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Without a doubt, ‘Serenity’ was one of the worst films of 2019. It is bizarre and horrific in the worst ways possible. However, this movie makes for a l laughable and fun read with friends due to its multidimensional plot twists, cringe dialogue, and exaggerated performances. Because of how insane this movie is, it needs to be seen at least once.
Steven Knight has also written and directed ‘Locke’ featuring Tom Hardy in 2014 and it was regarded as a marvel of precision and suspense. He seems to be attempting to captivate yet again with his new film. Unfortunately, in trying to achieve this, Knight ends up pulling the rug out from under us. With his continuous narrating style he loses his charm bit by bit. Knight loves trying out new ideas, however, this approach only ends up bringing up more questions rather than answers. The end result is a mix of joy and confusion.
It all begins with what might appear to be a simple neo-noir, riddled with broken characters prevailing in dire situations. Matthew McConaughey savors the glorious scenery as the Baker Dill, an Iraq war veteran, chain smoker and rum swiller who lives on the beautiful tropical island of Plymouth where he operates a fishing boat. Skeptics claim he is a retired veteran, but rather, he is preoccupied with his ultimate goal of catching a gigantic tuna he named Justice. This isn’t the best of metaphors. His obsession follows him wherever he goes. Djimon Hounsou is the ever-so-religious Duke, his black first mate and captain who also serves as his steady voice of sanity, which, is not for the best. Though he is a greatly reasonable man willing to help, his perspective is dangerously naive.
In strolls a picture-perfect blonde from Dill’s past. It’s Anne Hathaway’s Karen, his ex and the mother to the teenage son he’s distanced himself from. She’s now a haggard shell of her former self, married to the man who Dill reaped for her, Frank Zariakas, a monstrous man of shadowy wealth who verbally and physically abuses her. As all film noir femme fatales do, Karen has come to find Dill to attempt to persuade him into an unsavory deal. To put it simply, she wants him to take Frank out on the boat, feign a fishing trip, get him drunk, and toss him overboard for the sharks. If Dill agrees, she’ll hand him over $10 million cash.
At this stage, or perhaps well before it, you are asking: Does Knight actually mean this? What sort of a person sets out to create this film, reeking of pulp styling and cliché characters? It’s all so absurd: Is he serious or is this supposed to be a joke? And we have not talked about Diane Lane’s character yet, the gorgeous older lady who spends her days lounging in silky robes and peering through the shutters, waiting for Dill to pay her for a tumble (with painfully comical post-coital banter). She actually gets out of this room once to go to Dill’s place. However, the way this movie approaches its female characters is less than woke.
Watching “Serenity” gives me the same feeling as tuning “Tully”. “Tully” is a winner in my books from every angle, but it makes me curious: Did Diablo Cody intend to write a hyper-impressive nanny in the form of a pixie dream character? She surely understands better than that. Or is there some other hidden thing going on here? With “Tully,” there was indeed a twist that was different from everything we’d seen. While it was clever, it was also heart-wrenching. We can’t say the same for “Serenity.” And that’s about all we should say about that.
Like “Collateral Beauty” and “The Book of Henry”, “Serenity” causes glee with greater absurdity than its deviant plots. It does so in the company of unrivaled actors “Serenity” is one of those extreme films that felt like an aggressive attempt to interject too much absurdness. The plot structures were completely unsound, yet were immensely entertaining due to the shameless overuse of naked Mcconaughey. Dill likes to strip down completely to jump off the cliff next to his hovel. To him, that is a shower. Then, he spends a great deal of time screaming at the clouds, which is amusing. For Knight, this mythical symbolism makes “Serenity” his great symbolic tuna. An epic of legend that always stays ever so tantalizingly out of reach.
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