Serenity

This movie was based on the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly. I was looking forward to this as it got rave reviews from the nerd community. It was heralded as being more fun than Revenge of the Sith, with a better story and set of characters. But it didn't work for me. It may be because I never watched the series the movie was based on. But no that's not it. I think the main problem was that the movie felt like a TV show. It lacked a certain polish.

The captain was probably the only interesting character. The rest were wooden carichatures (although the female engineer looked cute). Don't get me wrong, the story kept my interest throughout the movie and was nicely written, especially the secret revealed in the end. It just felt like many of the elements were done before. The 'Reavers' flesh-eating creatures sort of reminded me of the creatures in 'The Time Machine'. The Serenity ship and their crew felt like Morpheus and The Matrix travelling together. And I was mildly annoyed (and frightened at the same time) with the mind-reading crew member who kept the secret. Her acting was a bit too melodramatic, kind of out of place in this kind of film.

I did like the one liners the captain belted out such as "If you don't hear from me in one hour, take the ship... and come rescue me right away." The comedy elements in this one are good but not great.

In short, I enjoyed this movie. But it's not the next Star Wars or Star Trek. Though I can understand why hardcore fans will like this.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars * * *
Lower your expectations for this one.