Top 25 SFX Movies
5 Serenity

2005 • Director: Joss Whedon
The director would like to thank: The studio boss who fell for the one-line pitch below
One line pitch: “Hey, let’s make a film out of that TV show that flopped!”
Why it’s great: Great characters; great dialogue; lots of fun reinventing Western clichés for SF; genuinely heart-rending death scenes; River going from freaky emo chick to ass-kicking femme fatale; deliciously sadistic villain; just a hell of a lot of fun…
Not to be mistaken for: Serendipity, Serena Williams, Blake’s Seven, an attempt to get the series recommmissioned
The alternative view: “Serenity is so like TV that it ought to come with a clicker so we can switch over to the next movie at the multiplex.” Kyle Smith, The New York Post, 2005