Serenity

It would be pretty easy for me to bash SERENITY ...but I won't. The bashings can easily be directed at the lack of advancement in language, limited projectile-type weaponry, and a microcosmic-society inside the spaceship SERENITY that have reverted back to the cowboy-shoot 'em-up days.

It could also be considered cliché-riddled with the lone-type gunslinger fighting against far superior numbers and odds, only to win and change the course of everything.

But again, I'm not going to bash these things. So you may be asking, "Why?" Well ...because it works. The film is not really meant to break any new science fiction movie-making ground. It's designed to be entertaining, with exciting gun-battles, eye-popping CGI, and characters who are great to watch. From Mal (Nathan Fillion, SLITHER), Serenity's captain who holds a grudge against the all-powerful Alliance, to the beautiful but lethal River (Summer Glau), who can become a killing machine with the utterance of a word, all of Serenity's crew have to battle their pasts and presents and, sometimes, even themselves.

The other thing that made the film fun and easy to watch was the snappy dialogue and frequent use of humor during extreme situations. It's really great to see comedy in science fiction (not since GALAXY QUEST have I enjoyed listening to this type of dialogue).