Serenity

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke, Diane Lane, Djimon Hounsou, Jeremy Strong

Director: Steven Knight

Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) spends his days on his fishing boat Serenity, in search of a big tuna he has dubbed "Justice." When he isn't on his boat, he is either drowning his sorrows in alcohol or sleeping with Constance (Diane Lane), who gives him money. Out of the blue, he is approached by his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) with a proposition: take her abusive husband Frank (Jason Clarke) out on his boat, liquor him up real good, and feed him to the sharks for $10,000. To make the situation even more personal, Frank is not only abusive to her but to her son that she had with Baker when they were together. As Baker grapples with what to do, he is constantly chased around by a mysterious man (Jeremy Strong) who wants to speak to him about something. What does the man want? Will Baker take Karen up on her deal? Regardless of those answers, something weird is happening on Plymouth Island and nothing is what it seems.

It's going to be hard to review this without revealing the twist but I am going to try. I knew the twist going in, but I don't think it hurt my overall feelings towards the film. All it did was soften the blow when it eventually did arrive. And it's a doozy.

While I don't like the twist itself, I like what it did to Matthew McConaughey's performance, which I divide into two parts: Pre-Twist and Post-Twist. Pre-Twist McConaughey I didn't like. He tended to overplay the role and slip into some of the weird tics that usually punctuate his performances. Post-Twist McConaughey is far more interesting but at times comes dangerously too meta and self aware. The other performance I wanted to point out is Jason Clarke. He is the obvious and over the top big bad. I don't know if Writer/Director Steven Knight did this intentionally, but the character of Frank has a lot to say about the nature of toxic masculinity. Again, I don't know if this was intentional, but I definitely picked that up about the character.

Steven Knight is a fascinating writer/director. He made a big splash with his debut Dirty Pretty Things and followed that up with Eastern Promises. While mostly sticking to indie fare like Redemption, Locke, and Pawn Sacrifice, he has occasionally dabbled in studio fare like Allied and The Girl in the Spider's Web and in TV where he created Taboo and Peaky Blinders. While he only had a writer's credit on many of those, Serenity marks the third film he has directed, the others being Redemption and Locke. There is a unique visual style to this film with loads of unconventional camera shots and character introductions that seem very over to the top. Once things are explained, the visuals start to make sense.

However, once things are explained, the cinematography is the only thing that makes much sense. A lot of the character actions and situations are illogical and the already messy and cheesy script gets even messier. This is not the film it's being advertised as in the trailers. Film Noir fanatics will have the worst time with this film.

The movie isn't good, but I found its faults to ultimately be part of the film's charm. A couple of people in the theater with me started chuckling the longer this wild and unpredictable film progressed (and that's definitely a way to take this movie), but you also have to admire the bravado to even attempt a film like this.