Reel Talk: Serenity
By Audrey Rock
Transcript Bulletin Movie Critic


Rarely do people walk into a sci-fi movie expecting dopey humor. If they wanted that, they’d stay home and rent "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie."

If you go to "Serenity," you should know that you are going to get a lot of dopey humor. And similar to MST3K, the humor is delivered in surreally dopey fashion; as though the characters are standing around watching their own cheesy sci-fi movie and making cracks at it.

That is the weird charm of "Serenity", a tale of a dangerous 17-year-old psychic named River Tam (Summer Glau) and her protective brother Simon (Sean Maher). River has covert abilities that render her a literal secret weapon for members of the Alliance, a powerful political group. Simon rescues her from inhumane captivity and a cruel regimen of mental programming, and instantly the two are fugitives on the run.

They find refuge on the Serenity, a rickety space jalopy run by bank robbers. Now they are part of a cosmic rag-tag gang of wild western bandits floating from frontier to frontier and unapologetically committing crimes. River’s psychic abilities come in handy when it comes to stealing things.

Hot on their trail is a sociopathic tracker (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who can, and will, slaughter helpless children to get to his target. The crew of serenity, headed by Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) deems River a threat to the crew, but continues to harbor her anyway.

The crew, including beefy marksman Jayne (Adam Baldwin), first mate Zoe (Gina Torres), her pilot husband Wash (Alan Tudyk), and mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite), disagree on this point. But Mal’s in charge, and Mal says the crazy girl stays.

They regard River with a general sense of annoyance. I’d be creeped out too if a crazy girl with the enormous forehead and spooked eyes of Christina Ricci were on my ship. Good thing she can fight like a monster when triggered. It’s bombastically entertaining, plus it keeps her from being boring and vacant all the time.

The Serenity crew turns their attention to staying alive, and keeping River away from the Alliance. Aside from the usual bothers of running from relentless lunatics, they are also held up repeatedly by the cannibal Reavers, a horrific gang of disfigured barbarians. Anyone who crosses their path will be eaten alive.

My beef with the movie lies in an unnecessarily extended denouement. But I’m going to have to forgive that and admit that, especially for fans of Firefly (the Fox series on which the movie is based), it’s highly recommendable. Joss Whedon (creator of TV cult favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer) brings with him the oddly addictive charisma of corny WB series. Hey; he’s good at it.

Grade: B-