Jonzor's Movie Review of Serenity (2005)

Rating of
3.5/4

Serenity (2005)

The space-western genre never looked so good.
Jonzor - wrote on 08/16/07

I love this movie. I'm just gonna get that out of the way first.

Secondly, I love the TV series. One of the greatest injustices our generation has experienced (from a television standpoint) was the cancelling of that show.

If you really want to enjoy this movie, I cannot stress enough how much it would help to watch at least 3-4 episodes of the show. Just borrow the series from a friend that owns them and watch at least the first disk or something. Certain relationships between characters on the show will make SO much more sense and the emotion they'll inject into the movie for you is invaluable. Not to mention the show is just wonderful in its own right. The way exploring space is treated like the push west as settlers explored America is actually a good fit. That, and it's just so funny.

Now, about the actual movie.

It's a sci-fi movie, to be sure, but it gets many of its sci-fi qualities in atypical ways. Sure, there's a spaceship, but it doesn't have "shields" or "photon torpedoes". There aren't aliens... just... a band of raiding cannibals. It feels a lot more like a realistic view of the future because it doesn't push a lot of crazy new technology, green men, and the like down your throats.

The story is fabulous, but to really appreciate the gravity of the situation the crew is presented with, again, you should really see the show. From the standpoint of a fan of the show, it feels like a story and a problem that really hits home to the crew, and to a certain degree, the rest of mankind scattered about the stars.

I also really like so many of the characters. The captain of the ship (Nathan Fillion) is really a great character that must be fun to play and fun to write for. The sarcastic rebel (with a noble heart made of solid gold) has been done, but I don't know that it's ever been done better. Each character has unique quirks that make them a true addition to the crew and not just another body.

Honestly, the movie feels as perfect as it could have been, but since true enjoyment of the movie came (for me) from familiarity with the show, I couldn't give it the perfect score I wanted to. It's truly an original experience.

Recent Comments

Alex - wrote on 08/22/07 at 03:44 PM CT

Serenity Review comment

It was a pretty damn good movie. I enjoyed the series a lot as well. I need to see it again to see if it is actually special or not. They just came out with the S.E.

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