* heroes in the traditional sense, but like their fearless leader, they do learn something about helping their fellow man (and woman). The whole cast is great, with Michael Hitchcock, David Krumholtz, Sarah Paulson, and Ron Glass playing other key characters. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a standout as the brutal, coldly efficient antagonist. This is a man who knows that he does monstrous things, but he simply regards them as things that need to be done.
With a nice score by David Newman as accompaniment, "Serenity" shows its audience a pretty good time, and may motivate some people to check out 'Firefly' in order to spend some more time with these characters.
Seven out of 10.
The decent sci-fi / action flick "Serenity" was designed by writer / director Joss Whedon (a man who made his name creating TV series like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Angel', and 'Firefly') to be a fairly self-contained story that newcomers to the 'Firefly' universe could enjoy. Of course, I'm sure it helps if one has already seen the series, but this is a reasonably entertaining story in its own right.
Whedon gives his audience a lot of razzle-dazzle: visual effects, world-building, action scenes, and a blazing pace. There are whole sections of the movie where Whedon barely give the viewers a chance to breathe. The hip, stylized dialogue runs the risk of being annoying, but it never does take top priority. It's fun to take in some of the details here, such as those numerous and unrelenting antagonists known as "Reavers", who are cannibalistic savages.
Mal and his crew are a colourful, likeable bunch: Zoe (Gina Torres), Jayne (Adam Baldwin, a hoot as a comedy-relief macho character), Kaylee (Jewel Staite), and Wash (played by one of this viewers' favourite actors, Alan Tudyk). They're *not* heroes in the traditional sense, but like their fearless leader, they do learn something about helping their fellow man (and woman). The whole cast is great, with Michael Hitchcock, David Krumholtz, Sarah Paulson, and Ron Glass playing other key characters. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a standout as the brutal, coldly efficient antagonist. This is a man who knows that he does monstrous things, but he simply regards them as things that need to be done.
With a nice score by David Newman as accompaniment, "Serenity" shows its audience a pretty good time, and may motivate some people to check out 'Firefly' in order to spend some more time with these characters.
Seven out of 10.