05/02/06 Serenity

Serenity (2005), directed by Joss Whedon

watched w/ Leslie; DVD rental (Record Exchange) @ home

Refreshing sub-genre that you don't see all too often, and that is the sci-fi western. Both styles of storyline have a lot of similarities in character development, journey/quest, comic dialogue interspersed with crushing action scenes & carnage, and an ultimate showdown in the end. Brought to us by Mr. Joss Whedon (who brought you TV's "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly"), we get this trendy adaptation of a futuristic totalitarian society gone haywire. Set in a post-civil war environment, the crew of a space-freighter "Serenity" must evade the reach of the governmental Alliance once they take aboard cargo of a top-secret nature. That precious cargo lies in the mind & body of one young girl, River, who has been implanted with truth of government experimentation and cover-ups, as well as the mechanics to kick-ass whenever triggered to do so. The captain must decide whether to put his on crew at risk to save this girl in order to broadcast the evil hidden truth to the world, and bring back eventual peace. Sent to destroy River and those plans is a lone hitmen who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. It's fast paced and fun...with lots of layers of futuristic mumbo jumbo that tends to get a bit fuzzy. One thing that was interesting was the thinking that in the future, the two largest super-powers (U.S. & China) would have merged societies and cultures, incorporating a mixed language into everyday routine. However, some things that get annoying in the film are the unnecessary need to have everyone talk in a "modern" colloquialism where all the verbs are in the wrong tense for no reason. Sort of a backwards speak. You can see how it's heavily influenced by series like "Star Wars." It's definitely trying to make some big political statements, but still entertain on that small screen kind of trip.

3 out of 5 stars