Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.
When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth.
Stars:
Edward James Olmos,
Mary McDonnell,
Jamie Bamber
Following the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol by the Cylons, a rag-tag fugitive fleet of the last remnants of mankind flees the pursuing Cylons while simultaneously searching for their true home: Earth.
Stars:
Edward James Olmos,
Mary McDonnell,
Katee Sackhoff
When the initial Cylon attack against the Twelve Colonies fails to achieve complete extermination of human life as planned, twin Number Ones (Cavils) embedded on Galactica and Caprica must improvise to destroy the human survivors.
Director:
Edward James Olmos
Stars:
Edward James Olmos,
Dean Stockwell,
Michael Trucco
An international team of scientists and military personnel discover a Stargate network in the Pegasus Galaxy and come face-to-face with a new, powerful enemy, The Wraith.
Stars:
Joe Flanigan,
Rachel Luttrell,
David Hewlett
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.
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.Written by
Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}
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. See more »
Goofs
When River somersaults through the hatch, just after Simon is wounded, she is wearing a brace on her right knee. The brace disappears in the next shot. See more »
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...
See more »
Crazy Credits
There is a message in the closing credits: "The filmmakers wish to thank the crew and staff of 'Firefly'" See more »
I tried desperately to avoid getting my hopes elevated beyond reason, but it was to no avail. I have watched the entire Firefly series twice over the last two years, and had always hoped that it would somehow return. Firefly was one of the most recent examples of an intelligent, challenging, sci-fi show getting mismarketed and canceled by network TV. Firefly was a western adventure set in space with a compelling plot and bold, very likable characters. Serenity is its reprise in a full-feature film. Still, Serenity endeavors to introduce non-fans to its characters and major story arc in a very clever and subtle way, so that fans and non-fans alike can appreciate it completely. Those familiar with the saga of River and her alliance pursuers will enjoy the consistency with which the characters are portrayed and the development of her character into what she could have realized had the show been permitted to fully mature.
Before I go much further, I should state that I am no Joss Whedon fan - as I have found most of his TV work trite and over-hyped. Firefly earned my respect for Joss within a few minutes of the first episode, and I now watch him in my peripheral vision - just in case he does something this original and clever again.
Serenity is a Firefly class space transport ship operating illegally on the outskirts of Alliance civilization - the lawless edges of a solar system with many inhabited, terraformed, planets. Captain Malcolm Reynolds is stuck between reavers - cannibalistic semi-human sociopaths who prey on unsuspecting ships in this outer realm, and the alliance, from which he and his crew have been running for months.
The focus of this movie is the resolution of a story arc first developed in Firefly - that of River Tamm and her brother, Serenity's ship doctor, though it focuses on the entire ensemble cast in much the same way the TV show did - allowing each to fully and complexly develop. I will give a bit of the back-story here though you don't need it to appreciate the film.
Mal is an internally conflicted man with a strong sense of justice and a big warm heart which he shields with a frigid philosophy and an attempted stoicism. He and his first officer Zoey were part of a defeated rebellion against The Alliance (a federally organized empire of fascist urbanites reminiscent of the society of Gattaca). With the war lost, Zoey married to his pilot (Wash), a thug (Jayne), a young prodigy engineer with limited social graces (Kaylee), an aristocratic prostitute (Inara), and a few mysterious fugitives Shepherd Book, Simon, and River, he has set out to smuggle and thieve his way through the outer territories, disrupting and avoiding the alliance all along the way. The crew of Serenity have given up civilization as the cost of freedom.
River and Simon had begun as passengers, but Simon's medical skills and the fact that the Alliance seemed to have an irreversible interest in either killing or kidnapping Simon's sister River gave Reynolds reason to become interested in them. After a while it became clear that River had been the subject of a variety of experiments involving violence and telepathy conducted by The Alliance. First appearing to be dangerously insane, River became more and more recognizable as a weapon.
The characterizations in Serenity are very strong, and the cast is top-notch. Although I was never entirely thrilled with her in Firefly (though I always respected her talent), Summer Glau (River) really steals the show with her powerful, evocative performance. The script and story are excellent, though I felt the pace of the dialog could have been slowed a bit for the sake of dramatic quality. There is plenty of action in this film, though it does not fall into the trap that most recent sci-fi has of losing its plot, intelligence and characterizations in boring and absurd action sequences. The cinematography, though not as revolutionary as that used in Firefly, is excellent.
My only disappointments - and they are mild at worst - are that I thought the plot could have been a little more complex, original and intelligent, giving the film the intense drama that some of the best episodes of the series had (such as Bushwhacked) and the fact that excellent original theme song for the show did not appear anywhere in the film.. The villain of the film was interesting and well developed, but I would have preferred a few minutes less action and a little more character development for him.
Nevertheless, I recommend Serenity highly to sci fi fans - particularly those who want more of a human story than Star Trek has offered lately, and might be looking for something less soapy and intense and more fun than the excellent new BSG. it really does not matter if you have seen the series. This film stands on its own.
204 of 363 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
I tried desperately to avoid getting my hopes elevated beyond reason, but it was to no avail. I have watched the entire Firefly series twice over the last two years, and had always hoped that it would somehow return. Firefly was one of the most recent examples of an intelligent, challenging, sci-fi show getting mismarketed and canceled by network TV. Firefly was a western adventure set in space with a compelling plot and bold, very likable characters. Serenity is its reprise in a full-feature film. Still, Serenity endeavors to introduce non-fans to its characters and major story arc in a very clever and subtle way, so that fans and non-fans alike can appreciate it completely. Those familiar with the saga of River and her alliance pursuers will enjoy the consistency with which the characters are portrayed and the development of her character into what she could have realized had the show been permitted to fully mature.
Before I go much further, I should state that I am no Joss Whedon fan - as I have found most of his TV work trite and over-hyped. Firefly earned my respect for Joss within a few minutes of the first episode, and I now watch him in my peripheral vision - just in case he does something this original and clever again.
Serenity is a Firefly class space transport ship operating illegally on the outskirts of Alliance civilization - the lawless edges of a solar system with many inhabited, terraformed, planets. Captain Malcolm Reynolds is stuck between reavers - cannibalistic semi-human sociopaths who prey on unsuspecting ships in this outer realm, and the alliance, from which he and his crew have been running for months.
The focus of this movie is the resolution of a story arc first developed in Firefly - that of River Tamm and her brother, Serenity's ship doctor, though it focuses on the entire ensemble cast in much the same way the TV show did - allowing each to fully and complexly develop. I will give a bit of the back-story here though you don't need it to appreciate the film.
Mal is an internally conflicted man with a strong sense of justice and a big warm heart which he shields with a frigid philosophy and an attempted stoicism. He and his first officer Zoey were part of a defeated rebellion against The Alliance (a federally organized empire of fascist urbanites reminiscent of the society of Gattaca). With the war lost, Zoey married to his pilot (Wash), a thug (Jayne), a young prodigy engineer with limited social graces (Kaylee), an aristocratic prostitute (Inara), and a few mysterious fugitives Shepherd Book, Simon, and River, he has set out to smuggle and thieve his way through the outer territories, disrupting and avoiding the alliance all along the way. The crew of Serenity have given up civilization as the cost of freedom.
River and Simon had begun as passengers, but Simon's medical skills and the fact that the Alliance seemed to have an irreversible interest in either killing or kidnapping Simon's sister River gave Reynolds reason to become interested in them. After a while it became clear that River had been the subject of a variety of experiments involving violence and telepathy conducted by The Alliance. First appearing to be dangerously insane, River became more and more recognizable as a weapon.
The characterizations in Serenity are very strong, and the cast is top-notch. Although I was never entirely thrilled with her in Firefly (though I always respected her talent), Summer Glau (River) really steals the show with her powerful, evocative performance. The script and story are excellent, though I felt the pace of the dialog could have been slowed a bit for the sake of dramatic quality. There is plenty of action in this film, though it does not fall into the trap that most recent sci-fi has of losing its plot, intelligence and characterizations in boring and absurd action sequences. The cinematography, though not as revolutionary as that used in Firefly, is excellent.
My only disappointments - and they are mild at worst - are that I thought the plot could have been a little more complex, original and intelligent, giving the film the intense drama that some of the best episodes of the series had (such as Bushwhacked) and the fact that excellent original theme song for the show did not appear anywhere in the film.. The villain of the film was interesting and well developed, but I would have preferred a few minutes less action and a little more character development for him.
Nevertheless, I recommend Serenity highly to sci fi fans - particularly those who want more of a human story than Star Trek has offered lately, and might be looking for something less soapy and intense and more fun than the excellent new BSG. it really does not matter if you have seen the series. This film stands on its own.