Serenity - L'ultime rébellion

Mankind had left Earth for a new solar system with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. The inner most planets had formed the Alliance, and conquered the outer Independent planets in a destructive war. Mal (Nathan Fillion) and his ragtag band of former rebels are living on the edge of survival. Simon had bought his way on board and rescued sister River from a government facility. She's a secret experiment with psychic powers and hidden memories of a deadly government secret.

This is the follow up to the short-lived cult TV show Firefly. Although it's not absolutely necessary to know the TV show to understand the movie, it would help to get the feel of the group dynamics. The relationships are what gives the movie its emotions. The characters are pretty easily decipherable. Nevertheless, their backstories would help.

This has the Joss Whedon touches. It has the fast talking inside jokes of a Scooby gang. That's what makes this fun. The CGI is not the absolute top rate, but he makes up for it with inventive energy. The random craziness of the big space battle is something that Star Wars can only aspire to. In fact, Mal is Han Solo. Imagine if Star Wars centered on Han Solo, and you've got this movie.

This film was recommended as one of the classic must-see sci-fi films, so I gave it a go. For its low budget and available visual/special effects for its time, this was an impressive endeavor, to the point where I'm now going to binge on the series. Huge props to Joss Whedon for never giving up with all the limitations he had from both Fox for the series, and Universal for this movie. The 119 min runtime was used impressively with spot-on snappy pacing. Bearing in mind I have never seen or heard of the Firefly series, the story was fluid and coherent and really well told. I was however lost with some of the dialogue and futuristic western lingo the cast were using, but I'm guessing had I seen the series first, I'd understand it better. Overall everything about this film was impressive and I now understand its following. Seeing there are many old series and films being revived, this would be a great candidate for a comeback. I just hope if it does, Whedon is given a proper budget without creative restraints.

First off, I want to say that I loved this movie. It's got intense action sequences, a good plot,some humor, likable characters, fantastic special effects, hardly ever a dull moment,and oh yeah... it's a total babe-fest!!! I must confess I'm new to the whole Firefly universe.I don't watch much TV so I'd never even heard of the TV show. So until watched this DVD, to me,Firefly was nothing but a dumpy little American made car. I rented this movie with no expectations whatsoever; maybe that's the reason I enjoyed this movie so much. I can't speak for the fans of the series, but if you enjoy well-made sci-fi, then you'll love this cool little movie.

My husband and I first saw this movie after just reading these excellent reviews and not knowing anything else about the movie or characters. We are both sci-fi fans.

I must say, we were a little puzzled about the great reviews. We thought the one-liners were kind of cheesy, the acting a bit poor, and we weren't at all impressed (except for maybe the fight scenes with River). The cowboy theme music didn't sit well with us either.

However, I have heard only excellent things about the series Firefly and the following movie Serenity. Were we missing something? We even watched Serenity again giving it a second chance. It still didn't click with us. I was very confused.

We were going to give up when a friend loaned us the Firefly DVDs. OK, I'll give it another shot since clearly we *must* be missing something! And that did it.

After just a couple episodes I was really enjoying myself. When I re-watched Serenity again after seeing the TV series, I thought it was excellent. I really appreciated it. The characters were more 3D, the one-liners were amusing, the music didn't bother me a bit (I was starting to like it), and I really liked all the nuances from the actors (I changed my mind - not bad acting). I felt like I knew the characters and story so much better and I really loved how they tied some loose ends together. It was also nice to see the characters again after the series ended (even on DVD).

So bottom line - if you didn't watch Firefly, you probably won't get it, may not like it very much, and you might be confused why there are such great reviews. If you did watch Firefly first (and liked it), you'll love Serenity and you'll have a great ride!

***NO SPOILERS*** I saw the movie at a sneak preview in Houston, TX on 6/23/05. I was just happy that we were getting more of these characters and this setting.

Visually, it was stunning. The extra budget for effects was well spent. The characters and their relationships were recognizable, but there had been changes from the show. I think this was necessary within the movie, and part of an evolution from the TV show to the big screen (the movie takes place 6 months after the last episode, "Objects in Space"). Things have changed.

There is a higher action and violence level in this (duh, it's a movie, not on TV), and we get some major revelations about the world (which some who saw it with me already don't like). There are some MAJOR events that affect the characters, and I wasn't totally happy with them - shocked is the word. But this is Joss's world, and his characters, and he tells the stories he wants to tell. He doesn't get bound up in hurting our feelings; he just tells it like it is. I believe he did say that this was the hardest thing he'd ever had to write.

At least one person at our screening was a "Firefly virgin," and he said that he liked it. I hope people who have no exposure to the show will be able to see this and enjoy it. Our big damn heroes come across well, and I hope this will get them some well-deserved exposure. This is a no-holds barred, big-time action/adventure sci-fi story, bold and raw, and set in a world unlike anything portrayed in SF before (well, except for "Firefly"). And I hope it does really, really well, and we get to see the sequels.