DVD Reviews

Serenity - Blu-Ray Review

By Dana Rae Jan 28, 2009, 17:07 GMT

The crew of the Serenity is getting desperate. They have lain lower and lower to protect their doctor, Simon Tam, and his telepathic traumatized little sister, River, from the alliance, whom he rescued her from a year earlier. This has made getting jobs harder and now they are desperate. When they take River on a robbery during which Reavers (humans who have gone crazy and turned into cannibals) attack, Simon ...more

For fans of the hit TV series Firefly, the Blu-ray of the movie Serenity is a welcome edition! This is a made-for-fans movie that simply rocks.

The story of the television series Firefly is ever popular, and Serenity was made to appease fans of Firefly. And now it comes to Blu-ray and looks amazing!

The movie has all of the characters that fans loved in the series. The original nine are back: Zoe (Gina Torres), hired gun and also ex-army that worked with Mal in the war; Wash (Alan Tudyk), Zoe’s husband and pilot of Firefly; Inara (Morena Baccarin) who rents a shuttle of the ship Serenity and is the beautiful heart of the motley group; Kaylee (Jewel Staite) is Serenity’s mechanic and is the innocent soul; Simon (Sean Maher) is a traveler that pays for passage on Serenity and ends up a vital part to their story with his past and his medical degree; River (Summer Glau) is Simon’s sister and ends also on Serenity and becomes a major part of the story; Shepherd (Ron Glass) is the spiritual man of the group and also comes onto the ship as a passenger, and Jayne (Adam Baldwin) is the man called Jayne, and is hired muscle, and quite the conundrum (perhaps the most unique of this incredibly unique cast), and of course, Mal (Nathan Fillion), who owns Serenity and is the Captain that everyone looks to.

The perilous adventure through space continues as the motley group struggles with the mysterious actions of River and escape from the men who want to take her back into their custody (The Operative). More is revealed about River, and the group must travel to the Outer Rim and discover a planet previously thought as uninhabitable, Miranda. On the way, some shocking events occur, and the nine lose a valuable member of their group.

The end battle was also a bit shocking to fans, as another member dies (I don’t want to give away spoilers here), but it is also done with humor mingled with the horror (and Reavers are horrible!). At one point, they are holed up awaiting death as it is coming through the door at them, and Kaylee laments that she should have had sex (with Simon, as there is a budding relationship there).

We also find out more about the Reavers and how they were created (never trust your government, ya’ll hear???). The recording of Dr. Caron, an Alliance scientist, is particularly haunting, as it explains a lot, but the end was not so good for our good doctor.

The picture on Blu-ray is amazing and fans won’t want to miss its crystal clear 1080p picture. I cannot praise this movie enough, and as it was truly made for fans of the show, it is a real treat to see it on Blu-ray.

Even if you have seen it and the TV series many times before, this is a can’t miss. And if you have never seen or heard of Firefly or Serenity, get cracking! My advice is to watch the TV series first and then follow it up with Serenity, as it’s like a fourteen course gourmet meal with a piece of fifty-dollar tiramisu and the world’s finest coffee and a really good cigar. Yum. And believe me, after all of that, you will want more. But, sadly, there probably won’t be anymore.

The special features are basically the same as the ones included on Blu-ray: documentary style footage of the actors and Joss Whedon discusses various aspects of the film pre and during and post productions. Blu-ray does add a few tweaks to the features with U-Control and Picture-in-Picture that allows you to watch the behind-the-scenes footage as you watch the film. There is also a special feature that allows you to take a walk through the ship Serenity and a "BD Live” function that allows “My Scenes Sharing."

Serenity is the excellently made space-western (Whedon has created a new genre here) that follows the crew of the ship Serenity through space and beyond and gives us answers but only makes us clamor for more. The only complaint I have with the movie is it didn’t include the song that the original series had. Oh, well, it is excellent as is. Perfection at its finest. I simply love Firefly and Serenity did not disappoint, and it does not disappoint on Blu-ray.

Serenity is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.