DVD review: Serenity

The movie, Serenity, is a unique science fiction film in many ways. First, it was a cancelled TV show that never even made it to the second half of its first season, yet somehow became a feature film with the same cast from the TV show. Second, there are no aliens, an old west feel, and traces of Chinese culture. The cast works well together, the pace of the film is well done, and the special effects were pretty nifty. The Reavers, who are one of the groups of bad guys the Serenity crew must face, were extra scary because the director wisely decided to never quite show them. (If you watch an M. Night Shyamalan film, you know that what is not shown is far scarier than what is shown.) The film’s climax did remind me a little bit of the Doom video game, but that is not a bad thing. There is even a Christian character that the crew stops by to visit for advice and respite and he is done pretty well. While not being theologically correct, Shepherd Book is a deep character who strives to do the right thing, and for Hollywood, that is a step in the right direction. I only saw one episode of the show on TV, and you do not need to have seen it for the movie to make sense. Overall, if you like sci-fi, action type movies, there are worse ways to spend two hours. As Heidi said afterward, “that was an entertaining bit of fluff.”

Sweet scenes: The space battle - “I am a leaf on the wind.”
The Doom inspired fight scene at the end.
The chase scene on the hovercraft.

Turd in the punchbowl: the movie has a disordered view of sexuality that is so prevalent in Hollywood these days

Great line: “Shepherd Book always told me, if you can’t do something smart, then do something right.” - Jayne