At the outset I have to say I'm not one of the dyed-in-the-wool Joss Whedon fans. I have not seen the Firefly series of which this film is an offshoot and the VERY little I saw of Buffy The Vampire Slayer did little to enthuse me towards watching it. That said, Serenity is one of the really enjoyable futuristic action romps I've seen recently and essentially captures the mixture of swashbuckling adventure with attention-worthy story-telling that was so sorely missing from other recent efforts in the genre.

Serenity starts off explosively, introducing characters and establishing plot-points with a celerity that is ovation-worthy in this (post-LoTR) time of hideously-extended film narratives. A psychic girl who is being tapped by the Big Brother-esque Alliance government to become a living weapon is rescued by her brother. As pursuit for the fugitives begins with a mission-obsessed Operative leading the hunt, the siblings hook up with the Serenity, a smuggler ship helmed by the Han Solo inspired Captain Mal and his crew. Mal gives them boarding on his vessel; in return, much to the brother's displeasure, he uses the girl's psychic powers to aid his felonies. In one such expedition, her powers help to save them from a universally dreaded race of cannibal marauders, the Reavers.

Things get significantly more hairy for Capt. Mal with his cover blown when the waif-like girl River suddenly breaks out as an unstoppable fighting machine racking up a score of beat-downs in a bar, seemingly triggered by the word, “Miranda”. With the Alliance hot on their heels and ruthlessly staking out all their hiding places, Mal decides to unravel the mystery of Miranda. This leads to a thrill-packed adventure with the Serenity crew battling seemingly impossible odds against both the Alliance and the Reavers, and discovering the secret that the Alliance is working so desperately to keep from being revealed.