Serenity

"They aim to misbehave."

2005 1h 59m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

🍅

82%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.8

IMDB

★7.4TMDB · 4,021🍅82%Rotten Tomatoes●74Metacritic★7.8IMDB · 314,280

Science FictionActionAdventureThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A group of rebels travel the outskirts of space evading the sinister Alliance regime. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbours a dangerous secret. Soon, the crew find themselves being pursued by an Alliance agent who will stop at nothing to find them.

“They aim to misbehave.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Nathan Fillion
Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds
Summer Glau
River Tam
Gina Torres
Zoë Alleyne Washburne
Alan Tudyk
Hoban 'Wash' Washburne
Morena Baccarin
Inara Serra
Adam Baldwin
Jayne Cobb
Jewel Staite
Kaywinnet Lee 'Kaylee' Frye
Sean Maher
Simon Tam

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joss Whedon
Writers: Joss Whedon, Ray Harvie, Tracey Wilson
Languages: English, Mandarin
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 100% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 21 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Mandarin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

297+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joss Whedon, shot by Jack N. Green. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lisa Lassek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau and Gina Torres carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joss Whedon directs. Jack N. Green behind the camera. David Newman scores. Lisa Lassek cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 100% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 21 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Mandarin.
4297+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Joss Whedon, shot by Jack N. Green. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Lisa Lassek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau and Gina Torres carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "They aim to misbehave.".
10IMDB entry: tt0379786 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "spacecraft", "martial arts", "telepathy", "dystopia".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jack N. Green
Original score: David Newman
Editing: Lisa Lassek
Production design: Barry Chusid
Costume design: Ruth E. Carter
Makeup / hair: Camille Calvet
VFX supervisor: Loni Peristere
Sound: Ron Bartlett
Stunt coordinator: Chad Stahelski
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $39,000,000
Box office: $38,869,464
Return: 100% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Serenity (2005)
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 74/100
IMDB rating: 7.8/10 · 314,280 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

9 wins & 10 nominations total

Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Nebula Award for Best Script

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Joss Whedon

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

anthonyryan12013-05-28
A nice wrap-up to Firefly, unfortunately far too condensed. In may ways it felt like they took the major events that would have spanned the next 2 or 3 seasons and crammed it all into a 2 hour movie. Nonetheless, it provides a decent sense of closure to the series.
Matthew Sanders2014-01-27
★ 0.5/10
This was an extremely poor movie. The weakest character during the TV series, River Tam, confusingly became the story focus in this movie. Despite never exercising and having a small frame, River fought and K.O.ed a room full of bar patrons. The crew, mysteriously, were devoted to going to the planet River wanted to visit to help her discover her past despite showing various degrees of hostility toward her during the series ranging from open contempt to advocating her murder. The main villains do not make sense. They are, supposedly, so wild that they regularly sack planets and cannibalize its inhabitants, but can still work together well enough to fly space ships. The entire population of these wild people came from the planet River wants to visit and from a single research facility. I'd guess about 1,000 research and support personnel were initially infected. They have no way of infecting further individuals, the facility was shut down, and yet their current population is many times the original amount. How? The plot does not make sense. It is not engaging. None of the characters are interesting. The characters die without emotional impact. Pass on this movie. Like the TV series, this is a waste of time.
John Chard2019-09-24
★ 7/10
This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then - explode. Serenity is written and directed by Josh Whedon. It stars Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Music is by David Newman and cinematography by Jack N. Green. When the captain Mal Reynolds (Fillion) of the space craft Serenity takes on board Dr. Simon Tam (Maher) and his troubled sister River (Glau), it thrusts the entire crew into a world of conspiracy and galactic despots. Coming at it as a complete novice as regards "Firefly", the short lived TV show that Serenity is spawned from, I personally have no frame of reference to work from. What I found was a hugely enjoyable sci-fi Western hybrid that deserved a better box office than it got. The cast are all comfortable with each other and very watchable, which isn't surprising since Whedon has transported them all over from "Firefly", good move that, while the action quota is high and the black comedy rich. Where the itches start to appear for newcomers like myself, is that it does feel like an extended TV episode. With a twisty plot that sees Whedon cram much into the 2 hour running time, it demands the utmost attention. Which is fair enough to a degree, but many go (or more pertinently would have gone) into "Serenity" for a sci-fi action adventure, not for a tickle of the cranium. If this contributed to the poor show at the box office? I'm not sure. But you have to think this really was only made for the die-hard fans of the show. Galling really, because the last third is a ripper of a blockbuster. The action sequences are expertly crafted, the story explodes still further and the principal characters really let loose, particularly the excellent Fillion. Biggest plus of all, the finale doesn't cop out by insulting those who have stayed the course chartered by the good ship Serenity and its crew. It's smart genre film making, a very enjoyable film without doubt, but really it's not got mainstream appeal. Which might suit those die-hards in a selfish kind of why, but that also means we are unlikely to get a sequel. And that's a shame because a newbie like me could easily stand some more of this whizz bangery. 7/10