Serenity (DVD, 2005, Anamorphic Widescreen)

Joss Whedon <of Buffy and Angel TV fame> did a short run Fox TV series called Firefly. The series was well received, but Fox isn't much of a fiction channel unless you like their news reports, so the series was cancelled after one short season. But fan interest remained high and Whedon was able to muster support for a movie that both wrapped up some of the original TV story line and is very well able to stand on it's own. The original cast and premise were used for the movie, and the plot wasn't dumbed down for 12 year old adolescent boys like the later Star Wars movies.
Whedon works with the idea of a totally human <no aliens> frontier culture, and Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) of the Firefly class transport "Serenity" plays a Gary Copperish war hero who has lost causes, a sort of overestimate of his own fighting skills, a humorous inability to tell the beautiful Morena Baccarin he wants her, and a moral conflict between right and the survival of the crew he feels responsible for. Excellent stunt work and actions scenes. From the movie review "Many of the film's action sequences revolve around Summer Glau's martial arts skills in her portrayal of River. Glau prepared for her role with Hong Kong stunt woman Ming Lu, as well as stunt coordinators Chad Stahelski and Hiro Koda, and as a resulted performed nearly all the stuntwork herself."
You don't need to have seen Firefly to enjoy this movie, but I had to turn the DVD sound up to get some of the low, almost mumbled, comments that explain whats happening, and use the reverse and slow speed button on the player several times because the editing used "flashes" to impart shock or sometimes assumed the viewer already understood what the item, view or scene portrayed.
Excellent bonus material and commentary. So view the section of full<not edited> scenes first in the bonus,listen to a little commentary to give you some background, and then enjoy the movie. My only disappointment is that there isn't a sequel.

When the movie came out there were but a couple of trailers for what looked like a B sci-fi film with a pile of special effects. Not having seen the Firefly series on the Sci-Fi channel, I didn't know what to expect.

The opening scene dropped into one of the best female-centered butt-kicking action sequences made in a long time -- and interlaced with some snappy humour. In fact, the entire movie was a great mix of sci-fi, shoot'em up western with a smirky sense of humour all tied together with a great storyline and script. It was the most unexpected fun I'd had at the movies.

And though based on a TV series, the movie stood on its own. I didn't even realize there was a TV show until weeks later and was I glad to find out Sci-Fi was re-running the cancelled show. Loved those, too and decided to buy the whole TV series on DVD (only one season) which had several never aired shows. It just blew me away.

The characters, the personalities, the writing, the Western/Chinese/sci-fi mix was thrilling and entertaining from begining to end. I laughed and laughed -- just smart humour, snappy dialog, well-developed and yet evolving characters.

I bought the movie on DVD from some South-American-named dot com website and didn't get the wide screen addition it said on the ad (and the box!) so I hunted down a copy on eBay and got exactly what I was looking for.

Been loaning it out to friends who now want to see the whole series.

By the way, they are smugglers in space, outlaws and former rebels always on the run, trying to make a buck without getting caught but getting caught up in doing the right thing. Who would've thought a gunslinging captain, a farmer's daughter ship's mechanic, a over-sized, over-sexed muscle gun-lover, a preacher, a doc with a kook-pshco-sister, a no-prisoners 1st mate and comic semi-whimp husband pilot and professional original-sinner would make for a terrific close-nit family sitcom in space that keeps you laughing and wanting more? Who makes a show like that?

There's an underground following trying to get more.

Did you know you can swear in Chinese on American television?

Check it out, the movie and the series are terrific. Serenity is the movie named after the spaceship they live on. Firefly is the name of the TV series and is the class of spaceship.

Two huge thumbs up, 4 stars, excellent flick.

Here we go again, another Sci-Fi right?? Well, this time you are in for a HUGE surprise. Creator Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel) brings to life a new look at Sci-Fi with this story of space travelers on the run in deep space, yet no Aliens. The entire story has nothing but the humans of earth exploring space all alone.

The movie picks up from the short lived Firefly TV series that aired back in 2002 on Fox. The series itself is very well made and does have some really good episodes. Only aired for the Fall of 2002 because stupid FOX ran the show OUT OF ORDER!?!?! If you can believe it, they decided to run the Pilot episode that totally introduced all the characters in DECEMBER!!! What is with that??

Serenity was the completion of where Firefly was trying to go. The movie picks up right after the last episode of Firefly left off. Every member of the Firefly cast returned to play in the movie. There is not much to say about the quality of the movie, only that it totally took me by surprise. The story is so well written, and each character plays off each other so well that you can't help but enjoy watching them. Watching the TV series first does help with the understanding of the movie, but is in no way required. Watching the movie first is what made me want to watch the TV series. The choose is up to you.

So, stop reading this review, and go check it out. I am willing to bet that more than half the people that view this movie who love Sci-Fi will go out and buy it the next chance they get. You will simply not be disappointed.

For those who don't know, this movie was based on the TV series Firefly. The series was spectacular, but Fox doomed it to failure by running it on Friday instead of a weekday night, not running it in widescreen as was intended, and by running the series completely out of chronological order (which is somewhat important for the storyline). The show was canceled before the 1st season finished. It really is a shame, because the show is action packed and hilarious. I reccomend it to anyone who likes sci-fi, western, or just wants to try something new.

After the show was canceled many fans created a Firefly underground on the net and rallied their support for the show. The response from dedicated fans was so huge that creator Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) began pitching the idea for a movie. The movie was picked up and that's where Serenity came from.

The movie itself is very good. If you haven't seen Firefly, you will still enjoy it. The characters have a great chemistry and show it in every scene. It's entertaining because it doesn't focus only on the action and the sci-fi aspects, but focuses alot on the human aspect of the storyline. The plotline in the movie wraps up the big storyline from the series, so while it makes more sense if you've seen the show, it isn't completely necessary. The movie is full of adventure, humor, and humanity. All those good choke-you up things without being too hokey (as much as you can be in a scif-i anyway).

I recomend this movie to anyone, and if you are already a Firefly fan, I already know you will buy it regardless of what a review says. If you haven't seen Firefly, pick it up.

I wasn't wild about seeing a science fiction movie in the theatre, after having to sit through all the boring action movie type story lines of Star Wars and Star Trek and their ilk. So I was pleased and surprised when Serenity leapt into the action, dragging my heart and soul through two of the most action-packed and heartfelt hours I've seen on the big screen in a very long time.

I had to go back and watch the season series, of course, because once, quite frankly, just isn't enough. I was thrilled to see the same characters I had grown to love and cherish on the big screen fleshed out in Firefly. It's utterly believable and truly amazing.

Creator Joss Whedon made me not only a fan of the series and movie, but of the actors as well. Every time I see one of them, like Nathan Fillion, no matter what their role, my heart thumps gently, because I care for these people and want to see them succeed, no matter what. Naturally, I know that who I really care about is the character they portrayed on Firefly and Serenity, but my heart doesn't care what my head says.

You won't be disappointed.