I've changed your URL to the permanent one because IMDB's main page changes constantly. Nice to see the movie getting recognition like this.

Simon | May 17, 12:05 CET

Creole? With a capital C? Hmmmmm. That's a first.

palehorse | May 17, 14:07 CET

Here's another:

"...to get themselves out of their current jamb."

JAYNE: Gorramit Mal, this is another fine vertical post that forms the side of a door you've gotten us into!

Grounded | May 17, 14:34 CET

Ha! Thanks, Grounded for the morning laugh. Yes, good to see this front page action for Serenity.

Lioness | May 17, 15:42 CET

I suppose it is fairly positive, but it still kind of annoys me.

The largest problem for the film is that its roots are showing, and those roots aren't brunette, they're television. Whedon's romantic dialogue is painfully WB and UPN as characters sappily discuss carpe diem crap-ola about being too afraid to show their feelings until now that they're about to be eaten.

If smart, interesting dialogue is a problem for the reviewer, I really can't understand why. And in fact I remember when i went to see Serenity with a group of friends, one of them (who hadn't seen Firefly) started to groan when Simon and Kaylee began to reveal their feelings before the Reaver fight, but was pleasantly surprised whenever all the potential clichés were uncut with "You mean as in... sex?"

Every film needs to have moments where it has to be serious, and if characters didn't exchange any sort of emotional dialogue then they wouldn't make any development. I think that Joss managed to satisfy the fans by advancing the character's arcs but didn't do it in an overly sentimental or trite way, and I think that's to be appluaded.

One reoccurring character from the show, the veritable hooker with a heart of gold named Inara (Morena Baccarin), has no discernible function other than to please the geeks who run the websites devoted to her.

Well, firstly, Inara wasn't a recurring character but one of the main castmembers. And I can see where the reviewer is coming from, because Inara doesn't have a huge role, but can you really have all nine characters fully developed and focused on in a two hour film? Unfortunately Inara was one of the characters who suffered the most but that didn't make her part insignificant. She was a voice of reason on Serenity and also represented part of Mal, and the unspoken love between the two. Just because it wasn't the main point of the film doesn't mean she was superfluous.

Razor | May 17, 15:57 CET

Reivers?

Storyteller | May 17, 15:57 CET

Reiver (with an i) is a real word. The Border Reivers were raiders on the border between England and Scotland between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Gag Halfrunt | May 17, 17:39 CET

Well, firstly, Inara wasn't a recurring character but one of the main castmembers.

The word they used is reoccuring, which doesn't really specify one way or the other.

Grounded | May 17, 17:43 CET

It's a quite positive review (8/10), quibbly though it is. That's life in the big city.

What's interesting is that I believe this feature is a paid advertisement that's mostly decent films, or ones with strong cult followings, but sometimes it's features films that were thoroughly drubbed by everyone. I think what they do is create favorable sounding non-reviews where none exist -- or sort of backhanded "this would be fun/interesting to check out, even if it's not actually good" kinds of things. So, I guess we have Universal to thank for this on. In any case, I've always assumed this was a paid feature, which is why I usually ignore it.

bobster | May 17, 18:57 CET

I am very, very late to the Serenity party. I saw the film for the first time last Thursday and came away with much the same "outsider" feeling that the reviewer had. (I only caught the first few episodes of Firefly when the Sci-Fi Channel ran them recently.)

Not sure what the reviewer was talking about regarding the supposed WB/UPN dialog (besides, the show ran on FOX--does FOX have its own brand of dialog?). I will admit that I never entirely warmed to Joss's invented "creole" for the Firefly 'verse. Kaylee's "twixt my nethers" comment, the occasional "shiny!" and "gorram"--these almost work, but fall a little short of convincing.

Overall, I wasn't wowed by the film, although it had a fair amount of Whedon charm. My favorite moment, really a throwaway, is when River shoots her brother a "you've got to be kidding" look after he poses the absurd question, "Am I speaking to Miranda now?" A funny, witty serving up and smacking down of one of cinema's sillier cliches involving multiple personalities. Moments like these are what I love most in Joss's work.

1starbuckstown | May 17, 19:50 CET

I had a dream last night that SERENITY got re-released in theatres due to popular demand. A very good dream.

DearBoy | May 17, 21:34 CET

Call me biased, but Joss' dialogue in this sci-fi western (we're not talking about a remake of Sophie's Choice here, people) is consistently witty and inventive. Show me a Hollywood action movie (or heck, romantic comedy for that matter) of the past decade that comes close to this script. Goodness people are picky these days.

MrArg | May 17, 22:43 CET

Hrm. Just finished my last-ever university research project on English-based creoles and wondering if Jossian English in this movie qualifies as one. Much more of me says "no" than "yes".

April | May 17, 23:10 CET

MrArg, the last action movie I can think of with a script that came near to the "Serenity" was...oh, right. "Speed." (Nah, I'm not biased, really...)

WilliamTheB | May 18, 07:15 CET

Yeah, the dialogue comments sting a bit, and Inara does have a functioning role. Also, I've never had a problem with any of the non-fans I've shown the movie to in regards to the "outsider" department.

But, still. 8/10 is pretty high for the IMDb critic, and I am pleased.

UnpluggedCrazy | May 18, 07:21 CET