Serenity Universal Studios 2005, PG-13

 

“Serenity,” serenitymovie which premiered in theaters September 30, is somewhat of a misnomer for this movie.  From opening credits to final credits, it’s generally anything but serene.

 

A little background is in order: “Serenity” is a film continuation of the short-lived Fox TV series “Firefly” which ran for about three months in 2002, when Fox unceremoniously yanked it from the schedule, leaving a lot of unhappy “Browncoats” (fans of the series).

 

The show centers around the crew of a small courier vessel named “Serenity.”  The name comes from a valley where the ship’s captain, Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), lost a decisive battle against the centralized Alliance government.  Embittered by this loss, he buys a small “Firefly”-class ship and embarks on a somewhat Robin Hood-like existence doing small mercenary jobs on the less-civilized outer planets of an unnamed solar system.

 

Joining him on the ship are Zoe, a woman who served under Mal in the army (Gina Torres); Wash (Alan Tudyk), her husband and the ship’s pilot; Kaylee (Jewel Straite), a young woman with phenomenal mechanical skills; Shepherd Book (Ron Glass), a preacher with a somewhat shady past that he refuses to talk about; Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), a socially-challenged mercenary; and Inara (Morena Baccarin), who makes her living as a “companion” (read: “geisha”).  Along the line, the ship picks up two siblings: Simon (Sean Maher) and his sister River (Summer Glau).  While Simon assumes his place in the crew as the ship’s doctor, sister River appears to have more than a few psychotic as well as psychic tendencies.  The two are on the run from the Alliance, as River has escaped from Alliance custody.

 

The original series, created by Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” creator), was an interesting mix of sci-fi and Western motifs.  While the crew flew around futuristic settings in a spaceship, their anachronistic dialogue was straight out of Louis L’Amour novels.

 

The movie begins with a flashback of River as a schoolgirl seeing visions of impending doom while in class.  When the teacher attempts to get the class to meditate, River freaks out; and we next see her in a laboratory pincushioned with probes.  A military man walks into the lab, disables the doctor, and liberates River.  We find out that this is her brother, Simon.

 

We see a continuation of this scene as a holographic recording of the lab, being viewed by an extremely tidy, urbane man with a Caribbean accent.  The hologram depicts guards entering the lab to ascertain what this man is doing there. He kills them and then turns his attention to the doctor who was earlier attending River.  In a hypnotic monotone, he informs the doctor that there is no dishonor in his coming execution, as he whips out a sword.  He somehow manages to mesmerize the doctor into impaling himself on said sword….

 

And then come the opening credits.

 

What follows is a whiz-bang old school SF shoot-em-up.  (Pacifists are not going to like this film an awful lot…I told you “Serenity” as a title was an oxymoron.)

 

Mal and the crew are finishing up a bank job on a planet when the cannibalistic Reavers arrive.  They manage to save River and get out, while leaving someone from the planet to be eaten alive by the Reavers.  Mal shoots him as an act of mercy. The “away team”, demanding a reason for why they didn’t let the fellow aboard the shuttle rather than leaving him to die, immediately confronts him.  Mal defensively explains that there was only room enough for the team; while Zoe challenges his “leave no person behind” war ethic.  His answer to almost any challenge from then on is “If you don’t like the way I run this ship, leave.”

 

While Mal tries to drop the loot with his clients at a saloon, River wanders in where an anime video on an overhead screen triggers a psychotic episode resulting in absolute destruction of life and property.  When she settles down, she is mumbling “Miranda” over and over again.

 

The attempt to find out the meaning of “Miranda” consumes most of the plot from this point onward, resulting in the solution to many of the unanswered plot points from the series.

 

River’s trashing of the bar attracts the attention of this Caribbean-sounding man, who is tracking her as an operative for the Alliance.  This incident also touches off a three-way war between Serenity; the Alliance, who are looking for River; and the Reavers, who are looking for their next meal. Serenity’s frequent wanderings into Reaver space are making them hungry.

 

In the resolution of this plot, there are several issues raised:

 

1.            How does one restore faith from cynicism when faith is lost?

2.            Is there such a thing as a “just fight”?  And how is it waged?

3.            Is authority or government always right? And what form does proper dissidence take?

4.            What, actually, IS freedom?

 

All of these questions are addressed, and some even answered, in the course of this action-packed little film.  The PG-13 rating comes from the intense violence and action, in addition to some muted sexual references.

 

If you want a good escapist two hours-worth of action, I recommend it highly.  Leave the older children at home with the DVD box set of the “Firefly” TV series and prepare for a bright and shiny (you’ll understand once you see it) great time!

 

by Mike Stidham