Stars: Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Ron Glass, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz, Michael Hitchcock, Sarah Paulson

Director: Joss Whedon

Summary: SERENITY follows captain Malcolm Mal Reynolds and his ragtag crew as they trade their way around the edges of civilised society. Of particular interest are two passengers they take on, Simon and River Tam, a brother and his telepathic sister on the run from the corrupt governing Alliance. As notorious former members of the anti-Alliance opposition, Mal and his crew make it difficult for Simon and River to stay hidden. Everything goes completely awry when a government assassin is sent to retrieve River. As Mal is forced to choose between his close-knit crew and the brother and sister newcomers, it becomes apparent that River harbours both a dangerous secret and astounding fighting powers, and Mal decides that discovering the truth about what she knows might just be worth his time.

Beloved television cult director Joss Whedon (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL) makes a spectacular first foray onto the big screen with SERENITY, the cinematic adaptation of his wildly popular but short-lived sci-fi series, FIREFLY. A mix of space western, comedy, and drama, SERENITY follows captain Malcolm Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his ragtag crew as they trade their way around the edges of civilised society. Of particular interest are two passengers they take on, Simon and River Tam (Sean Maher, Summer Glau), a brother and his telepathic sister on the run from the corrupt governing Alliance. As notorious former members of the anti-Alliance opposition, Mal and his crew make it difficult for Simon and River to stay hidden. Everything goes completely awry when a government assassin is sent to retrieve River. As Mal is forced to choose between his close-knit crew and the brother and sister newcomers, it becomes apparent that River harbours both a dangerous secret and astounding fighting powers, and Mal decides that discovering the truth about what she knows might just be worth his time. 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 stuntwoman Ming Lu, as well as stunt coordinators Chad Stahelski and Hiro Koda, and as a resulted performed nearly all the stunt work herself. In addition to the stellar stunts, realistic graphics, and an often haunting score, the film's actors display a rare chemistry that brings viewers both into their lives and into a possible version of humanity's future.

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Serenity is a film that, by rights, shouldn’t have been made. For starters, it’s spun out of the short-lived and quickly-cancelled TV series Firefly, which has only itself got the full recognition it deserves on DVD. It then marries up two seemingly incompatible genres, the western and science fiction, has no major stars to speak of, and pretty much has ‘hard sell’ written all over it.

Perhaps that explains its modest box office performance back in 2005. What it fails to reflect, however, is that this is one of the most energetic, downright enjoyable sci-fi flicks in some time. Not for nothing did many rate it higher than the Star Wars movie that appeared in the same year.

It follows renegade captain Mal Reynolds and his quirkily assembled crew, as they work on the outskirts of space, trying to keep out of the way of the governing Alliance. That plan quickly changes when they take on a couple of passengers who have attracted the attention of said Alliance, and thus the scene is set for an action-packed, cleverly written movie that deserves many of the plaudits that have rightly been thrust in its direction.

What’s more, Serenity works whether you’ve seen the TV series that precedes it or not. Clearly fans of the Firefly show will be in their element, but even the casual viewer will find an immense amount to enjoy.

The only real problem is that given the film’s box office returns, further adventures of Reynolds and his crew look unlikely. Unless Serenity turns into a major hit on DVD, that is. It’s well worth playing your part in making that happen.--Simon Brew

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Deleted scenes with commentary by director Joss Whedon, Outtakes, Joss Whedon introduction, Future History - The Story Of Earth That Was, What is a Firefly?, Feature commentary with writer/director Joss Whedon, Re-Lighting The Firefly, A Filmmaker's Journey
Subtitles:	Spanish, Dutch, Norweigan, Italian, French, Portuguese, Danish, German, Swedish
Year:	2005
Release Date:	November 13, 2006
Runtime:	114 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	8246649
Keywords:	General, Fiction, Science, Serenity
Genre:	Science Fiction