Serenity (2005)

The crew of the ship Serenity tries to evade an assassin sent to recapture one of their number who is telepathic.

Director:

Joss Whedon

Writer:

Joss Whedon

Stars:

Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk

8 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nathan Fillion	...	Mal
Gina Torres	...	Zoë
Alan Tudyk	...	Wash
Morena Baccarin	...	Inara
Adam Baldwin	...	Jayne
Jewel Staite	...	Kaylee
Sean Maher	...	Simon
Summer Glau	...	River
Ron Glass	...	Shepherd Derrial Book
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	The Operative
David Krumholtz	...	Mr. Universe
Michael Hitchcock	...	Dr. Mathias
Sarah Paulson	...	Dr. Caron
Yan Feldman	...	Mingo
Rafael Feldman	...	Fanty

Storyline

In the future, a spaceship called Serenity is harboring a passenger with a deadly secret. Six rebels on the run. An assassin in pursuit. When the renegade crew of Serenity agrees to hide a fugitive on their ship, they find themselves in an awesome action-packed battle between the relentless military might of a totalitarian regime who will destroy anything - or anyone - to get the girl back and the bloodthirsty creatures who roam the uncharted areas of space. But, the greatest danger of all may be on their ship.

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Plot Keywords:

alliance | planet | operative | reavers | cannibal | 

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Taglines:

Can't stop the signal.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, and some sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [uk]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

30 September 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Firefly

Filming Locations:

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - 200 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$228,581 (Australia) (14 October 2005)

Gross:

$25,335,935 (USA) (11 November 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Barry Mendel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Among the buildings shown in the opening sequence (where voice-over narration describes the "terraforming" process) are the Emirates Towers, key features of the skyline of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. A skyscraper in the foreground of the same shot is based on designs by Sir Norman Foster (Lord Foster), including the Commerzbank headquarters in Frankfurt and the HSBC building in Hong Kong.

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Goofs

On Mr. Universe's planet the audience is told Kaylee rigged the blast doors so no one could open them once they are sealed. Yet, right after Mal asks about River, the blast doors do open. The doors were obviously malfunctioning earlier when they only closed halfway.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Teacher: Earth that was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new solar system, dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Each one terraformed, a process taking decades, to support human life, to be new Earths. The Central Planets formed the Alliance. Ruled by an interplanetary parliament, the Alliance was a beacon of civilization. The savage outer planets were not so enlightened and refused Alliance control. The war was devastating, but the Alliance's victory over...

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Crazy Credits

The film content begins seamlessly from the Universal logo. After the 'Universal' title appears over the earth icon, the earth image becomes more realistic, and then the word 'Universal' is moved away to reveal the earth devastated from overpopulation, with spacecraft departing, as the first 'regular' shot of the film.

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood's Top Ten: Movies Based on TV Shows (2011)

User Reviews

Oustanding adaptation

Instead of going into a long, drawn out review, let me sum up "Serenity" by saying that 1) no fans of "Firefly" will be disappointed, and 2) Whedon does a good enough job laying out the backstory that newbies to the Firefly universe will have no trouble figuring things out and enjoying the heck out of the movie.

The film is split more into halves than the standard three acts, which works just fine in this instance. The plot may be confusing at first, but when the second half of the film starts there are no lingering questions and a pantload of great action bits and one-liners. Frankly, the last 45 minutes are absolutely outstanding. The first half takes a bit to really pick up, but it's the second half of the movie that will leave old fans and new yearning for a sequel.

There are some sad moments, some gut busting lines, and some rousing actions sequences that make "Serenity" a wonderful film that really, really deserves a sequel and, perhaps if we're lucky, a second chance on Sci-Fi.