Serenity

Title: Serenity (15)

Year: 2005

Running Time: 119 minutes

Director: Joss Whedon

Cast: Nathan Fillion (Mal), Gina Torres (Zoe), Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Operative)

Notes: Won nine awards.

Rating: 10

Thoughts:   The crew of Serenity take a telepath onboard and then must evade an assassin.

This film revisits the milieu of the TV series Firefly, with most of the main cast returning. That said it stands alone well and perhaps dives straight in as there is a presumption that we know the characters. I didn't, but just like that the action fires up quickly. Everything is accomplished. It's a decent chase story, the acting is excellent and whilst Whedon occasionally goes off on a tangent when writing, there is little to fault his direction.

It looks great and they handle the humour well, feeling like a band of comrades rather than just shoehorned laughs. It ends up feeling very realistic, given its setting, and is an enjoyable romp that really plays well with a few strong ideas.