Set about 500 years into the future, Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is a veteran of a civil war in which he was on the losing side. Mal now makes his living as a thief and offering transport aboard his ship, Serenity. His crew is an odd mix of characters, but in an strange sense, they are like a family, arguing, insubordinate, but loyal to the end. Two passengers Mal and his crew have taken on are Dr Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his telepathic sister, River (Summer Glau), who has been in the hands of the Universal Alliance and used as an almost-lab-rat,,,she's been trained and tortured for use as a weapon of some sort. It seems River Tam is wanted by the governing council of the universe and they will stop at nothing to get her back, as it would seem, she has information that could bring the governing council down. Not only does the crew of the Serentiy have to deal with the military force of the Universal Alliance, but also deal with, the 'Reavers' which are cannibalistic creatures who roam through space and appear to be willing to eat anything and anybody. Leading the force to regain custody of River is the Alliance's main 'Operative' ( Chiwetel Ejiofor), as ruthless as they come and a believer in all the Alliance stands for. Trying to help Mal protect River is his crew, Zoe (Gina Torres), her husband and pilot of Serenity, Wash (Alan Tudyk), Kaylee (Jewel Staite), the mechanic of the ship and Jayne (Adam Baldwin), who appears to have only his best interests in sight. If you were to take each individual from the crew, they probably wouldn't make you feel very safe, but as a crew, they all bring their best points to the forefront and it seems to work for the ship and it's crew.

Serenity is offered in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and the film looks very nice. Plenty of solid colors and the image comes across sharp and without any damage, as one would expect from a relatively new release. There's a fair amount of bonus features with this disc and those features include:

-Deleted Scenes (9 in total with or without commentary from writer/director Whedon)

-An 'Outtakes' Reel

-Future History: The Story of the Earth That Was (Featurette)

-What's In A Firefly (Featurette)

-Re-Lighting the Firefly (Featurette)

-Joss Whedon Introduction (Writer/Director)

-Commentary Track (Joss Whedon-Writer/Director)

 A couple of interesting facts from the film:

Now, I must admit, I have never seen the TV series, Firefly which spawned this film. I was a little nervous about viewing the film, I wasn't sure if a background in the TV series would be necessary to follow this film at all, but I'm happy to report, that isn't the case. From what I gather, the TV series only produced 14 episodes and of those 14 episodes, only 10 were ever aired! I found this feature film to be highly enjoyable, it has made me a little curious about seeking out the TV series, now! Back to the film......it really does have the look and feel of a sci-fi/western and dare I say, has the feel of the original Star Wars films. Captain Mal Reynolds certainly isn't your typical hero, he's very much in the same vein as Han Solo, I think and to me, that makes for a much more interesting character....flawed and very human. Let's face it, the crew of Serenity isn't exactly the good guys, here, but the real bad guys are even worse! This film is full of interesting characters, definitely characters I'd like to get to know a little better. One of the best lines in the film was delivered by Kaylee (Jewel Staite), 'I ain't had nothing twixt my nethers...weren't run on batteries!'. I mean, with a cast of characters like that, how can you not want to see more and learn more about these people. This film moves along at a great little clip with very little let down in the action and excitement. I found this to be a highly unusual film in the sense, I enjoyed a film that had it's roots in TV and came across interesting, exciting and enjoyable as a feature film. I was very much impressed by the cast, other than Ron Glass as Shepherd, the only other person I recognized was, Adam Baldwin. The cast was brilliant and the writing and directing of this film scored big with me as well. I'm embarrassed to say, I know little of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or Joss Whedon, but perhaps it's time for me to remedy that. I'd not hesitate in recommending this film to anyone, I've no doubt that the legion of Firefly fans have seen this film a time or two, but if you happen to be like me and you've never seen the TV series, don't let that stop you from at least renting this film, I honestly don't feel you'll be disappointed.

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