Review of Serenity (2005) by David C — 03 Mar 2014

Serenity is one of the best sci-fi films of all time and one of my favorite films in general. Firefly was a TV show created over ten years ago by screenwriting god Joss Whedon. It involved the crew of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity, consisting of captain Mal (Nathan Fillion), first mate Zoe (Gina Torres), pilot Wash (Alan Tudyk), and companion Inara (Morena Baccarin).

There's also mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin), mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite), doctor Simon (Sean Maher), psychic River (Summer Glau), and shepherd Book (Ron Glass) as they face off against the powerful Alliance. Mal and Zoe were former veterans of the Unification War (including the Battle of Serenity Valley) and Wash is Zoe's interracial husband.

Firefly was the greatest TV show of all time. Strong characters, excellent writing, great acting, wonderful visuals, intense action, and interesting plots are what you find in each and every episode of the series. But, of course, FOX cancelled it due to low ratings, a terrible marketing campaign, and airing the episodes out of order. Joss Whedon decided to include all of his ideas for a second season into a movie continuing where the series finale left off, to wrap the saga up at two hours in his screenplay, titled Serenity.

Whedon decided not to take the script to 20th Century Fox, instead insisting on having the project set up at Universal. Universal executive Mary Parent was a big fan of the show and approved of Joss Whedon's script. Whedon made his feature film directorial debut with Serenity, with producing duties handled by Barry Mendel, who previously produced M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Serenity was a big hit with critics, but sadly bombed at the box office.

Serenity continues where Firefly's final episode Objects in Space left off, with the Alliance now in pursuit of 17-year-old mentally traumatized psychic genius River Tam, played by Summer Glau. The Alliance hires an Operative, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who has no rank or no name, to track down River and kill her, as high Alliance politicians have accidentally exposed top secrets to her psychic abilities. The Operative believes in a world without sin and believes that killing River will change the world into a better one.

In the 26th century, humanity has left an overpopulated and decimated Earth and moved to a new star system, colonizing many planets and moons. The Alliance has won a war against the Colonies, less established planets in the outer solar system. River was the most promising of many child prodigies being mentally and physically conditioned against their will by Alliance scientists. River was rescued by her brother Simon, played by Sean Maher. They both seek refuge on Serenity.

Aboard the ship, we get a cool steadicam sequence where we're (re-)introduced to most of the crew and we get to touch on their emotions and personalities. I really like how Joss Whedon and cinematographer Jack Green directed, shot, and created this sequence, establishing how this scene manages to inaugurate safety onboard Serenity.

During a bank robbery performed by Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River, we finally get to see the cannibalistic and deadly Reavers on-screen. For those who haven't seen the show: A) Please see it now. B) Reavers are animalistic humans who attack settlers from space, eat you alive, sew your skin to their bodies, and then rape your dead corpses and remaining amounts of skin for hours. C) Watching the show will help you fully understand the plot of this movie (trust me, it will).

Firefly and Serenity have both proved to be brilliant mixes of the science fiction and western genres, the show focusing a bit more on the western part, and the movie focusing a bit more on the sci-fi part particularly to please common moviegoers, and it works incredibly well. Of course, traditional Whedon trademarks are here: a terrific sense of humor, likeable characters (with actual personalities) who are strong and you root for, a villain who isn't a derivative cliché or a generic stereotype, terrific dialogue, real emotional pain, and of course, brilliant action sequences and special effects.

Regarding the action, the hovercraft chase during the bank robbery and escape from the Reavers was very well-shot. Not to mention, the visuals were incredible considering this had a budget of less than $40 million. Sorry, District 9, but Serenity played the "low budget film with great effects" game first. All the violence in the film is actually pretty strong and brutal, especially for a film with a PG-13 rating, but without any gratuitous or pointless blood or gore just to please standard hardcore action junkies.

The cast members do great jobs playing their respective memorable characters. The best performances in the film definitely come from Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mal, River, and the Operative. Fillion is awesome as usual, the word awesome being an understatement, but come on, did I really need to say it? Glau does a terrific job playing the emotional and fighter sides of River. Ejiofor made for a very intimidating and cool villain.

FINAL SCORE: 10/10.

Joss Whedon's first full-length feature film is just amazing. Whedon writes and directs the film masterfully and very tightly. All members of the cast do incredible jobs. The action was intense, the effects were great, the visuals were terrific, the story was interesting, the film is well-paced, the characters are memorable, and the villain was spot-on.

Surprisingly enough, the deaths of Book and Wash (SPOILERS!) didn't piss me off. They were actually well-handled and emotional in the good way. Even if you're not a Whedon fanboy, or a fan of sci-fi in general, you'll love this movie. However, if you're new to the 'verse of Firefly, please the watch the show first and then watch the movie. Those gorramn FOX executives is the dumbest bastards in the whole 'verse.