Product Details

• Actors: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin
• Directors: Joss Whedon
• Writers: Joss Whedon
• Producers: Alisa Tager, Barry Mendel, Christopher Buchanan, David V. Lester
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Ingram Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: December 20, 2005
• Run Time: 119 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,765 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BW7R2G
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,256 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Serenity offers perfect proof that Firefly deserved a better fate than premature TV cancellation. Joss Whedon's acclaimed sci-fi Western hybrid series was ideally suited (in Browncoats, of course) for a big-screen conversion, and this action-packed adventure allows Whedon to fill in the Firefly backstory, especially the history and mystery of the spaceship Serenity's volatile and traumatized stowaway, River Tam (Summer Glau). Her lethal skills as a programmed "weapon" makes her a coveted prize for the power-hungry planetary Alliance, represented here by an Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who'll stop at nothing to retrieve River from Serenity's protective crew. We still get all the quip-filled dialogue and ass-kicking action that we've come to expect from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Whedon goes a talented step further here, blessing his established ensemble cast with a more fully-developed dynamic of endearing relationships. Serenity's cast is led with well-balanced depth and humor by Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds, whose maverick spirit is matched by his devotion to crewmates Wash (Alan Tudyk), Zoe (Gina Torres), fun-loving fighter Jayne (Adam Baldwin), engineer Kaylee (Jewel Staite), doctor Simon (Sean Maher), and Mal's former flame Inara (Morena Baccarin), who plays a pivotal role in Whedon's briskly-paced plot. As many critics agreed, Serenity offered all the fun and breezy excitement that was missing from George Lucas's latter-day Star Wars epics, and Whedon leaves an opening for a continuing franchise that never feels cheap or commercially opportunistic. With the mega-corporate mysteries of Blue Sun yet to be explored, it's a safe bet we haven't seen the last of the good ship Serenity. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,133 of 1,207 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than the series, September 30, 2005

By 

Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA) - See all my reviews
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This is one incredible movie. No, you don't have to be familiar with the series to enjoy it, but the familiarity will make several moments in the movie that much more tragic. The action here is incredible, and unlike several of the Star Trek movies, the characters don't deviate from their series personnas. The emotional impact of several scenes is so intense it was hard to stay seated (a crash landing sequence can almost give you motion sickness). This brings a satisfying end to the storyline the original series had started. It's a shame the show never got to tell this story in its entirety. You can see where some parts of the movie are rushed in a way. Something that could have been stretched over weeks in a series had to be handled in minutes, and that robs it a little. But you have to applaud Whedon for being able to tie up all the loose ends he started with just two hours. Shame on the network for cancelling this, but congratulations to Whedon for giving the fans--both old and new--the ending the show deserved. Heroes will shine, and some will fall, but Serenity will live on.

Now bring the show back!

220 of 233 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Can't Stop the Signal, November 2, 2005

By 

T. Stewart "moviemancritter" (Santa Cruz) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Serenity (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

It wasn't suppose to happen like this...

Back in the summer of 2001, Fox announced that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" mastermind Joss Whedon would be creating a new television show that was a cross between Science Fiction and the Western Genres... For months Fox spent millions of dollars promoting the one "sure fire series of the season" but then the problems started... the pilot was too slow, Executive Heads Clashed, and Baseball season all got mixed into the mixing pot... and in the end fans where left with an out of order, mixed up, tale of identitify (which is ironic if you think about it).

But the fans of Joss Whedon and of the character he creates would not let this be the end of the "firefly" universe, and after much fanfare, petitions, and literal Bitching; Universal Pictures did something rather uprecidented: they green lite a "big-screen' movie which Joss Whedon describes as "a thank you to the fans."

And that is exactly what the film version of "Serenity" is. On the exterior it is a fast-past, character driven, science fiction blast for everyone to enjoy, and the people that did see it did enjoy it alot. It has survived over a month on IMDB's Top 250 Movies of All Tilme List, and has recieved glowing reviews from THE NEW YORK TIMES, EBERT & ROBERT, THE SAN FRANSISCO CHRONICLE, and more... I distinctly remember a quote from the New york Times saying "George Lucas eat your heart out."

But on the interior the movie was about the salvation of people, and it was a political commentary on big brotherism, and how if things in our society today keep going down the same road are future generations won't be much different from mal and zoe.

If your a fan of science-fiction or just good storytelling this is a movie for you.

702 of 758 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Space Opera, September 30, 2005

By 

Mark R., Whittington "author of Children of A... (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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A wonderous vision of the future started in the all too short run of the TV series Firefly continues in the big screen version of it, Serenity. The TV show and movie is about the crew of a star ship that is as much unlike the USS Enterprise as it can get. It's a ranshackle freighter skippered by Mal Reynolds, a man part Han Solo, part Jesse James. He was on the losing side of an intersteller civil war against the Alliance, a buraucratic, oppressive government that seems to consists of people who believe quite fervently they know better than other people how they should live their lives. Captain Reynolds and his motley crew, including his former second in command from the war, her husband the pilot, an engineer who is as cute as she is sharp with the hyper drive, a muscle bound mercenary in a constant state of mutiny, a preacher, a courtesan, and a doctor and his troubled (to say the least!) sister eck out a thin living doing odd jobs out on the frontier, some of them not exactly legal. They bicker and at times almost come to blows. Especialy due to the fact that the doctor's sister is wanted by the Alliance government for having been "enhanced" and damaged by a top secret government labortory.

Oddly enough, this crew might well save the human race among the stars. The story is a paean about how the unlikeliest people can become heroes and how the right of individuals to live free if an absolute. I hope there will be many more films in this "verse."