A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Reviews from Video Reviews of the Classics Personal Background

Title: Serenity

Date Viewed: 10/2/05

Details:

Nathan Fillion

Gina Torres

Alan Tudyk

Morena Baccarin

Adam Baldwin

Jewel Staite

Sean Maher

Summer Glau

Ron Glass

Chiwetel Ejiofor

David Krumholtz

Created, written & directed by: Josh Whedon

Score: +

The Review: It's been a poor season for science fiction at the movies. With a disappointing War of the Worlds and the near-turkey Sound of Thunder, I've been eagerly awaiting something better, almost anything better, almost anything. So it was with some small trepidation I took on Serenity. I was afraid it might end up re-titled (as with a DVD release) Firefly: The Complete 2nd Season, The Reader's Digest Condensed Version. I had seen a few of the episodes of the now-cancelled TV show, and while OK, I wasn't what you'd call a rabid fan. So I also was hoping there would be some introduction, a smooth entry ramp, for those not bitten.

I shouldn't have worried. Serenity is nearly stand-alone and certainly entertaining.

Serenity (non-bolded) is the name of a ship, and its voyages -- along with a hodgepodge crew, gruff captain (Fillion, in the Han Solo mold), some odd and mysterious passengers, a broken interplanetary Alliance, and a lot of attitude -- constitute the entire background that you need. At some time during previous episodes, they picked up a physician who is shepherding and protecting his sister River Tam (Glau) -- a runaway from the Alliance who might be psychic, is definitely disturbed, and is the ardent target of an interplanetary (wo)man-hunt. The movie is essentially a quest to resolve the mystery of what River is, and why. Along the way, a bit of world-building trickles in, and a tremendous amount of classic space opera. The TV series had the look and feel of "cowboys in space," occasionally tense, but not quite "High Noon in space" (for that, you should watch Sean Connery's Outland).

Not bad.

(2-Oct-05)

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