blog crack

serenity now! 

Okay, it's less of a review and more of an opinion.

After another great brunch, this time at St. Francis Fountain (where I feasted on the "Nebulous Potato Thing" and a chocolate milkshake), we went over to the Metreon and caught a screening of Serenity, which, although it sounds like the name of

A. An anti-depressant
B. A feminine hygiene product
C. Some new-age guru's latest self-help book
D. A retirement community in Boca Raton
(choose any which one, they all apply),

is actually pretty good. But before I go into the movie, allow me to get on my soapbox.

Why are movies so freakin' expensive? I paid almost $13 for my ticket! And then I had to sit through a series of commercials! If I had wanted to see commercials, I could have sat at home and watched TV (for free). And why does everyone in the audience quiet down and the lights dim down as if they were watching an actual movie? They're freakin' commercials, they're not sacrosanct!

I think that if you're going to be subjected to forced advertising, then you shouldn't have to pay so much to see the movie. In fact, it should be cheaper. The advertisers are clearly making up the difference. It's not like the theater is charging more because they need the money to cover costs. Someone's making a lot of profit on your dime. Argh.

Okay, now back to Serenity. I saw one or two episodes of "Firefly", the television show on which Serenity is based, but never really got into it. It should be noted that I am not a huge sci-fi fan. But after hearing about the movie from several different people and reading a few reviews on it (including this one), all saying that is was "great"/"one of the best movies of the year"/"one of the best sci-fi movies ever"/" it made Star Wars look like total crap", I was intrigued.

Set in the far future, the film is about a crew of mercenaries, on a ship named "Serenity", who take on board a mysterious passenger in the form of the ship's doctor's mentally unstable sister, River, whom, the crew later finds out, he rescued from some shady government (called "The Alliance" here) lab that tortured and brainwashed her for their own evil purposes. Well, needless to say, the Alliance is now trying to get her back; Chiwetel Ejiofor plays The Operative who is charged with her retrieval. Meanwhile, Serenity and its crew, captained by the gruff yet charming Mal (Nathan Fillion), are flying around all over the place trying to figure out what to do with the crazy assassin sister while trying not to get blown to pieces.

Director/writer Joss Whedon's writing is tight and the story line is engaging. River can be a little too weird and annoyingly crazy in one or two scenes, but other than that, the movie is cheesy-line free, funny and had a constantly moving plot line that never lulled. The best part of the film was the depth of its character development, which got you really into the story. Serenity is definitely worth the 13 bucks.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars