![]() ![]() Also, a nebbish businessman played by Succession stand-out Jeremy Strong keeps making futile attempts to contact Dill with a message of some sort. In between the Jimmy Buffett mystery plot, we keep learning about Dill's son Patrick, a prodigy who hides from his tyrannical step-father by typing away at the computer in his room. So far, so noir-y.īut, even from the start, it's clear that Knight is up to something a bit more high-concept than an old-school genre tribute. She offers Dill $10 million cash to murder her loathsome hubby at sea, and Dill, an ex-soldier with a broken moral compass, is tempted. Dill's ex-wife Karen (Hathaway) disrupts his idyllic Beach Bum-esque life of drinking and fishing by arriving with her repugnant, abusive new husband Frank (Jason Clarke). ![]() And, at least for the first hour or so, that's what Serenity is. The emphasis on aquatic life isn't exactly highlighted in the film's steamy marketing campaign, which goes to great lengths to sell the movie as a twist-filled take on Body Heat, with Anne Hathaway playing the mysterious femme fatale. The film's script, which was penned by its director, Steven Knight (the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind the Tom Hardy car showpiece Locke and the Tom Hardy top-hat series Taboo), is filled with dialogue about tuna. It's too bad Serenity couldn't have been a straight-up film noir from start to finish.This story contains spoilers for Serenity and discusses the ending in detail.Īt first, the strangest aspect of the crime thriller Serenity is that the film's protagonist, a fisherman named Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey), spends his days obsessing over a tuna he's dubbed "Justice." He lives on a vaguely tropical island with a handful of oddball locals and "one cop in town," but plenty of fish in the sea. The island scenery is appealing - with occasional lightning storms adding atmosphere to the bright island air - and Hathaway makes a great femme fatale. Rather than saving it for a jaw-dropping moment at the very end, it's slowly foreshadowed (through odd cuts and camera movements and some dream/nightmare sequences), revealed early, and explained extensively, without leaving even the slightest possible hint of ambiguity about what's really going on. (Only Hounsou somehow hangs on to his dignity.)Īnd the entire film noir concept, with its sex, booze, and murder, doesn't make any sense when the twist comes it's actually somewhat icky in context. It becomes difficult to care about the characters, and the actors' oversized performances are somewhat silly. For one, the heightened performance style, presumably borrowed from classic movies like Double Indemnity, stops working as well within the new context. Written and directed by Steven Knight, who usually specializes in dark, noir-like stories ( Eastern Promises, Locke, etc.), Serenity goes in a more science fiction-y direction, and several things fall apart. Starting out with promise, like a glossy, heated, modern-day film noir tribute, this thriller eventually begins to reveal its twist, and everything that was working until then simply collapses. ![]() To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails. The film goes in an unexpected direction, and while it works for a while, by the halfway point, it comes pretty badly unraveled. Characters drink frequently, sometimes to the point of extreme drunkenness. Language is also very strong, with frequent uses of "f-k," "s-t," and more. Characters' naked bottoms are seen (both male and female), and the main character has sex with two women on three occasions, with thrusting, groaning, and some kissing. Murder is discussed, and there's a disturbing mention of "little girls" working as prostitutes. A boy pulls a knife, a character is killed, and lots of blood is shown when a character's hand is broken. Domestic abuse is suggested: A man is shown taking off his belt next to his naked wife later, welts are seen on her back. Parents need to know that Serenity is a mature thriller/film noir starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. ![]()
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