Starship Troopers... Version 2

No, unfortunately not the Sarah Brightman song... although that would have been tres exciting.

Last night I went to a pre-screening of 'Serenity' at the Rex Bar, organised by a mate of OBF (Other Best Friend) and his partner.

Now, I'm a bit of a geek who likes the whole Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre - although quite often feel disappointed by the whole Hollywood treatment.

Serenity was very impressive. At least production wise. I mean, the special effects were amazing; the cast were all pretty gorgeous; the whole film had a slickness that the plebby public have come to expect from such a film. But what did amuse me somewhat was the writing.

Remember Paul Verhoeven's 'Starship Troopers'? When I saw that film I was pretty delighted by the fact that somebody had made a parody of the genre. Awful acting, deliberately cheesy, and in fact, the script was both witty and clever.

There was something reminiscent of this in 'Serenity'. The writers are obviously attempting at humour... but somehow it never really seems to work. I mean, don't get me wrong... there are *some* amusing moments - but I don't think they were the moments we were supposed to be laughing at.

Scott Weinberg from EFILMCRITIC.COM said that Serenity was "the cleverest, crankiest, wittiest, wildest, and most character-driven sci-fi adventure in 25 years; it's the best outer-space trip I've been on since the empire struck back."

Perhaps I missed something?

I say bring back Sarah Brightman.