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Title:
Serenity: Widescreen
Region:
One
Genre:
Sci-Fi Action
Stars:
Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Gina Torres,
and Chiwetel Ejiofor
Writer:
Joss Whedon
Director:
Joss Whedon
Feature
length: 1 hour and 58 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Writer And Director Joss Whedon, Deleted
Scenes With Optional Audio Commentary By Writer And Director Joss Whedon,
Outtakes, Joss Whedon’s Theatrical Screening Introduction, Re-Lighting The
Firefly Featurette, Future History – The Story Of Earth That Was Featurette,
What’s In A Firefly Featurette
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 20
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2005/DVD Release: 2005
Theatrical
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Most
of the time when a sci-fi TV show is cancelled, the series may not be revisited
for decades, as has been the case with “Star Trek” and “Battlestar
Galactica.” Sometimes when more than two decades have passed the return of a
sci-fi show ends up being a reinvention with little to no continuity with the
original. Then there are the rare cases where a popular cult series might
inspire a few TV movies like “Alien Nation” or at the very least a
miniseries that wraps up most of the loose ends and leaves room for the
possibility of another adventure while at the same time gives the viewer a sense
of closure as was the case with the SCI FI Channel miniseries “Farscape: The
Peacekeeper Wars.” Even rarer is a major studio feature film that gets made
within years of a show that never even saw a complete television season of
twenty or more episodes air on American television. The Fox television network
canceled “Firefly” in 2002 without even having all 13 produced episodes air
on the channel. Producer, Writer, and Director Joss Whedon struggled to find a
new home for the show and with the popularity of Fox’s “Firefly:
The Complete Series” on DVD box set as well as rabid fan support and Joss
Whedon’s own determination, he got to resurrect “Firefly” on the big
screen this past summer with “Serenity.”
“Serenity”
quickly recaps the world set up by the series for new viewers and to refresh
seasoned fans alike. The last two great superpowers on Earth, the United States
and China through political and corporate cooperation have merged to form the
Alliance and send humanity to the stars where through terraforming and
colonization, a new solar system is now inhabited by many humans and the
overpopulated and depleted Earth was left behind and nearly forgotten. As far as
is generally known, there are no extraterrestrial life forms in the known galaxy
except for what humans have brought and created on their own.
In the five hundred years since the great solar system exodus, there was
a civil war between the outer world colonists and the increasingly totalitarian
Alliance. The Alliance won the war, but it cannot steadily enforce the outer rim
planets as it does the core worlds, which leaves room for colonists on the edge
to seek out a living with some petty heists as well as other jobs that fall out
of the approved list of Alliance occupations.
Eight
months ago, Mal (Nathan Fillion) the Captain of the Firefly class ship Serenity
took aboard a Doctor and his young sister River (Summer Glau) and provided them
with a traveling sanctuary from pursuing Alliance forces in return for the
Doctor’s medical expertise and his sister’s rare clairvoyant gifts.
Unfortunately things have gradually become more difficult with the Alliance hot
on their heels and cannibalistic “Reavers” invading the outer rim worlds for
food. Now the Alliance has sent out an Operative (Chiwetel
Ejiofor) to apprehend River at all costs because within her fractured
subconscious lies a dark secret that could threaten the stability of the
Alliance’s ruling political party should the galactic public ever find out.
“Serenity”
is a labor of love for Joss Whedon and his devoted cast and crew as well as the
fans of the “Firefly” television series. Much as he has displayed with his
most popular television creations “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and
“Angel,” Whedon has a gift for telling a compelling dramatic story with rich
characters and placing smart humor to enhance the dramatic moments. You do not
have to be a fan of “Firefly” or even have seen a single episode to enjoy
“Serenity” though it certainly does not hurt to be familiar with the show.
The special effects are quite good and the action is terrific. A showdown
between capital ships in space is perhaps one of the most exciting and elaborate
space battle sequences of the year. It is comparable in many ways to the opening
space battle sequence in “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith”
though the budget for this sci-fi extravaganza was probably far less than the
concluding feature film chapter in the “Star Wars Saga.”
As
with any feature film based on a television show, the ensemble cast has
approximately 118 minutes of screen time to share so some characters have more
to do than others, but to Whedon’s credit each cast member has a moment to
shine and define their role in the film. Chiwetel Ejiofor is outstanding as the
villainous Operative. I am not familiar with this actor, but I sure hope we get
to see him in more genre television and feature films because he’s fantastic.
The only aspect that is somewhat disappointing is the look of the reavers. In
the wake of the zombie film renaissance that has included George A. Romero, the
man who created that horror subgenre, deliver arguably his best entry in
“Living Dead” series this past summer with “Land Of The Dead,” crazed
cannibals with stiff looking makeup just doesn’t provide the jolt that it
should. The buildup Whedon created in the series was too great also so nothing
we can see could ever match up to what our imaginations can conjure. In short,
we should have never seen them and now that we have, if there is ever another
film in the series, I hope we never see them again.
Universal
Studios Home Entertainment presents “Serenity” in an anamorphic widescreen
(2.35:1) aspect ratio that preserves the manner in which the film was exhibited
theatrically as close as possible for DVD-Video users. The image quality is
quite sharp with a mixture of earth tones and stark blues and grays to delineate
the shifting mood of the film as needed. A well-mixed and atmospheric English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is also provided along with a French
Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. Since the characters speak a mix
of mostly English and some Chinese and because even the opening animated menu
begins with Chinese writing before settling down to reveal the viewing options,
I think a Chinese or Mandarin Language Soundtrack and or Subtitle option should
have been encoded onto the DVD even if it meant losing the French Dubbed
Soundtrack because in simple way I feel it would have integrated the DVD as if
it were a product from Whedon’s sci-fi world. Granted one can argue that the
“Alien” films kind of showed the viewer the evils of a multinational
galactic conglomerate through the Weyland Yutani Corporation, but never have I
seen an American science fiction franchise consciously try to integrate American
and Asian culture so closely with the exception of Ridley Scott’s visionary
“Blade Runner.” The western imagery has been toned down a bit too, which is
good since personally I always felt “Firefly” overplayed that aspect to the
show to a point where I wondered whether or not Whedon realized that you don’t
need to have people dressing up in semi period looking clothes with livestock
and all to get across the idea of a frontier in space. Both “Star Wars” and
“Star Trek” succeeded in this area and in the case of the original “Star
Wars” not once did I ever see anyone where a cowboy hat…
English
Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Spanish
Language Subtitles have been encoded onto the dual layered DVD as an option too.
Joss Whedon provides optional commentary for both the feature film and a set of
nine deleted scenes (14:39) presented in a letterboxed format that can be viewed
individually or as a whole by using a “Play All” menu feature. Whedon’s
comments are direct and infused with a little bit of humor as well as if to show
that despite his passion for the material and his great success, he does not
take himself too seriously, There is also a reel of outtakes (6:05) as well as
the original video introduction Whedon gave to fans who attended advanced test
screenings of the film (3:55). The remaining featurettes entitled “Future
History: The Story Of Earth That Was” (4:33), “What’s In A Firefly”
(6:33), and “Relighting The Firefly” (9:41) all appear to be parts produced
as part of the larger EPK featurette that might have been cut down to include
the material on this DVD and the “Serenity” sneak peek bonus DVD that came
packaged within the Best Buy Exclusive “Battlestar Galactica: Season One”
DVD set released in July of 2005 as well as the SCI FI Channel TV special that
aired in September. It’s a shame
the cast was not more involved in the DVD release of “Serenity” since the
fans are likely to be the first ones who will buy this disc and I’m sure they
would have enjoyed hearing a group commentary in addition to Whedon’s personal
commentary track.
While
I do think that through home video and network broadcasts, “Serenity” will
find a larger audience that could maybe even lead to another film whether it is
theatrical, direct to video, or a TV movie or miniseries, I think the cover art
for the DVD itself is both confusing and ugly. People I’ve seen picking up the
DVD in stores often don’t know what to make of it and some mistake it for a
horror film because of the way Summer Glau is made to look so emaciated and
disturbed looking on the cover. While I recognize her from both “Firefly”
and other genre shows like “The 4400,” a person not familiar with the show
or film may not know what to make of it and thus I think something a little more
straight forward that gets the idea across that this is a sci-fi action picture
should be developed for second printings and pressings of the DVD. I’m not a
marketing expert so maybe I’m wrong, but damn it I just think the cover art
could have looked a lot nicer than the way it looks now. The main menu is
animated on the DVD while the subsequent menus are all standard interactive
menus and all are easy to navigate.
My
gripes about the cover art aside, “Serenity” is one of the best sci-fi genre
films I’ve seen this year and I highly recommend fans and newcomers alike to
check it out now that it is available on DVD-Video courtesy of Universal Studios
Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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