Movie - Serenity

[Darrell Lawrence]

Five hundred years in the future, mankind has abandoned Earth and moved en masse to another large star system. National governments no longer exist, and political power instead resides with the interplanetary Alliance government. People on the "central planets" pursue a wealthy and cultured lifestyle and are tightly ruled by the Alliance. In contrast, life on the partially-colonized "outer rim" planets more closely resembles that of the American Old West.

The crew of the cargo ship Serenity ekes out a living in the outer rim, dodging both the Alliance and the savage spacefaring cannibals known as Reavers. Crewmember Simon Tam, who has given up his career as a physician to rescue his sister River from a secret Alliance program to create a unit of psychic warriors, objects when the ship's captain, the emotionally-scarred Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, takes River along on a bank heist. The job is disrupted by a Reaver attack, but thanks to River's early warning, the team narrowly escapes back to Serenity. Simon, enraged that his sister was put in such danger, declares that they will leave the ship as soon as possible.

The crew disembarks to allow Mal to meet the men who hired them for the heist. River enters the bar where the meeting is taking place and, after watching an advert on a screen, begins assaulting the other patrons. She is only stopped when Simon shouts out a code phrase that, because of River's mental conditioning, causes her to pass out. Mal takes her and her brother back to the ship. The crew contacts a reclusive techno-geek called Mr. Universe, who analyzes the bar's security camera footage and discovers that River's assault was triggered by a subliminal message. Unbeknownst to the crew, the signal was planted by the Operative, a self-described monster with no name, rank, or official existence, who is hunting River and Simon on behalf of the Alliance.

Mal receives a call from Inara Serra, a former passenger, who asks for help with local unrest. Recognizing the request as an Alliance trap, Mal believes that confrontation is necessary to determine what is happening. He goes to her and meets the Operative, who offers to release Mal if he surrenders River. Mal refuses and, after a brief fight with the Operative- which he only escapes from thanks to a distraction planted by Inara- escapes with Inara back to Serenity. River discovers that the source of her inner torment, "Miranda", is an outer rim planet that was deemed uninhabitable and removed from navigational charts. However, traveling there would require passing through Reaver territory, so the crew instead goes to Haven, now home to another former passenger, Shepherd Book. The crew arrives to find Book fatally wounded and the Haven colony destroyed by an Alliance attack. Mal learns that the Alliance has laid waste to all of Serenity's sanctuaries and receives a message from the Operative, who promises more of the same until River is surrendered.

Overriding his crew's protests, Mal has Serenity disguised as a Reaver vessel. They pass through a Reaver spacefleet unscathed and discover that Miranda is habitable, but its cities contain only corpses. The crew finds a transmission from an Alliance officer, which explains that the Alliance attempted to achieve permanent peace on the planet by pumping a drug designed to suppress aggression into the atmosphere. Instead, the drug suppressed the population's motivation to do anything, and they died of starvation. Meanwhile, 0.1% of the population experienced the opposite reaction: they became the first of the hyper-violent Reavers. Mal plans to disseminate this information to the entire system via Mr. Universe's powerful transmitters, but the Operative waits there with a fleet of Alliance ships. Mal anticipates this and during the return trip fires upon a Reaver vessel, which causes the entire Reaver fleet to give chase. Arriving at Mr. Universe's planet, a massive battle between the Alliance and Reavers ensues, which allows Serenity's pilot Wash to fly down to the planet. The Operative follows them in an escape pod after the destruction of his ship in the battle.

Struck by an EMP from a pursuing Reaver ship, Serenity crash-lands on the surface. The crew survives, but then a Reaver harpoon smashes into the ship's cockpit, killing Wash instantly. Fleeing the ship, the crew prepares a last stand against the Reavers to allow Mal sufficient time to transmit the message. Mal finds Mr. Universe murdered and his equipment destroyed, but triggers a message revealing the location of a hidden backup transmitter. The crew at first maintains their defense, but injuries begin to mount, and they retreat behind a blast door. The door fails to close completely, so River dives through the opening and seals it, which leaves her trapped with the Reavers.

Mal and the Operative reach the secondary transmitter and have a final showdown. Mal wins the fight, but he spares the Operative's life, leaving him to watch the broadcast of the Alliance secret. As Mal rejoins the crew, the blast doors reopen to reveal River standing amidst piles of dead Reavers. Alliance troops burst onto the scene and ask the Operative for a kill order. With the Alliance's secret revealed and his personal belief in the Alliance's social engineering methods shattered, he orders the troops to stand down.

The crew buries Mr. Universe, Shepherd Book, and Wash, and patches up Serenity. As the ship prepares to leave, the Operative warns Mal that while the two of them will never meet again, and the Alliance is weakened, "They are not gone, and they are not forgiving." Serenity blasts off with Mal and River sitting at the controls.

[evil_genius_180]

This is a great movie. It's got action, humor, romance, everything the show had but on a much larger scale. There are a few things, however, that I didn't like. The deaths of Book and Wash are definitely in that category. And Inara being gone from the ship was bad, though we saw that coming as she was supposedly leaving the ship on the show. In the plus column, we finally get to see where Reavers come from and we get to see how badass River is. It's definitely a great flick.

[Thomas P]

Serenity is a strong 4+ out of 5 stars movie.

A few dings make it a 4 for those few of us that actually got to see the series. Having 2 major characters killed off was disappointing and Zoey deserved more than to have her husband (Wash) killed (and btw - simply for shock value). Wash is really the best comic relief written into a show in a long time. Also, the 'single system' idea is a bit of a stretch. Though I'll give Joss Whedon a pass on that with some of the new discoveries in exoplanetary science.

The movies explanation of the Reavers was both disturbing and well blended into the Serenity universe. One could see the Alliance doing just this sort of thing.

River... You really have to see the series to appreciate this character. The movie does a great job of filling in the audience though. And, she is one bad ass hottie!

Last but not least - The Operative. One of the best villains I've seen in a while. A true believer - devote to the cause.

[Darrell Lawrence]

I think in some ways, it was a bit too similar to the last aired ep.

[evil_genius_180]

Originally Posted by Thomas P

Serenity is a strong 4+ out of 5 stars movie.

A few dings make it a 4 for those few of us that actually got to see the series. Having 2 major characters killed off was disappointing and Zoey deserved more than to have her husband (Wash) killed (and btw - simply for shock value). Wash is really the best comic relief written into a show in a long time. Also, the 'single system' idea is a bit of a stretch. Though I'll give Joss Whedon a pass on that with some of the new discoveries in exoplanetary science.

The movies explanation of the Reavers was both disturbing and well blended into the Serenity universe. One could see the Alliance doing just this sort of thing.

River... You really have to see the series to appreciate this character. The movie does a great job of filling in the audience though. And, she is one bad ass hottie!

Last but not least - The Operative. One of the best villains I've seen in a while. A true believer - devote to the cause.

I agree with your highs and lows. Wash and Jayne are my 2 favorite characters just because they're both so funny. So, they really ticked me off by killing Wash, especially just for "shock" value. I know Summer Glau always wanted her character (River) to become a pilot, it was something she discussed as a possible character development with Joss Whedon before the show was canceled, but they could've done that without killing Wash. It's always a good idea to have a backup pilot. Mal and Zoe (and probably Jayne) can fly the ship, but not as well as Wash.

The explanation for the Reavers is perfect, I can also see the Alliance doing that. And the operative reminded me of the two guys who filled the same roll in the series, first seen in "The Train Job." I'd imagine they would've been some formidable bad guys, like the operative in the movie was, if the series had run longer.

And as far as hotties, I think all 4 women in the show/movie fill that role. Though, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be River.

Originally Posted by WArrior

I think in some ways, it was a bit too similar to the last aired ep.

I don't see it. Was "Objects in Space" the last one they aired? I know it was the last one they made, but they aired them in a stupid order.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Yes, Objects in Space. What I meant was the two stories had operatives coming after Rivers. Guys highly skilled, specialized. And Rivers suddenly shows a knack not seen before in both, where she comes out the bad ass hero.

[evil_genius_180]

Originally Posted by Warrior

Yes, Objects in Space. What I meant was the two stories had operatives coming after Rivers. Guys highly skilled, specialized. And Rivers suddenly shows a knack not seen before in both, where she comes out the bad ass hero.

Yeah, but they were starting to show some of the stuff River could do in the earlier episodes. Her telepathic talents were apparent in many of the episodes. And she did kill those dudes in "War Stories" like it was nothing. They just showed both of those abilities more so in the movie. They really only showed the telepathy at work in "Objects in Space." And Jubal Early (the dude from "Objects in Space") was a bounty hunter, not an operative. He was in it for the money, not the Alliance. As I said in my last post, the real operatives were seen in a two of the earlier episodes. ("The Train Job" and "Ariel.") It makes sense, though, that with Simon's and River's likeness sent to any Alliance authority in the system and them still not surfacing, that they'd also send sad likenesses to bounty hunters and send as many agents as they could after them. River was a highly valued asset that had been stolen from them.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Bounty Hunter = operative for hire.

Assassin = operative.

Both are operatives

[evil_genius_180]

It's a bit of a stretch...

Originally Posted by Warrior

Bounty Hunter = operative for hire.

Assassin = operative.

Both are operatives

Don't forget:

Priest = Probable ex-operative

[Darrell Lawrence]

Yeah, it's too bad that never got tied up in the storyline. Maybe Serenity 2 can resolve that

[evil_genius_180]

Are they back to working on Serenity 2? Last I heard it was dead in pre-production and that was well before the strike.

[Darrell Lawrence]

It'll get done... eventually.

[evil_genius_180]

That depends on whether or not Joss Whedon keeps pissing off studio execs. with his attitude. Though I imagine he eventually will change his ways, if he ever wants one of his shows or movies to be produced again.