Serenity

Serenity (2005): Get your divas armed because what we have here is a space opera. Serenity is based on a cancelled science fiction TV series called Firefly! Is the movie industry really that desperate? I mean, all we seem to be getting these days are remakes of successful TV series and along comes this one based on a ‘loser’. Writer/Director Joss Whedon (writer of a number of successful TV series including the Buffy clan) continued to try and keep the series going via a big screen movie after the series cancellation and his persistence paid off. And the movie is one pretty good adventure too. I had not seen (or even heard) of Firefly but after viewing this space opera, will rent the DVDs of the series.

The movie has a number of logic holes but anytime you create a brand new universe, you are bound to miss a few details. It also has one of the most gentlemanly though deadly and vicious villains to rocket down the galaxy in a long while. Populated with actresses named Jewel, and Summer, much to my surprise, the entire cast does an excellent job, even old ‘Barney Miller’ alum Ron Glass. Throw in a bloodthirsty race of oddball humanoid non-vegetarian cannibals, a well meaning but forceful all controlling galactic government with a big secret and a group of space happy freebooters running marginally legal cartage services and you get a pretty interesting set of conflict resolution problems. Add a hypno-kungfuified, psycho-prescient, mind reading teenager and you can have a complex mystery with lots of explosions and shootings. Heck, the hero even shoots an innocent bystander and we didn’t take umbrage! (Well, the bullet absorber was about to experience a bit of a painful future as the main course for the cannibals so we gave the hero a pass on that one.)
If you can suspend your level of disbelief for a while, you can have an enjoyable two hours. Serenity is highly recommended for SiFi and action movie fans and may even interest you normal people out there. Come on, you know who you are. The movie is rated PG-13 for: violent landings, violent flying, violent ingénue, violent sarcasm, polluting cannibal hovercraft not meeting Federal CART standards, excessive parts falling off spaceships, and especially for the involuntary hari kari induced by the nasty villain.